My first ever MRI: Thanks to some annoying arm and neck pain, my good friend Bruce McPherson and Dr. Scott Parry decided it would be best for me to get an MRI. I've seen a lot of these machines but never actually experienced it in person. Let me just say that it was one of the wildest rides I've ever experienced (even more than the Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point Amusement Park). To start, they make sure you don't have anything metal on or in you such as watches, pacemakers, plates, etc. The powerful magnets wreak havoc on such items. Then you are placed on a table and helped to be as immobile as possible. In my case, it was the worst possible position for the pain in my shoulder and I hadn't taken my pain meds for about six hours. Then they bracket your head so it can't move, slide you in, and ask you to be as still as possible. I've heard of a lot of people having major claustrophobia attacks with these things. I'm not generally inclined to such but I can see how it could be uncomfortable. In my case, I didn't have the tunnel type of machine, rather it was open on the sides (see picture above, not my actual radiologist) which made it much more comfortable. Still, this huge machine is basically a couple of inches in front of your face. They ask you to close your eyes while they scan you with a laser, then they go to a nearby control room and start the process. I was given earplugs at first and I soon found out why. The "R" in MRI stands for "resonance" which basically means blasting you with extremely loud blasts of sound for long periods of time. I would compare the sounds to something you would hear in the middle of a Klingon invasion. It was so intense that I could feel my body vibrating. It's the kind of sound that, if you don't focus your mind somewhere else, can drive you insane. Kind of like singing all , the verses to 99 bottles of pop on the wall. After just a few minutes, I was ready to scream for mercy; not because of claustrophobia or sound but because my shoulder pain was killing and I couldn't find a comfortable spot. Sensing my discomfort (I was moving too much) the technician came in and wedged a pillow under my shoulder which helped immensely. Amazingly enough during the next several minute of sound torture, I almost drifted off to sleep because of the rhythmic nature of the sound. The whole process lasted between 15 and 20 minutes and at the end I exclaimed "wow, that was fun." (heavy sarcasm). I was totally unprepared for this experience but I'm glad I got to see it first hand. Oh, by the way, the diagnosis came back as a herniated disk in my neck between C6-C7 just as Dr. Parry had predicted. Oh what a pain in the neck!
