The MRI

AKA - Magnetic Resonance Imaging. I just experienced my first one. Due to the need of seeing what is happening to my back which is starting to be disabling, my doctor of many years suggested this. It may determine exactly why my sciatica and spinal stenosis is growing more and more painful and I’m feeling so angry because I’m not programed for inactivity. 

Once a year I have a general checkup after blood work is done, and the only thing ever found is a bit of high blood pressure.  All systems are GO! except for the pain which starts in my lower back and runs all the way down one leg and it is constant. I’m NOT a “pill popper”  and there is very little chance I ever will be - but DARN! 

So, back to my experience. A good thing is that our local hospital is about three and one half miles towards town. After filling out a life health history sheet I was escorted into the back room. Since I had no metal in my underwear, outerwear or footwear, I didn’t have to change into the “bare-my-bottom” nightie. The technician (oh my gosh how young she was!) removed my tiny gold wire earrings with the little ball as I never take them out. She also reinserted them for me after the scan was complete. Sweet!

She explained the procedure, established the fact that I am not claustrophobic in small spaces and assisted me onto the machine. Adjustments of my body and pillows were made and a soft alert/alarm ball was put into one of my hands which were crossed on my chest. I was to squeeze this if I panicked.  A set of large padded earphones was placed on my head to protect my ears. I was offered a choice of music, but I declined. I wanted to hear this big boy perform for the entire twenty minute procedure. 

After taking a deep breath, I dove into IMAGINATION LAND.  Come along.......

Now picture this as you first listen to regular and strong beats: A dark skin man wearing only a breechcloth dances in a bent over stance, arms waving above his chest and knees pumping up and down while another fellow thumps on an empty hollow log - for a long time. Then listen to the steam engine coming down the tracks from the other side of the mountain getting closer and closer. Next hear the sound of machine gun fire, at first intermittent and then getting louder and more regular and constant as you watch the soldier lying closest to you in the darkness firing. Without thinking, you suddenly hear the machine gun noises turn into jackhammers within a drum, getting louder and louder. A large bass violin is being tuned and the bow never stops its travel across the strings. One tone. One long tone.  Another is now doing the same thing in the background. OR…it might have been a stuck key on a pipe organ! I wasn’t sure.

I vacated the sensory world for a couple of minutes while having to staunchly suppress a sneeze and also realized my right hand had fallen asleep. I then returned to having my brain become fully stimulated again and kept occupied until the end of the procedure. I survived. It wasn’t frightening just noisy. BANG!  

After returning home I then did some research on those sounds. There are many "out there." The link below is a small 42 second sample. It is missing some of the ones I heard.

MRI Sample Sounds