(no subject)
So yesterday I had my contrast MRI.
Surprisingly, not the actual procedure... let me explain.
I had an appointment at 4pm, and arrived at the hospital at 3:30pm. Had to check it an general admitting, which basically involved sitting in the waiting room for 20mins watching the people behind the counter struggle to find their asses with either hand. Still managed to get in to radiology by 4:05 though.
I presented my paperwork at radiology, to a great deal of total irritation by the attending. They seemed more interested in chatting amongst themselves than doing anything for patients. I then waited for for a good 20mins until I was called in by the nurse... not that long really, but at that point I'd been doing a lot of waiting watching medical professionals do a lot of not much. The nurse, however, was an absolutly fabulous fellow, and I'd reccomend him any time.
I got changed into one of the strangest gowns I've ever seen (it had three arm holes), and just before presening myself for torture, remembered I should take some pain killers... after all, I was about to get injected with dye and forced to sit in a tube without moving for a while.
I was taken into a live xray room, where I was laid on my back on a table under / beside a great big cool machine. The nurse chatted with me to my great amusement while prepping me for the dye... I ended up with my left shoulder exposed from the gown and bathed in betadine wash - a sterile field, woot.
The doc came in, and asked me about my shoulder while he prepped. I told him the truth... that while I'd love to know why my shoulder hurts so damn much from the MRI, I'd rather have the results of the MRI show a clean, healthy joint. He finally got to the business of injecting me... first lidocain to numb the skin, then a six inch needle he shoved half way into my joint. Yes, three inches strait into my shoulder. Wee. All in all, it actually didn't hurt. It felt really weird, yes, but didn't hurt.
The coolest thing was the live xray. Live as in, real time... they stepped on a foot petal and my xray-ed body showed in real time on a computer screen like how in the cartoons, when you go behind the screen, you can see the person's bones while they're walking. It allowed the doc to shove the needle into the correct place between my bones and into my joint as he was doing it... watch the needle go in and watch the dye distrubute itself.
The doc noticed my fascination with watching my body get moved around in bone form on the screen, and after he pulled the needle out, he did the coolest thing... he said, "If you liked all that, you're going to LOVE this..." He took my shoulder and arm in his hands and moved them around while making the xray machine do it's thing, and showed me the contrast dye sloshing around in my joint. It shows up as a darker gray on xray, so when he shook me like a dog toy, I could see the fluid slosh about in the core of my joint. WAY COOL and basically making all the stress totally worth it.
After I got all injected, I was escorted to the MRI machine. They proceded to shove me in a tube coffin and make all sorts of loud noises around my head for an hour. I dozed.
All in all, I was at the hospital about three hours. By the time Mr. B picked me up, the lidocain was wearing off and the pain started up... the extra fluid in my joint made me very sore and stiff... my humerous was under a lot of pressure and didn't want to move about like normal. I felt like I'd been beat up by the MRI machine... I was in it for about an hour, with the longest view lasting 45 minutes... so 45 minutes flat on my back with my arms by my side unable to move, waist deep in a tube barely large enough to admit my shoulders. I was sore, stiff, and very very grumpy.
Mr. B decided that was the perfect time to go to Office Max, of course, but an hour after I was out of the hospital, I was finally home. Pajamas, computer, a glass of wine, and an overwhelming desire to snap at anything that came too close.
I'm still pretty sore, but at least everything moves like it's supposed to since the dye has by now been absorbed into my body and hopefully excreted, sweated out, or whatever the hell it does to vacate my being.
I get my MRI read tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Surprisingly, not the actual procedure... let me explain.
I had an appointment at 4pm, and arrived at the hospital at 3:30pm. Had to check it an general admitting, which basically involved sitting in the waiting room for 20mins watching the people behind the counter struggle to find their asses with either hand. Still managed to get in to radiology by 4:05 though.
I presented my paperwork at radiology, to a great deal of total irritation by the attending. They seemed more interested in chatting amongst themselves than doing anything for patients. I then waited for for a good 20mins until I was called in by the nurse... not that long really, but at that point I'd been doing a lot of waiting watching medical professionals do a lot of not much. The nurse, however, was an absolutly fabulous fellow, and I'd reccomend him any time.
I got changed into one of the strangest gowns I've ever seen (it had three arm holes), and just before presening myself for torture, remembered I should take some pain killers... after all, I was about to get injected with dye and forced to sit in a tube without moving for a while.
I was taken into a live xray room, where I was laid on my back on a table under / beside a great big cool machine. The nurse chatted with me to my great amusement while prepping me for the dye... I ended up with my left shoulder exposed from the gown and bathed in betadine wash - a sterile field, woot.
The doc came in, and asked me about my shoulder while he prepped. I told him the truth... that while I'd love to know why my shoulder hurts so damn much from the MRI, I'd rather have the results of the MRI show a clean, healthy joint. He finally got to the business of injecting me... first lidocain to numb the skin, then a six inch needle he shoved half way into my joint. Yes, three inches strait into my shoulder. Wee. All in all, it actually didn't hurt. It felt really weird, yes, but didn't hurt.
The coolest thing was the live xray. Live as in, real time... they stepped on a foot petal and my xray-ed body showed in real time on a computer screen like how in the cartoons, when you go behind the screen, you can see the person's bones while they're walking. It allowed the doc to shove the needle into the correct place between my bones and into my joint as he was doing it... watch the needle go in and watch the dye distrubute itself.
The doc noticed my fascination with watching my body get moved around in bone form on the screen, and after he pulled the needle out, he did the coolest thing... he said, "If you liked all that, you're going to LOVE this..." He took my shoulder and arm in his hands and moved them around while making the xray machine do it's thing, and showed me the contrast dye sloshing around in my joint. It shows up as a darker gray on xray, so when he shook me like a dog toy, I could see the fluid slosh about in the core of my joint. WAY COOL and basically making all the stress totally worth it.
After I got all injected, I was escorted to the MRI machine. They proceded to shove me in a tube coffin and make all sorts of loud noises around my head for an hour. I dozed.
All in all, I was at the hospital about three hours. By the time Mr. B picked me up, the lidocain was wearing off and the pain started up... the extra fluid in my joint made me very sore and stiff... my humerous was under a lot of pressure and didn't want to move about like normal. I felt like I'd been beat up by the MRI machine... I was in it for about an hour, with the longest view lasting 45 minutes... so 45 minutes flat on my back with my arms by my side unable to move, waist deep in a tube barely large enough to admit my shoulders. I was sore, stiff, and very very grumpy.
Mr. B decided that was the perfect time to go to Office Max, of course, but an hour after I was out of the hospital, I was finally home. Pajamas, computer, a glass of wine, and an overwhelming desire to snap at anything that came too close.
I'm still pretty sore, but at least everything moves like it's supposed to since the dye has by now been absorbed into my body and hopefully excreted, sweated out, or whatever the hell it does to vacate my being.
I get my MRI read tomorrow. Wish me luck.