What did I Wear?

In an effort to figure out what is going on with my body, I went for an MRI.

After checking in with the receptionist, I was called into the staging area by a nurse.  When the nurse brought me back to the actual MRI area, she told me I had to change into scrubs.  I thought this was kind of silly; I was wearing a t-shirt and leggings.  Nothing with metal on it.  It’s my understanding that metal is taboo in an MRI machine.  Still those were the rules of the facility, so I acquiesced.  We arrived at the “Scrub Closet.”  It was an area with sets of hanging scrubs.  The nurse  took a look at me; she took a look at my paperwork; she took a look at her scrub collection.  She handed me a set of scrubs.  I assumed she had eyeballed my body and looked at the weight number that I had put on the paperwork.  Still, to me the scrubs looked a little small.  She led me to a changing room.  I really needed to use the bathroom, but I figured they wanted me to change first.  I took off my clothes and put on the scrubs top first.  It was a little snug.  It wasn’t horrible; I just don’t think I’d wear it dancing or anything.  Then I held up the scrubs bottoms against my body.  I couldn’t imagine these pants fitting me.  I put them on anyway - glutton for punishment?  Sure enough the scrub pants didn’t go any further than my thighs.  Now I was stuck.  I would have to take the scrubs off and put my street clothes on so I could go out and visit with the woman at the reception desk.  Plus, I still needed to pee.  I just decided to put my leggings back on and march out to the front desk.  From the moment I started to put my leggings back on, thoughts raced through my mind.  “Am I too fat for the scrub pants in this facility?  Do I look thinner than I am?  Was the woman giving me a compliment by handing me too small scrubs?  How embarrassing is it going to be to have to go back out to the front desk?”

When I got to the desk, I explained to the woman that the pants didn’t fit.  She apologized and said she would help me find something that fit.  When I went back with her she looked at my leggings and said, “Oh you’re wearing leggings!  You can just keep those on.  You’ll be fine.”  Of course that led my thoughts to “Is the pair of scrub pants they gave me largest size they have?  Is she embarrassed that they don’t have a bigger pair of scrub pants?  Is she embarrassed that the nurse mis-sized me?”  Off I went to wait for my MRI.

Interestingly enough, the technician who came to do my MRI was in a bigger body than I am and she had on scrubs that seemed to fit comfortably.  So clearly, somewhere in this facility, or in the world, there were bigger scrubs.  She looked at my leggings.  “Are those lululemon?” she asked.  I laughed.  If you aren’t familiar, lululemon is a fashionable athletic apparel brand.  The only thing in a lululemon store that fits me are the socks and the face masks.  Apparently their leggings don’t bode well in MRI machines.  Perhaps they have metal in them.

The technician had me lie down in the MRI machine.  She confirmed with me that I wasn’t wearing a bra.  Apparently even the little loops on bra straps contain metal and that’s BAD for MRI machines.  She gave me my earplugs, and I got into the machine.  If you’re not familiar with MRI machines, they are loud.  REALLY loud.  So I lied there and tried to think of other things.  I also had to hold still.  I have a slight tremor in my left side, and I tried not to think about it.  Suddenly, one of the noises/vibrations that the machine was making started to vibrate something on my left hand.  I had a ring on!  I keep this ring on my middle finger all the time - 24/7.  Unless I am working with food (like raw meat), I don’t take the ring off.  Well, here was metal on my body in the MRI machine!  Was I going to die?  Was my finger going to burn?  Was I going to break the MRI machine?  I didn’t know.  The sound of the machine was so loud, I couldn’t say anything to the technician.   I lied there, as still as I could be, nervous about my ring.  I could feel the tremor creeping into my left arm.  “Hold still!” I thought.  Of course that only made the tremor more prevalent.  I started thinking about other things.  I started thinking about what the loud sounds of the machine sounded like.  Maybe this was what an automatic stapler machine sounds like.  Maybe this is what an automatic riveting machine sounds like.  This thought diversion helped settle the tremor.  Finally, after the first set of unbelievably loud sounds stopped, the technician asked me if I was okay.  I shouted from within the machine, “I forgot I have a ring on!”  She assured me that it was okay to keep the ring on.  

During the next set of imaging, I felt a lot more relaxed.  That was until I realized I had 2 earrings on in my left ear and one toward the top of my right ear lobe.  It was more metal I forgot I carried.  And oh yeah, there’s my nose stud.  She had to have seen my nose stud when she put me in the machine.  But she hadn’t said anything.  Really?  Loops on a bra strap were a big deal, but my head full of metal was a no issue?

When the noise was finally over, it was time for me to exit the machine.  I went back to the dressing room.  The door was closed, but I thought I heard a noise inside.  I gently knocked.  A woman emerged from inside.   “I’ll be out in a second.  I just want to check my phone one last time.”   Okay, I thought.  I wasn’t really sure what was so pressing on her phone that I couldn’t change out of the snug scrub top.  Then she said something about being ready for me to take her to get her MRI.  “No!” I said.  “I’m just waiting to get in there so I can get dressed!”  “Oh!” She said. “I thought you were a technician.  You look so professional.”  What?  I looked professional in my snug scrub top and personal leggings?  Interesting.  She let me have the dressing space, and I proceeded to wrangle myself out of the scrub top.  When I looked in the mirror, I realized, “oh!  I had a necklace on!”  Who knows what these films are going to look like.  Probably just a bunch of metal floating all over the screen.

PS - MRI showed I have spinal stenosis. I will keep up my core strengthening exercises and keep sending love to my spine. The doctor also order a battery of blood tests and a sleep study to see if we can figure out what is going on with my stamina. I’ll keep you all posted.