MRI-ALARM

I didn’t go home from hospital as quickly as I thought I would be. The surgeon visited on Monday and said I wouldn’t need an MRI and could go home Tuesday morning. Then, at about 10AM on Tuesday morning a lady arrived at my bed with a wheelchair. 

“I’m here to take you to your MRI.” 

Luckily my nurse was nearby and saw her approach. They chatted and decided, since I was still on the MRI schedule (and the limo had arrived), to call the surgeon. He said if they were still expecting me at MRI, I should go ahead and get it done. So, I hopped (shuffled, actually) into the wheelchair and was pushed to the MRI centre. Once there, I waited for nearly an hour before my turn. I fell asleep sitting in a plastic waiting room chair. They took my wheelchair away once I got down there and I was expected to walk from room to room. My leg was still extremely sore, making walking difficult and my brain was befuddled which made the experience quite taxing. 

There are two stages to a brain MRI. First they do a scan. Then they inject you with a colouring agent and do another scan. This gives them a different kind of picture of your brain. Before they put you in the machine, they put earplugs in. I told the doctor I only needed one, as I was now deaf in the left ear. She laughed and said she would like to protect what was left of the left. Once the earplugs were in and I was in position she inserted my head in the MRI machine. I was so tired that when I had the first scan, I fell asleep. She pulled me out of the machine, which woke me, and injected me with the dye. When she started to put me back in the machine, she stopped. She said something, but i couldn’t hear her. I removed the earplug and she said the weirdest thing.

“They haven’t said we need to evacuate the building." 

Well that's good, I thought. I don't think I could shuffle that far.

“Unfortunately, we can’t run the machine until the fire alarm is off. We have to wait.” 

Fire alarm? I couldn’t hear it. I’m not sure how long I laid there, going in and out of sleepy-land, until she said, “OK, we’ve received the all-clear. Let’s resume the test.” And back in I went for scan two. 

After being picked up by my limo-driver and returned to 10-4-1 it was nearly noon. Jenny and Rachael had arrived to take me home about two minutes after I was wheeled away from my bed. My Dad, who was there when the wheelchair arrived, explained where I had gone and they had a nice long chat.

Finally, just minutes before my lunch was due to arrive, we received permission to leave and made our way down to the parking lot and drove home. 

As we drove down the Eastern Freeway I got an overwhelming hunger. I had missed my mashed-potato, milk, apple juice and salad. I realised we were approaching Ringwood, which meant Salsa's Burritto's were within grasp. Yum. I asked Jenny if she could stop and get me a burrito. She said yes! So, Rachael, Jenny and Dad went to the food court, got lunch, and returned quite quickly. 

At least I think it was quickly, because I was asleep. Then I was eating a burrito as Jenny drove. Then I was home. Then I was in my lounge room. Ahoy, me couch, ahoy.

What a day!