Tuesday, February 26, 2013

MRI, lunch and home.


Late morning this morning was my MRI appointment, it was my annual cranial/brain one and I did smile, always do, and the tech told me I was very still and she never mentioned if she saw it or not…odd, oh ‘it’, my brain of course! Now I/you will be wondering evermore, or at least till the doc gets the results, probably tomorrow I was told, but we all know that can be a fairy tale of huge proportions! Sure the doctor will get it, maybe tomorrow, but first she has to read what the radiologist wrote and that could take time…huh? They all go to school for like a dozen years and I do believe ya gotta read there and most reports are not more than a couple pages long, so what’s the big deal, huh? It’s only my wee brain that is being under scrutiny yearly to see what the lesions are up to or not, mostly stable these last few and a big WHEW to that! And I suspect not too much is going on although my symptoms seem to get worse than about the same as before the worse and then real bad and then not as bad as before that and on and on and on…who knows what the MRI will tell? Oh MRI, definition for you that are well and have been lucky enough to never ever having needed one, here it is in a nutshell, well maybe not a nutshell more like a watermelon shell, wait they come in rinds, oh you know what I mean, don't ya?: “MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) The abbreviated term for magnetic resonance imaging. MRI uses a large circular magnet and radio waves to generate signals from atoms in the body. These signals are used to construct images of internal structures. …magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) a noninvasive nuclear procedure for imaging tissues of high fat and water content that cannot be seen with other radiologic techniques. The MRI image gives information about the chemical makeup of tissues, thus making it possible to distinguish normal, cancerous, atherosclerotic, and traumatized tissue masses in the image. The patient having an MRI procedure lies in the bore of the cylindrical magnetic resonance machine; therefore, the test can induce claustrophobia. Furthermore, the person must lie motionless during the test, which can last from 15 to 90 minutes. If patients are susceptible to claustrophobia or cannot tolerate the tedium of lying still in a confined space, a sedative can be given without compromising test results.” Thanks to this site: http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/MRI Got it? Now we all know a little more. But mine is also done with and without contrast, a chemical they use that helps them see what they have to see better, this is that definition: “MRI contrast agents are a group of contrast media used to improve the visibility of internal body structures in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The most commonly used compounds for contrast enhancement are gadolinium-based. MRI contrast agents alter the relaxation times of atoms within body tissues where they are present after oral or intravenous administration. In MRI scanners sections of the body are exposed to a very strong magnetic field, a radiofrequency pulse is applied causing some atoms (including those in contrast agents) to spin and then relax after the pulse stops. This relaxation emits energy which is detected by the scanner and is mathematically converted into an image. The MRI image can be weighted in different ways giving a higher or lower signal.” Thanks to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRI_contrast_agent I like to call it highlights that they inject into my arm and I smile for them too, really who wouldn’t? All I know is that if you want to have privacy or modest or if you are the least bit squeamish… don’t get sick! Especially chronically ill, with all the medications and injections and testing it might sound like a party with all that attention, but really it’s the WRONG KIND! Be beautiful/handsome and smart and creative or invent something, make a bundle of money or do something more acceptable, since in reality no one likes sick people who hang on way too long, a thorn in their idea of perfection. That is just awful and untrue, isn’t it; compassion abounds all over this land and this world! We all know that the underdogs downtrodden are cared about and for by people with so much compassion that it makes me cry just with that thought. Whew, must be the contrast or it could be my additional meds that I am crescendo-ING to higher dosing… these last two days I am on the 300MG, 600MG, 600MG in the Gabapentin slowly going to be achieving the 600MG., 600MG., 600MG. by this Monday night! Ya know I did what Hubby suggested and wrote on the calendar when I should take these new dosings and of course the first week was 3, 3, 6, written as a reminder for space consideration shortened instead of using the actual milligrams above, the second week was, then 3, 6, 6 and the third and final increased week was written 6, 6, 6…now that is a bit unnerving, hmm? Hope it doesn’t really mean anything untoward or scary! LOL! Nah. Adjustments we all have them and hopefully this latest one will be beneficial to me, if not you may find out right here, so stay tuned, okay? On that note of many notes of the high low variety, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with whomever you want to and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?! PS I did pay for another month for my health insurance, still thinking on it.

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