So, I have the fortune (good or bad) to be a long-time patient, as well as a nurse. I went for my first MRI last week. Hey, guess what, I had no idea, but apparently I am a little claustrophobic. It was bad but I was doing OK by concentrating on the music until they started having me hold my breath 17 seconds every minute. My lung function is not the best, by the way. After about the 4th go-round, apparently I passed out. I came to and I thought I was gonna have to give the little gal running the machine CPR. She was pretty pasty. I scared her to pieces, poor thing.
"Well, " I said to myself. "I believe it is time for better living through chemistry."
Now, you have to understand, my drug reactions are pretty weird sometimes, so I hardly ever take anything but my scheduled meds. I don't drink, or smoke, or even use caffeine. My GP gave me some Xanax. She told me to take a quarter of a milligram half an hour before the test and another quarter right before the test. I tried a quarter of a milligram about a week beforehand and I couldn't see that it did anything.
My MRI was scheduled at 7 am, so I took half a milligram about 6:30 am. It made me feel a little sleepy, but nothing huge. There were some mixups and overbooking and so on, (nothing unusual for a hospital ;p), so I didn't get into the test room until almost 9 am. I didn't want my meds to run out in the middle of the test, so I decided to take another half a milligram. They put me in the tube. I was perfectly fine this time; I couldn't understand why I had reacted so badly the last time, as everything seemed A-OK and I was very comfortable. I could hear the tech talking to me once in a while, and I held my breath when I was supposed to, but I was pretty chill, laying there in my tube.
Suddenly, I hear my son's voice through the headphones. I told him, "Hey, honey, I don't think you are supposed to be using that." He said, "Mom, you didn't seem to hear the lady. You need to stop singing for a while." I said, "What?" He said, "Stop singing, just for a minute, OK? And hold your breath when she tells you to." I said, "I already did that." He said, (he is the most patient guy ever) "I know, but you have to do it some more, OK?" I said, "OK."
He came back a bit later and said, "Mom, turn back on your back. How the hell did you turn over like that anyway?" I said, "I got bored." He said, I swear to God, "You turn on your back and don't sing any more, and I'll buy you some ice cream on the way home." Now, where have I heard something like that before?
Anyway, they had to do some extra stuff because of what they saw in my pictures, so I was there quite a long time, and by the time I got out I was nearly sober. I said, "Oh my God, I turned into the patient from Hell. I am so sorry." The tech said, "Oh, no, you are definitely not the patient from Hell. This is the most fun I have had all week. You really kicked ass on "We Are the Champions." Come back any time! And I really enjoyed the story about the doctor and the Reynolds wrap." I looked at her blankly. I really don't remember that part at all. I wish I knew that story!
