The Merits of the Case

The MRI today proved to be yet another new and interesting cancer treatment experience for me. I had it done at Lutheran-General Hospital in Park Ridge on the advice of my oncologist who said they were the best in the area. The technician, Denise, told me the same thing, so I’m going to assume it’s true.

I arrived at the hospital 45 minutes early as instructed, registered and then waited for about 40 minutes to be called back into the MRI area. I changed into a hospital gown and removed all my jewelry and then I was questioned several times about the possibility of there being any metal in my body at all. Once they were sure I was a “safe” candidate for an MRI, a nurse inserted an IV port in my arm and Denise led me into the MRI room.

This time, instead of the machine being a big inner tube, there was a long thin tube waiting for me in the room. I had to lie face down on a table and Denise hooked my IV port up to an IV which would administer a contrast dye half-way through the MRI. She explained to me the importance of holding very still and then she gave me a small rubber ball to hold which was hooked to a tube or wire. She told me that if I needed her I could squeeze the ball. My face was placed in a contraption that provided support across my forehead and on either side of my head. I was looking down through a hole and I would have been able to see only the bottom of the table if not for the nifty periscope that allowed me to look straight ahead and out of the machine. I think this is supposed to help lessen the feeling of claustrophobia. I also think that lying face down is probably much easier and less claustrophobic than lying face up.

The table I was lying on then slid into the machine, Denise left the room, and the MRI began. The whole thing lasted 40 minutes. When Denise first told me that it was going to take that long I was very worried about my ability to hold still for that amount of time in that position. I started out trying to do some labor relaxation breathing, but it was hard to concentrate because of all the noise in the machine. The noises alternated between what sounded like a beating heart deep within the machine to various loud noises that I think signified the pictures being taken. They were all different…one sounded like I was in Notre Dame’s bell tower while the bells were ringing (that was by far the most pleasant one), another sounded like a jackhammer, and one sounded like a Star Wars light saber war going on over my head. The earplugs that Denise inserted into my ears before we began didn’t help much. Later I found out that they usually play relaxing music for patients while they are in the machine, but their CD player was broken so I got silence instead. Since I couldn’t really relax, I tried to concentrate on something specific. I started out thinking about the post I was going to write about the procedure and about my trip to Maui a couple of years ago and ended up thinking about the first three hearsay exceptions and running hearsay hypos in my head. And then it was over. I got dressed, Denise removed my IV, and I was on my way home.

Just to keep things interesting, however, Denise told me that she thought that the doctor was going to want to see my most recent mammogram films in conjunction with reading the MRI results. Since the hospital neglected to tell me that when I scheduled the MRI, the mammogram films were about 40 miles away back at the cancer center near my house. If I want the films to get to the doctor quickly, I have to pick them up and courier them out to him myself. No problem, I thought, I’ll just add that to my schedule since I don’t have anything else to do this week! I don’t know when I’ll actually be able to get the films out there, but I’ll worry about that later.

The MRI wasn’t awful….after all, there were no barium drinks to choke down. I don’t want to have to go through it again anytime soon, however, and I’m glad it’s over. Hopefully I’ll get the results soon, with or without the mammogram films, so that we can really pinpoint the next step. In the meantime, tomorrow I have a teaching appointment at my oncologist’s office where a nurse will go step-by-step over the chemo treatments with me so that I know what to expect.