MRI
I had an MRI (brain scan) yesterday.
First annoyance was having to wake up so early. Second annoyance was having to dig myself out of the driveway, because our useless plow guy was useless YET AGAIN. Without fail, this asshole doesn't get to our house after snowfall until after we have to call our landlord to call him and tell him what the actual fuck. Every other house on my street gets their driveways plowed by 5am. We're lucky if we can dig ourselves out before we're TOO late for work. Landlord raised our rent to pay for this jackass, so fuck him if he thinks we should buy a second shovel just so we can do his job that we're paying for. We cleared out the whole driveway, taking turns with the one provided for sidewalk-clearing, and THEN the plow guy showed up. He got out to say he couldn't get here earlier, explaining the dangerous road conditions, but slurring about 90% of his excuse, repeatedly trying to explain himself to me, who kept saying I don't have time to hear it. Dangerous road conditions, he said on a side-street that has been plowed clear, off the main streets that have been plowed and salted, on a not-so-cold, clear-skies winter morning, while again, every other driveway on the street has been cleared.
I called the hospital about halfway through digging out the driveway to tell them I'd be a little late, estimating about 15 minutes after the appointment was slated to begin. I made it there about a minute before it was slated to begin, which was... well, I'm not going to say nice, because none of that was nice, but, you know.
I got signed in quickly, got called back quickly, processed quickly, and started getting prepped for the procedure.
After undressing and putting on the hospital gown, I had an IV tube put into my arm. And stupid me, I didn't have time to hydrate, so finding a good vein took time.
I'm not squeamish about needles. If you look trough my Hospital tags, you'll see I spent the first half of my 20s on the business end of medical studies, and you might even find talk of drawing blood for my phlebotomy classes in the School tags. And I have tattoos and piercings. I'm clearly not shy about getting a little poke in the arm.
While sticking me, I explained that I'd gone to school for medical assisting, rocked out in the clinical/lab classes, but never made it through the office classes. I mentioned that phlebotomy was my strong suit, but we never covered butterfly needles or IV catheters. He shot in about a third of a syringe; when he put it down, I asked what it was.
"Oh, I should be explaining things as I do them," he apologized. "This was just a little saline flush to prep for the contrast fluid."
"Ohhhhh," I said, debating if I should add "noooo" to that. "Last time I had a saline flush, I didn't take it well. I got so extremely hot, but cold at the same time, like Icy Hot running through my veins - it was like I could feel it move through my veins! I was doing a medical study, and it was what they used as the placebo."
He'd walked away to get something real quick, but still asked me more about it from the next room.
I continued, "It was a full IV drip, and not just a little bit like this, so I'm sure I'll be..." and from there, I couldn't continue, because I'd suddenly been struck dizzy, my stomach began doing somersaults, and I felt almost like I do when I am suddenly struck with intense hunger after not having eaten in too long, but far more intense than that - I felt like I might puke if I didn't put something in my stomach. I don't usually have breakfast in the morning, though, but I did shovel out my driveway and didn't hydrate, so I could have attributed it to my bod demanding calories, if I hadn't been in the middle of explaining how poorly I've handled saline IVs in the past before I began to actively refrain from panicking due to the sudden rush of dizziness.
Everything I'd mentioned about not being squeamish about needles, about the phlebotomy class, and the mention of not handling saline well went right out of the prep-tech's head as he tried keeping me from wobbling around so much, keeping me upright, telling me to keep talking, keep talking, keep talking, and asking me if it was the needle causing me to swoon. The only thing I could think to say was that I didn't know why this was happening, that I'm not a baby about needles, that it felt terrible last time, but not this terrible. And apologizing repeatedly, because this caused a little delay. I kept leaning to the right, where my clothing was piled up on the bench beside me. He thought I was going to pass out. I thought I was going to pass out!! He had me prop myself against the wall on my left, but I begged to let me lay down as I dove for the clothes pile and swung my feet up the other side, and he just made sure I didn't THUNK down but went down gently before getting me a container to puke in if I needed, and calling a specialist to come down, who had brought apple juice and orange juice for me.
The second I set my head down, the feeling went away completely, but I stayed down until the other guy brought me juice.
The rest of the procedure went just fine. I didn't feel nervous about anything until the night before (hence why waking up so early was the first annoyance - I barely slept). I know the machine is a super-magnet, and worried about my dental implant and filings. So I googled. And google told me not to worry about my implant, since the most common material implants are made from is titanium and won't be affected. But it did tell me some tattoos might heat up and burn me. I have two scratch tattoos (not literally - it's kind of an umbrella term for a non-professional tattoo). And one tattoo that would puff up if I got sick in its first year. Other google worries didn't really worry me, like being allergic to the contrast dye or being claustrophobic. I assumed I wasn't allergic, because I recalled having CT scan when I was around 7. Then I read that CT scans and MRIs are not the same thing! So I worried about the dye.
I'm not claustrophobic, but holy shit, when I went in the tube, I was pretty shocked by how little space there is. I had no problem getting my head "clamped" in, the top piece that went over my face (with a window opening) was unexpected. Then the tube. It was more compact than an isolation float chamber, which was a little jarring, and I felt really bad for anyone who might be even a little claustrophobic having to go into one of these.
I got earplugs, and it sounded like I was at a concert of jammed printers, dial-up tones, and old clunky machines that just couldn't get started. It was oddly relaxing. The second saline flush didn't affect me, and the contrast dye made my hairline itch a little (the kind of itch you get the second you're told not to touch your face, hahaha).
I'll definitely remember to warn the prep techs about the saline flush next time. I was so embarrassed, but in retrospect, it was so funny to explain my reaction to the flush, and then in the middle of saying a little bit probably won't do much, it did much!
First annoyance was having to wake up so early. Second annoyance was having to dig myself out of the driveway, because our useless plow guy was useless YET AGAIN. Without fail, this asshole doesn't get to our house after snowfall until after we have to call our landlord to call him and tell him what the actual fuck. Every other house on my street gets their driveways plowed by 5am. We're lucky if we can dig ourselves out before we're TOO late for work. Landlord raised our rent to pay for this jackass, so fuck him if he thinks we should buy a second shovel just so we can do his job that we're paying for. We cleared out the whole driveway, taking turns with the one provided for sidewalk-clearing, and THEN the plow guy showed up. He got out to say he couldn't get here earlier, explaining the dangerous road conditions, but slurring about 90% of his excuse, repeatedly trying to explain himself to me, who kept saying I don't have time to hear it. Dangerous road conditions, he said on a side-street that has been plowed clear, off the main streets that have been plowed and salted, on a not-so-cold, clear-skies winter morning, while again, every other driveway on the street has been cleared.
I called the hospital about halfway through digging out the driveway to tell them I'd be a little late, estimating about 15 minutes after the appointment was slated to begin. I made it there about a minute before it was slated to begin, which was... well, I'm not going to say nice, because none of that was nice, but, you know.
I got signed in quickly, got called back quickly, processed quickly, and started getting prepped for the procedure.
After undressing and putting on the hospital gown, I had an IV tube put into my arm. And stupid me, I didn't have time to hydrate, so finding a good vein took time.
I'm not squeamish about needles. If you look trough my Hospital tags, you'll see I spent the first half of my 20s on the business end of medical studies, and you might even find talk of drawing blood for my phlebotomy classes in the School tags. And I have tattoos and piercings. I'm clearly not shy about getting a little poke in the arm.
While sticking me, I explained that I'd gone to school for medical assisting, rocked out in the clinical/lab classes, but never made it through the office classes. I mentioned that phlebotomy was my strong suit, but we never covered butterfly needles or IV catheters. He shot in about a third of a syringe; when he put it down, I asked what it was.
"Oh, I should be explaining things as I do them," he apologized. "This was just a little saline flush to prep for the contrast fluid."
"Ohhhhh," I said, debating if I should add "noooo" to that. "Last time I had a saline flush, I didn't take it well. I got so extremely hot, but cold at the same time, like Icy Hot running through my veins - it was like I could feel it move through my veins! I was doing a medical study, and it was what they used as the placebo."
He'd walked away to get something real quick, but still asked me more about it from the next room.
I continued, "It was a full IV drip, and not just a little bit like this, so I'm sure I'll be..." and from there, I couldn't continue, because I'd suddenly been struck dizzy, my stomach began doing somersaults, and I felt almost like I do when I am suddenly struck with intense hunger after not having eaten in too long, but far more intense than that - I felt like I might puke if I didn't put something in my stomach. I don't usually have breakfast in the morning, though, but I did shovel out my driveway and didn't hydrate, so I could have attributed it to my bod demanding calories, if I hadn't been in the middle of explaining how poorly I've handled saline IVs in the past before I began to actively refrain from panicking due to the sudden rush of dizziness.
Everything I'd mentioned about not being squeamish about needles, about the phlebotomy class, and the mention of not handling saline well went right out of the prep-tech's head as he tried keeping me from wobbling around so much, keeping me upright, telling me to keep talking, keep talking, keep talking, and asking me if it was the needle causing me to swoon. The only thing I could think to say was that I didn't know why this was happening, that I'm not a baby about needles, that it felt terrible last time, but not this terrible. And apologizing repeatedly, because this caused a little delay. I kept leaning to the right, where my clothing was piled up on the bench beside me. He thought I was going to pass out. I thought I was going to pass out!! He had me prop myself against the wall on my left, but I begged to let me lay down as I dove for the clothes pile and swung my feet up the other side, and he just made sure I didn't THUNK down but went down gently before getting me a container to puke in if I needed, and calling a specialist to come down, who had brought apple juice and orange juice for me.
The second I set my head down, the feeling went away completely, but I stayed down until the other guy brought me juice.
The rest of the procedure went just fine. I didn't feel nervous about anything until the night before (hence why waking up so early was the first annoyance - I barely slept). I know the machine is a super-magnet, and worried about my dental implant and filings. So I googled. And google told me not to worry about my implant, since the most common material implants are made from is titanium and won't be affected. But it did tell me some tattoos might heat up and burn me. I have two scratch tattoos (not literally - it's kind of an umbrella term for a non-professional tattoo). And one tattoo that would puff up if I got sick in its first year. Other google worries didn't really worry me, like being allergic to the contrast dye or being claustrophobic. I assumed I wasn't allergic, because I recalled having CT scan when I was around 7. Then I read that CT scans and MRIs are not the same thing! So I worried about the dye.
I'm not claustrophobic, but holy shit, when I went in the tube, I was pretty shocked by how little space there is. I had no problem getting my head "clamped" in, the top piece that went over my face (with a window opening) was unexpected. Then the tube. It was more compact than an isolation float chamber, which was a little jarring, and I felt really bad for anyone who might be even a little claustrophobic having to go into one of these.
I got earplugs, and it sounded like I was at a concert of jammed printers, dial-up tones, and old clunky machines that just couldn't get started. It was oddly relaxing. The second saline flush didn't affect me, and the contrast dye made my hairline itch a little (the kind of itch you get the second you're told not to touch your face, hahaha).
I'll definitely remember to warn the prep techs about the saline flush next time. I was so embarrassed, but in retrospect, it was so funny to explain my reaction to the flush, and then in the middle of saying a little bit probably won't do much, it did much!