MRI number two

[cjsmith]

Different machine today. GE, instead of Philips; less swoopy-looking. This one has a digital readout on the front, indicating time remaining on the current scan, table position in millimeters from some reference point, and two vertical-bar readouts for things I didn't understand (symbols: a pair of lungs and a hand using a mouse.) I liked the time remaining display. It was handy that my head was outside the machine, so I could see it. :)

This one doesn't set up by going CHUNKA CHUNKA CHUNKA. It makes a noise that sounds like a goose mated with a bullfrog and their child has a seriously nasty throat condition.

They did a couple of extra scans of the left foot before going on to the right. Odd. Wonder what they'd have done if I hadn't had this second appointment set up -- ignored the extra ones?

I was much more aware of machine vibration this time. The nerve tingles, fortunately, were a bit more subdued. (The right foot's more oversensitized and I had started to wonder whether the MRI would actually hurt. It didn't, just tingle-tickled very subtly. Interestingly enough, the tech seemed completely unsurprised that I could feel it.)

It's very relaxing. Lie down, listen to music, and take on no responsibilities whatsoever except not moving for the better part of an hour. Mmm, nice.

I asked about obtaining copies of my films. They're expensive, but I'm going to get them. I will want a second opinion if surgery is recommended, and it'll be handy to have my own copy. Plus maybe I can scan 'em and make a funky foot cross section usericon! :-)

I am soooooooooooooo hoping these scans show something fixable. Sooooooooo hoping.

Comments

[melanie.livejournal.com]

*crossing fingers for you*

if not for my MRI's, i'd probably have had many more years of grief before they figured anything out.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, it's amazing what can be seen with an MRI. The tech I had today told me that she started her career doing X-rays; when she saw the first MRI scan as they were about to hit the market, her first words were "Everything will change now." I can only imagine how true that is.

[ericainohio.livejournal.com]

I know we're all hoping that for you too, CJ. *sending lots of visual vibes*

I have to tell you, having never had an MRI myself, I've been highly amused at your descriptions of the sounds they make. Heh. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I figure this is one of the great features of blogging: if you ever wonder what it's like to have some particular experience, someone somewhere has written it all down already so you know what to expect! :) I think my abdominal surgery is in here somewhere, and some descriptions of aerobatic goofs lessons learned, and what it's like to backpack four days by myself or take a helicopter from Finland to Estonia or call a square dance in Japan. In return I get stuff about births, stuff about raising children, which kind of bird looks like what, science fiction conventions, scrapbooking, living in Egypt, being a cop, being an EMT, and all sorts of glimpses I wouldn't otherwise get in my life.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

it is pretty cool that way.

I also got to hear neat CJ stories last night.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Neat CJ stories?? Where were those being told? I want to add my own exaggerations um, spin on things. :-)

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I had a date with joedecker. There was a story involving bracelets.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I remember that one.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

Joe is a good storyteller, though that one had digressions to digressions in it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That's Joe's style. :)

[oddhack.livejournal.com]

They may not have CD burners, but they certainly have the data in
digital form. You might ask if they will copy it to a USB key if
you can bring one in.

Note that medical imaging datasets are often in arcane proprietary
formats requiring specialized software to view, though.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Huh, interesting thought. Do they have access to that data, and a USB port? I don't know enough about how MRI machines/processors are implemented. Anyway, I'm content now that I'll get the films. Having the dataset isn't (to me) enormously better.

[oddhack.livejournal.com]

The imaging community is going end-to-end digital. Whether that affects your particular systems yet I couldn't say. But I would be fairly surprised if a modern Silicon Valley center wasn't keeping digital backups of everything.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I don't know that this center is modern. I was pretty surprised that they hadn't upgraded to get a DVD burner yet. (They say they expect that capability in the fall or winter, so it's in the works.) I don't know if that service -- that capability -- is integral to the MRI machine as a whole, and if it is I can't blame 'em for getting as much use as they can out of the machines they've got before upgrading. Those puppies aren't cheap. :-/

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

Doncha just hate those steam-powered MRIs? *grin*

I hope your feet get better soon.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Bwahahaaaa! That got a good chuckle out of me!

Thanks. My fingers and toes and eyes are crossed. :)

[kimatha.livejournal.com]

CHUNKA CHUNKA CHUNKA

(just felt like saying it, but don't think i could make the sound that comes from the offspring of a goose and a bullfrog)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think you should walk around the office some afternoon saying CHUNKA CHUNKA CHUNKA. Refuse to explain.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

sounds like a goose mated with a bullfrog and their child has a seriously nasty throat condition

I... uh...

Never mind. I just can't think of anything to say to that. ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'd be grateful if you could tell me how to spell such a noise. I'd have just put it in if I knew how to write it.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

But you seem to be so good at the onomatopoeia! :-)

How about:

GgrroonnKCH!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Without the KCH at the end, in this case. It really did sound kind of goose-honky... although much more bass. Poor thing needs some Chloraseptic. (I suppose if I had patients sticking their legs down my throat at 8:30 in the morning I wouldn't sound too good either.)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I put the KCH there for the phlegmatic sound I inferred from the "throat condition" you described, but I think I get what you mean. :-)