MRI

[Old School 360]

Ever had an MRI?

Thought I’d had one in the past, but apparently not-or I’d have remembered the experience.
Mostly cause I didn’t like it- at all!

Maybe because it was scheduled for the afternoon and I had all day to worry about it. Maybe it was driving through a rainstorm in downtown traffic to get there. Maybe it was because they were running an hour behind schedule. Maybe it was because they tried to run the IV up a vein in my right arm unsuccessfully, then unsuccessfully up a vein in my left arm, before finally getting it correctly inserted into the back of my hand.

Mostly, it was because I should have never opened my eyes when they slowly started moving the table into the chamber. Fock! I didn’t think I was claustrophobic, but damn. I swear the top of the chamber seemed like it was less than two inches from my face, and the table took for focking ever to load. Once set, I could kinda see out the other end, if I tilted my head back and looked out the opening. 
I didn’t like it. And I wasn’t comfortable at all. They said it wold take around 40 minutes and if I didn’t remain perfectly still, it wouldn’t take a good image. That’s a long time to remain motionless, especially when you’re in an enclosed chamber and not comfortable.

I had no idea they were listening and monitoring me until about 30 minutes into the ordeal when they came over the loudspeaker to let me know they were about to run the dye through the IV. I yelled back and asked “How much longer do I have to stay in this damn thing?” The reply was six minutes. I told them I’d give them six minutes but that’s it- “You’ve got to get me out of here!” 
I continued to and moan and cuss under my breath like I’d done the entire time. When I said “You’ve got to get me the hell out of here!,” the lady replied “we’re trying sir.” That’s when I realized they’d heard my entire rant for 40 minutes of FOCK FOCK FOCK FOCK, This sux. Get me the Fock out of here. And other assorted niceties

It was a necessary procedure, and didn’t require much more than laying still on a table, but damn, I didn’t like it to the point I was seriously considering climbing out the other end. Not real proud of myself, other than the doctors saying they got a real good imaging done. I explained “ Yeah I stayed still. There’s no way in hell I’m doing that again.”

Rant over.
 

 

[BiPolarBear 476]

Totally understand it bothering anybody. For some reason I don't mind. I was in one for a couple of hours. 

Me, I was scared shitless of being on a ventilator. I would be alone at night for long stretches and thought I would afixiate on my own saliva. A doctor came in and told me I was on the path to detaching from the rest of humanity, if I stayed awake at night and slept during the day. He put me on a pill. After I got out of rehab, I found out he had put me on an antidepressant. I am like what the hell; I'm not smart enough to be depressed. Getting off the pill was supposed to take about six months, and I just said it and quit. I wasn't depressed; I was lying alone, and trying to breath thru my gurgling spit. I still don't think it was an over reaction. 

[TimmySmith 2,782]

Had a couple.  I certainly had some "suppose everyone out there is dead and I am stuck in here moments".  

[posty 2,296]

Yep had one MRI in my life and luckily I will never be able to have one again...

[jerryskids 5,172]

Bummer that it upsets you so much, hopefully you won't have to do it again.  I've had several MRIs on my knees; don't recall if I was full body immersed though.  But I've lost count of the CT scans for my cancer (every 12 weeks at this point), which is a similar tight tube, albeit without the loud whirring magnet.

What would have freaked the living fock out of you was my radiation.  Because it was in my neck, they immobilized my head with a custom-formed mask which bolted me to the table; it was like this:

https://www.oncolink.org/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/_aliases/large/media/images/thermoplastic-mask-1/406975-1-eng-US/thermoplastic-mask-1.jpg

Then they stuck me head first into a tube.  That only lasted about 5 minutes tho...

[Gladiators 1,904]

Yes

[DonS 3,063]

I've only had repeated PET scans.  Similar but I've heard that the MRI machine is much more claustrophobic. 

[IGotWorms 3,302]

I’ve had a couple. For the most part it’s fine but there’s like a moment where you could start panicking and you know it would not end. I’ve managed to get over the hump but probably not by a lot

[IGotWorms 3,302]

3 hours ago, BiPolarBear said:

Totally understand it bothering anybody. For some reason I don't mind. I was in one for a couple of hours. 

Me, I was scared shitless of being on a ventilator. I would be alone at night for long stretches and thought I would afixiate on my own saliva. A doctor came in and told me I was on the path to detaching from the rest of humanity, if I stayed awake at night and slept during the day. He put me on a pill. After I got out of rehab, I found out he had put me on an antidepressant. I am like what the hell; I'm not smart enough to be depressed. Getting off the pill was supposed to take about six months, and I just said it and quit. I wasn't depressed; I was lying alone, and trying to breath thru my gurgling spit. I still don't think it was an over reaction. 

Man that’s horrible. I thought you were pretty much always unconscious while on a ventilator. Being conscious of it would be terrible!

[Strike 3,950]

FYI.  They have MRI machines now that let you sit up in a normal position:

https://www.standupmriofeastelmhurst.com/

[cyclone24 1,805]

I’ve had so many I could literally fall asleep the second that thing goes….and i get headphones. 

[Fireballer 2,369]

I've crawled around countless times in zero visibility with an SCBA mask on and through pipes so tight that I had to take my shoes off in order to crawl along using my finger tips and toes.  MRIs make me feel closed in.

[Mungwater 588]

I’ve had a couple, and to be honest in the full body one I fell asleep, so I didn’t get the anxiety, I was out like a light 

[Fireballer 2,369]

Not only is the tube tight, but the ones I've had have a little door that closes over your face.

[Drizzay 644]

I did, but I don't remember being panicky about it.  I just remember all of the different tones.

[naomi 343]

I had no idea they could take that long.

[BiPolarBear 476]

On 5/6/2022 at 1:48 PM, IGotWorms said:

Man that’s horrible. I thought you were pretty much always unconscious while on a ventilator. Being conscious of it would be terrible!

I thank you.

The worst thing is that nobody attempted to communicate with me. I went into surgery at UT Southwestern Hospital. When I woke up. I knew I was not in that facility. I had a huge room at UT, and everything was state of the art. When I woke up I was in a small room in an older place. The big shock was seeing my toes. They were like fried black beetles with crispy skin. Not the kind of thing you are expecting coming out of heart surgery. I have a ventilator tube and a feeding tube down my throat and can not make the smallest sound. I thought I must have had surgery and been released, after which I did something like lose contiguousness while driving and drive into a bridge abutment or something. I figured my toes got burned somehow. They actually weren't burned. While I was under an induced coma, they gave me a drug that keeps your vital organs going, but robs circulation to your extremities. My toes got dry gangrene. Since I didn't know where I was or how I got there, I wondered if my mother knew I was alive or where I was. They finally told me my mom and relatives would be coming to see me the next day. I was afraid I would asphyxiate alone the night before they arrived. 

 

 

[frank 2,144]

I knew a guy who did spelunking. He talked about crawling through mountain tunnels so narrow that you had to lay down and crawl using your forearms. There was no way to turn around around. You would have to keep going until there was an opening. If you got stuck, you were just dead. What were they going to do, demolish the mountain? 

[MTSkiBum 1,593]

48 minutes ago, frank said:

I knew a guy who did spelunking. He talked about crawling through mountain tunnels so narrow that you had to lay down and crawl using your forearms. There was no way to turn around around. You would have to keep going until there was an opening. If you got stuck, you were just dead. What were they going to do, demolish the mountain? 

 

In highschool I was part of a volunteer group that maintenaned the trail to the below cave. The cave was in pretty good shape as recent as 20 years ago when I was last there.

I knew my way through the entire cave, to multiple waterfalls and pools. Kids did get hurt and it was probably too dangerous, but what memories.

There were spots you were wiggling on your belly and it was tight as a skinny highschooler. My dad did it and I now realize that he probably struggled more than he let on 

 

It is a true shame what has happened in recent years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_River_Cave

[IGotWorms 3,302]

46 minutes ago, frank said:

I knew a guy who did spelunking. He talked about crawling through mountain tunnels so narrow that you had to lay down and crawl using your forearms. There was no way to turn around around. You would have to keep going until there was an opening. If you got stuck, you were just dead. What were they going to do, demolish the mountain? 

Jesus. This sounds like a literal nightmare to me and I don’t consider myself unusually claustrophobic 

[Cloaca du jour 2,064]

Mri suck.  Have had several.  Found a place that has an open MRI that has headphones to play music...makes it about 1 more percent tolerable.  I wish they would just knock me out.