Please don't piss on my parade
On Saturday morning I went to Mission Hospital for an MRI. Handled in their usual efficient manner, I was kept hanging around for no more than 2 or 3 minutes in my entire hour and a half there. Starting off by changing into scrubs and making sure I'd taken off all my metal bits and pieces (they let me keep my wedding ring on as it's largely gold), I was given a pair of earplugs which rendered me almost completely deaf. I was then given instructions on what to do and what not to do - fortunately I have had an MRI before and am a pretty good lip reader so no problems there.
It was then time to be threaded into the tube of the MRI. It's pretty small and I'm sure a lot of folks around here wouldn't fit. You can't sit up once you're in there and I simply had to ignore my itchy foot until the itch went away. Despite the noise (which started out sounding like a high speed didgeridoo and went through a remarkable repertoire of chunks, clicks, bangs and whirrs) I think I managed to go to sleep as it didn't feel like I was in there for over an hour.
Nice touch - they gave me a DVD of the images (actually movies) to take away with me. My computer is less than smitten with the idea of playing them but it is interesting to know that your bum looks like something you'd be happy to pay $10 a pound for in Ingles. Naturally, I had to have a needle stuck in me - this was to provide "contrast".
The good news is that there is nothing cancer-related wrong with me beyond a little "salt and pepper" effect. In case you don't know what that is, here is a quote from a government website that explains it all.
"Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is superior to radiography for both, focal and diffuse involvement. Five different infiltration patterns can be differentiated: (1) normal appearance of bone marrow despite minor microscopic plasma cell infiltration, (2) focal involvement, (3) homogeneous diffuse infiltration, (4) combined diffuse and focal infiltration, (5) "salt-and-pepper"-pattern with inhomogeneous bone marrow with interposition of fat islands."
So now you know. The good news is that absolutely nothing abnormal showed up - no fractures, no lesions and only the usual crumbliness that you'd expect from an old crumbly of my advanced years. Bad news is that my bum still hurts and I am sitting on an ice pack once again. Don't think I will ref this weekend as walking more than about half a mile gets unpleasant, especially uphill (which our local soccer fields don't require). We spent the day walking around and sitting at High Point University which is currently Sam's number one pick.
Today's chemo session produced more good news - my haemoglobin is up to 13.2 which is above the minimum level for donating blood and is considered healthy. Of course, I can't give blood because of the nasty chemicals sloshing around inside me. My platelets and white bloodcell counts are also up though still below the acceptable minimum so all round I am feeling pretty good about myself. And now it is time to go and turn on the heat under the dinner (black bean soup & freshish crusty bread, washed down with a Clausthaler or two).
It was then time to be threaded into the tube of the MRI. It's pretty small and I'm sure a lot of folks around here wouldn't fit. You can't sit up once you're in there and I simply had to ignore my itchy foot until the itch went away. Despite the noise (which started out sounding like a high speed didgeridoo and went through a remarkable repertoire of chunks, clicks, bangs and whirrs) I think I managed to go to sleep as it didn't feel like I was in there for over an hour.
Nice touch - they gave me a DVD of the images (actually movies) to take away with me. My computer is less than smitten with the idea of playing them but it is interesting to know that your bum looks like something you'd be happy to pay $10 a pound for in Ingles. Naturally, I had to have a needle stuck in me - this was to provide "contrast".
"Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is superior to radiography for both, focal and diffuse involvement. Five different infiltration patterns can be differentiated: (1) normal appearance of bone marrow despite minor microscopic plasma cell infiltration, (2) focal involvement, (3) homogeneous diffuse infiltration, (4) combined diffuse and focal infiltration, (5) "salt-and-pepper"-pattern with inhomogeneous bone marrow with interposition of fat islands."
So now you know. The good news is that absolutely nothing abnormal showed up - no fractures, no lesions and only the usual crumbliness that you'd expect from an old crumbly of my advanced years. Bad news is that my bum still hurts and I am sitting on an ice pack once again. Don't think I will ref this weekend as walking more than about half a mile gets unpleasant, especially uphill (which our local soccer fields don't require). We spent the day walking around and sitting at High Point University which is currently Sam's number one pick.
Today's chemo session produced more good news - my haemoglobin is up to 13.2 which is above the minimum level for donating blood and is considered healthy. Of course, I can't give blood because of the nasty chemicals sloshing around inside me. My platelets and white bloodcell counts are also up though still below the acceptable minimum so all round I am feeling pretty good about myself. And now it is time to go and turn on the heat under the dinner (black bean soup & freshish crusty bread, washed down with a Clausthaler or two).
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