Scan Friday

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to stay completely still for twenty minutes!

Friday was my Scan, at long last. So off I went to the MRI department of the same hospital as last time.

When you get there you put all your stuff and valuables into a locker with a metal key! which I had to leave in the lock... as you can't take anything metal into the room!
The machine is a huge (10ft high) cylinder and you lie on a little tray which rises to about 5 feet off the ground, which is a bit high when your leg is tied down, and slides in and out of the machine. I looked like I was in an iron lung with just my head sticking out of one end of the machine.

For the exam you have to stay completely still, otherwise the image it produces is blurred and you have to stay that way for about 20 minutes which so hard. First you lie there and think about moving and then you think about not moving and you get tense. So you have to think about not being tense as that's moving too and you go in circles in you mind;

don't think about moving, think about something else, keep still, don't start laughing, OK think of something serious so you don't laugh, oh no now your tensing up, relax so you don't move, don't think about moving....arrggh!

Another thing I wasn't prepared for was the noise. the 20 minutes it takes is broken down into 2:45-3min chunks or very loud banging and buzzing as the machine works and so you have to wear noise protection.

The hospital was fine, if typical in its confusing amount of corridors and staircases. The staircases featured a lot of rope and netting I guess to stop anymore trying to top themselves. The Psychiatry department is probably on the top floor.

The only thing really annoying about the whole experience was that I won't know the results until I have another meeting with the consultant so I'm waiting for another letter in the post.