I know there's been a flurry of these; it'll slow down soon. Pent-up energy from needing to be quiet for a bit. I'm about to go get on a plane and may be mostly offline for the next few days at a baby shower (babies, yay!), but wanted to do a quick recap of today's MRI.
So, this was not quite as much fun as I'd hoped. At first, it was straightforward enough -- strip to socks and undies, put on a robe. Wait around 'till she was ready for me. I found myself somewhat anxious, for no good reason. And then she reminded me that I was getting an MRI with contrast, which meant needle poking -- she had to put an IV line in for the contrast dye. Ugh. I did a bunch of IVs during the pregnancy, and I can't say I loved them (although sometimes, when they were giving me fluids, they did actually make me feel better). The MRI nurse was not so great at inserting it, so there was a good minute of stinging poking about -- I've had way better. Ah well.
Afterwards, I felt a bit shaky -- I get dizzy sometimes when I do blood draws and other needle stick things, and have even fainted a few times. I've gotten better at managing it so as not to faint -- lots of deep breathing really helps, and thanks again to my advisor Katie Coles who ran into me in the halls before my doctoral exams, where I was panicking, and quickly talked me through deep breathing; it has been useful many a time since. Still, I felt kind of woozy when I lay down. I figured I'd being lying down for forty-five minutes, though, so I should recover quickly.
Instead, I felt cold and shaky for quite a while. The process of getting into the machine was less than dignified; after putting in your ear plugs, you have to basically crawl up onto a bed and then lie down with your breasts hanging down through holes in the bed. Then there's a fair bit of readjusting to try to get as comfortable as possible (because you're really not supposed to move for the next forty-five minutes, or you'll get blurry images), and the tech moves your breasts around a bunch and wedges them into fixed place. You slide into the machine, and if you're claustrophobic, I'd recommend just keeping your eyes closed.
Eventually, I warmed up -- not sure why. I got drowsy inside the machine, because I didn't sleep well last night, but actual sleep was impossible because there were frequent loud noises -- and they varied, so it wasn't as if you could get used to the pattern of them. It felt like being inside a huge old school copy machine, actually. A piece of the machinery, and a faulty one at that. You're the thing causing the jam.
In retrospect, I wished I'd asked her if I could move other bits of me. Would wiggling my toes be okay? What about my fingers? Could there be stretching breaks, so I wouldn't get pins-and-needles? It's all mild discomfort, but it was annoying. And perhaps because I was at a not-very-high-end hospital (I have HMO insurance), there was no music playing, which really seems like a bad choice. It would have helped a LOT to have music in the background to focus on.
So, woozy from start to finish, and cold, and a stinging hand (she found a vein in my wrist eventually). MRI -- not the most fun ever. But also not actually horrible or anything. I won't be eager to repeat it again, but I'm enough of an experience junkie to be moderately okay with having gone through it once.
Results next week, and hopefully actual staging. Onward.