Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Monday, August 23, 2004

More frustration, less nervous

Whenever Dwana and I get together, adventure is sure to ensue. I suspect that's because we both tend to look at things with a firm sense of humour when they don't quite go as planned.

The open MRI machine was down when we got to the centre. Apparently they'd tried to call, but they had my work phone wrong and (as Dwana pointed out) didn't bother to check the phone book for the right one. We were able to do the X-rays of my neck, of course, which was sort of laughable in and of itself because you have to stand against a grid and open your mouth like a muppet. The only bad thing? She took one picture and I was like, 'am I not supposed to have an apron?' and she's like, 'oh, yeah, that's right, we can do that, I always forget that part'. It was a little annoying.

We waited awhile to see if they could get the machine up and running. Apparently they took it down for preventative maintenance on Thursday and something got mucked up. It sounds like a typical photocopier tech visit, although in this case it's a machine with an ueber-powerful magnet.

Eventually I decided to try one of the alternative machines, an MRI with a short bore. For those of you wondering what they do, they had me take my glasses off, lie down on the machine, and then they tried to make me as comfortable as possible. They put earplugs in my ears, a blanket over me (it was a little cold in the room), and a pillow under my knees. Then they put foam blocks on either side of my head between my head and the cage. That was a little disconcerting, but not bad. They also gave me a panic button. Then they put the mirror right above my face and started me into the machine. It was a valiant attempt, but alas, (smoke and) mirrors were not enough to fool my brain. I did okay, prepared to do a breathing meditation, when I ran into the problem of my linebacker shoulders. They scrunched up against my neck uncomfortably, cutting off my airflow and sending sense of claustrophobia up very quickly.

I didn't actually have to use the button (I was all the way in for just a few seconds), but I asked the tech if she could please take me back out. She was soothing, said lots of people had trouble, and never showed the least bit frustration, for which I was thankful. So, we rescheduled the MRI for the open machine and I'm on the waiting list should anyone cancel between now and next Monday. Since I'm supposed to followup with the neurologist tomorrow, I may have to postpone that one as well.

The good thing about it all was they gave us a coupon worth up to $24 in food from Frisch's, which we later used to great enjoyment.

The food went a long way for making up for the inconvenience, but I think the jury's still out on the whole experience. There were several who were very helpful and capable, and a couple maybe not so much. But you find that in every place in health care, and I think they were really frustrated over the machine being down. They do studies from 6am to 10pm at night, so that's a lot of overflow from the schedule to work in once it's up. Unfortunately, I think they're the only ones with an open MRI in town, and that's about the only way I think they're going to get pictures of my brain, given my reaction in the other machine.

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