My MRI adventure

I had my head examined this morning.

This story goes back to a weekend in the late summer of 2008, maybe early fall, when I was walking in a park and I had a brief spell of double vision. It cleared itself within a few minutes but still, that's one of the symptoms of stroke. I mentioned the episode to a doctor and he suggested I have an MRI done. There must have been a waiting list because my date for the examination finally came up today.

My appointment was for 7:45 this morning. So up I got, dark and early this morning, and away I went to the hospital. The morning drive was easy; the roads were clear, traffic was light, and there was nothing falling out of the sky. No precipitation I mean. Though as far as I know the planes were landing safely.

I had an MRI done once before, on my abdominal area. (No, I wasn't pregnant).

This time it was a bit different. The last time they gave me a couple of glasses of water to drink before the exam. I wondered if this time they would give me a plate of fish to eat (brain food) but they didn't.

The last time they injected a fluid into my body and when it went in I felt this awful warm feeling that felt like I had peed my pants. I hadn't. This time there was no injection, no fluid, and no icky warm sensation.

This time they gave me a grey bulb to squeeze in case of emergency. I had no emergency and I didn't squeeze it. They gave me headphones to block out the sound of the machine and also played music through it.

This time I went head first into the machine. Let me tell you about the machine. At first glance it looks like the Guardian of Forever from the City on the Edge of Forever episode of Star Trek. On second and third glances it still looked like the Guardian of Forever. By fourth glance it looked like a Stargate SG-1.

While the machine was operating I thought it sounded like a washing machine. Maybe I was having my brain washed. Or at least wrung out - it sounded like it was on the spin cycle.

The procedure itself was fairly uneventful. Being how early it still was in the morning and that I was supposed to not move during the process, I closed my eyes and slept through most of it. Once it was done the operator told me that I could go. That was it!

It will be some time before I hear the results, but at least no one can tell me now that I should get my head examined.