Get well soon!

[gamba]

Great news about your early return. We've been like a family with the most important member missing. I have had every conceivable scan available. Nothing hurts, just an annoying waste of time & sometimes very noisy The thing to really beware of is a bone marrow Biopsis.
I had a nurse of about 20 plus stone holding me down - we both ' took - off ' with ease when the process began.
Anyway, we'll all soon be a sort of family again. As I've said before,'still waiting with bated breathe ..........

Looking forward to that much overdue moment,

Love & a bouquet of fond wishes from gamba ( & I'sure everyone else here ).

[french frank]

Latest bulletin is that the scan experience went better than expected, in fact some of the noises were quite interesting (John Cage would be very pleased with her!). She is still suffering pain so a bit of a way to go, but it's hoped they'll be able to improve that.

Cards were much appreciated and are displayed on the mantelpiece!

[marthe]

Thanks FF. It's good to hear this news!

[doversoul1]

Good to hear that the scan wasn’t too stressful. As for the cards, if anybody looked at them and saw all those senders’ names, what would s/he think!!?

[gamba]

There sure is an assortment of weird ones there !!

[LeMartinPecheur]

You mean otherwise you could get STUCK TO THE MACHINE?????

Getting well stuck to the machine would be far preferable! The force of those damn magnets is so great that they will tear right out of your flesh any magnetic metal, so iron/steel and some - maybe not all? - stainless steels. Tooth fillings fortunately don't count - iron isn't too great in that role.

The forces are presumably greatest actually in the scanning centre of the machine but they are still highly dangerous if you walk up close to the outside. Thus there is IIRC a red line marked on the floor around the scanner a metre or more out: step inside it at your peril and after removing any artificial metal joints, pacemakers and embedded schrapnel

I was privileged to be given a guided tour of the scanner (outside only, NOT through the middle) at the Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford some years ago by Dr Phil Anslow, a pioneer of this technology and now laid very low by MND, though I believe still using his brain a la Hawking on medical and forensic issues while he still can.

Interpretation of the scans is a fine art. I remember thinking I was looking at some ghastly growth in someone's eye socket because there was an obvious asymmetry between the two soft eye-tissue 'slices' in the 'photo'. Fortunately this was entirely attributable to the patient's head being slightly turned to one side rather than the nose being precisely vertical as it were. Thus the thin scanned slices through each eye were not of the same diameter and so LMP thought one of them must be cancerous or something when in fact all was perfectly OK.

Probably a damn good job I didn't become a doctor then

[Barbirollians]

I had one in 1998. I am a bit claustrophobic so it was just suggested to me to close my eyes for the time I was in there - apart from the rattling sounds it was quite peaceful.

[salymap]

Well, the MRI was better than expected, and thanks for all the messages of other MRI fun experiences!
Pam didn't mind the noise of the machine at all, in fact found that part quite interesting.
The hardest part of the day was the travelling to and fro in the ambulance to the hospital. Why do they make these vehicles with seemingly no suspension?

No news on the results yet.

Best wishes to everybody

Saly/Pam (scibed by Jen)

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, the MRI was better than expected, and thanks for all the messages of other MRI fun experiences!
Pam didn't mind the noise of the machine at all, in fact found that part quite interesting.
The hardest part of the day was the travelling to and fro in the ambulance to the hospital. Why do they make these vehicles with seemingly no suspension?

No news on the results yet.

Best wishes to everybody

Saly/Pam (scibed by Jen)

Thanks for this good news from you both! I think the problem is less with non-suspensioned ambulances than speed humps, which are as bad in SE London as anywhere I've driven or cycled across, if not worse. This is especially the case where erosion at the interface between hump and regular road surface virtually leaves a cliff face, or at worst a pothole which, when struck by front wheels, can cause a vehicle almost to take off. The new, dimmer forms of street lighting now being introduced everywhere makes these details ever harder to distinguish, especially in the gloom of a wet night: extremely dangerous when cycling. Another problem would seem to be scraped exhaust and other pipes on cars and vans with the low chassis.

[eighthobstruction]

Ah that's good....thanks Jenny....bestio Pam

[BBMmk2]

Best to all! BBM.

[EdgeleyRob]

Best wishes Salymap.

[Estelle]

Hello, Salymap! Your MRI experience sounds better than mine about a year ago. The banging was so loud that, with earplugs and the headset on, I could barely endure the forty-five minute procedure. I couldn't hear a bit of the music, but for some birds tweeting. I made a resolution that I will take a tranquilizer next time I need an MRI.

[Serial_Apologist]

Hello, Salymap! Your MRI experience sounds better than mine about a year ago. The banging was so loud that, with earplugs and the headset on, I could barely endure the forty-five minute procedure. I couldn't hear a bit of the music, but for some birds tweeting. I made a resolution that I will take a tranquilizer next time I need an MRI.

They had Radio 2 playing all the time I underwent my stent installation operation last August. The Leningrad would have been just the number, to give me some much-needed fighting spirit!

[marthe]

salymap, I'm happy to hear that the MRI went well, but sorry to hear about the bumpy ambulance ride. You and my mother should exchange notes on that. The road to our local hospital is a mess of potholes!