That's what I did. I practiced holding my breath. First it was quite an adventure - luckily it was past all the OMWAH's bedtime and they were not lurking in the parking garage - or maybe they don't go out at night. I ate my late lunch (half a PB&J at 230pm) and made Walter a nice dinner of fish, broccoli and salad. We got there and I had to fill out all the basic MRI paperwork - is there any metal in my body - no surgical plates, welding dust, shrapnel, etc - as well as a piece of paper telling them why I am having the MRI (because I had nothing else to do on a Monday evening). To make sure you fill in the paperwork and return it, they hold your insurance card hostage while you do it. The little sign asked for my insurance card which I thought they wanted to look at. They took it and said, 'we will give it back when you return your completed paperwork!' Obviously some people don't take filling out paperwork seriously enough, or maybe they don't want to talk about their shrapnel or something. Possibly or to reveal their weight - I think they asked for it twice.... (And they never asked me if I had fasted before hand or not so I guess I probably could have eaten - just call it patient confusion...)
Then the nurse called me and took me to the dressing room. she got me a johnnie (Dr. Seymour Butz gown) and pajama bottoms. Then she tied the johnnie closed and said 'you can just pull it over your head'. Now I know some people have problems figuring out how to tie a johnnie and walk around partially exposed - men seem to have this problem more than women... However, I have never had anyone tie a johnnie for me before. I think I know how they work by now.
After getting dressed, they brought me into the MRI room where I had to lie on the table. First they put a big plastic shell thing over my abdomen - think bottom side of a turtle - and strapped it down. (I asked and its a camera!) Then they put in the IV - she actually had a light touch so I didn't grind my teeth as she dug into the back of my hand. (It didn't matter that I don't have a port any more.) Then I realized that if I had to lie there for 45 minutes my back would get quite sore. We had some fun rearranging me so that my back wouldn't start hurting. Then I found out I had to put my hands over my head on the pillow. The nurse said here's some ear plugs but listen for the instructions to hold your breath. Huh? Ear plugs and verbal instructions??? More patient confusion.
I didn't realize that I would have to hold my breath for up to 30 seconds - they didn't tell me until after it was over. The little voice would say (and not the voices in my head.... yet...) 'breathe in', 'hold your breath', and finally 'relax'. The catch was every time you had to breath in, you didn't know how long you would be holding your breath. Sometimes for only 2 seconds and sometimes for 30.... And sometimes you could relax for about 2 seconds and sometimes for several minutes. By the end of the 45 minutes, I felt like I had been swimming underwater and holding my breath for the duration and my shoulders were killing me! Today I will practice normal respiration.
Now about my port and the steristrips, my incision is healing fine with only minor scarring. I can tell this because the itchy little steri strips 'fell off' yesterday morning in the shower. Now I only have post crisping itching to deal with. (Yes, they itched while I was strapped down in the MRI as well!)
Today, I am off for a walk and then to work and my support group. It looks deceptively nice out. Sunny, etc but I think its only about 25 degrees!
No comments:
Post a Comment