Head MRI
I was very, very anxious ahead of this test for obvious reasons. I was hoping it would be shorter but since I did need a contrast halfway through and I was getting no happy drugs I remained nervous. I almost freaked when they placed a metal (torture) cage around my head, but the tech added a mirror to the top of this which allowed me to see my toes. I read this page about MRIs so that I would be more informed. It's quite confusing, kudos to people who know all this -- Scott!
I was hoping it wouldn't be bad, and it wasn't. The combination of the mirror and the fact that my headphones fit more comfortably seemed to make all the difference. This MRI machine seemed newer, it was also less noisy. I was getting pretty stressed up to the contrast injection, after which I had to pee severely and had to leave the room. This added a bit more time as they had to do a new image map (or something). But, I made it through this with a LOT less trauma than last time.
As before I sent my MRI's to Scott for a preview. I didn't realize till after I had talked to him about the results how difficult it might be to read an MRI of someone close to you when you find something abnormal. Dr.'s cultivate their clinical distance just to deal with these situations, but I think it flies out the window when it's a friend and I admire Scott's courage and willingness to help out in any way he could, I'm very grateful to have heard about the spots in my brain from a trusted friend first.
The MRI showed several "bright spots" in my brain. This is a term used to signify areas of inflammation caused by deteriorating myelin sheath surrounding nerves. You really don't want these, or really anything abnormal in your brain, at least that's the way I look at it. Scott and my neurologist both agree that these are likely evidence of the disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, before she will give a 'diagnosis', my neurologist recommended more tests. I had another eight vials of blood drawn yesterday. I think that makes the grand total around 26 vials across 4 visits in the last 5 weeks and I have yet to feint! Go me!
I was hoping it wouldn't be bad, and it wasn't. The combination of the mirror and the fact that my headphones fit more comfortably seemed to make all the difference. This MRI machine seemed newer, it was also less noisy. I was getting pretty stressed up to the contrast injection, after which I had to pee severely and had to leave the room. This added a bit more time as they had to do a new image map (or something). But, I made it through this with a LOT less trauma than last time.
As before I sent my MRI's to Scott for a preview. I didn't realize till after I had talked to him about the results how difficult it might be to read an MRI of someone close to you when you find something abnormal. Dr.'s cultivate their clinical distance just to deal with these situations, but I think it flies out the window when it's a friend and I admire Scott's courage and willingness to help out in any way he could, I'm very grateful to have heard about the spots in my brain from a trusted friend first.
The MRI showed several "bright spots" in my brain. This is a term used to signify areas of inflammation caused by deteriorating myelin sheath surrounding nerves. You really don't want these, or really anything abnormal in your brain, at least that's the way I look at it. Scott and my neurologist both agree that these are likely evidence of the disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, before she will give a 'diagnosis', my neurologist recommended more tests. I had another eight vials of blood drawn yesterday. I think that makes the grand total around 26 vials across 4 visits in the last 5 weeks and I have yet to feint! Go me!
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