Cool, Cool MRI
I finally got my head MRI done this week. Phew…It happened the day the plane flew into my neurosurgeon’s old apartment building. The Building is right across from the Hemsley Towers, not far from Cornell Hospital itself. I arrived at the office around noontime, drinking a thick Black Current smoothie, gave my NP a verbal update about things ( I had driven a Pontiac Grand Am rental car the past weekend over a 10 inch curve, not quite realizing what I was doing until the car felt a bit tipsy and was slanting to one side ! Otherwise I don’t necessarily drive at all. Definitely not in Manhattan ! Dr. Mike walked in and decided to do schedule the MRI immediately - I must not have looked too good. I had been having thoracic back pain for a 3 good weeks, barely working , even omitting my usual weekly CTICU hours. My neck felt like it was sizzling. Give me a knife and I’ll denervate the entire left neck muscles myself ! God-forbid, but sleeping on one side for 3 weeks had been torturous. In Dr. Mike’s office , I couldn’t even sit up on the exam table. And within an hour, my entire DBS system was turned off. MRIs can drain the pacemaker batteries, leading to strokes and seizures on the MRI table. Frightening- I had never been told this before. Uhmfff. Being suddenly turned off left my mind cognitively fuzzy, I couldn’t comprehend the directions to the MRI suite. So I asked about 4 people who all wore the same NYP Employee badge that I did for directions. The MRI went smoothly as I’m not claustrophobic. The entire event was actually soothing, comforting being in a dark, enclosed safe area with electrons floating around you. Once completed, I headed back to Dr. Mike’s office on the 6th floor going to sleep for awhile as there was complete chaos on the street below. Sirens, machine guns, people gawking, camera crews etc. By 4:30 pm reprogramming began. Slow and tedious process. We laughed and joked about certain things. The rain had started falling heavily. All was grey outside with a multitude of sirens screeching loudly. We agreed on maintaining low settings. And the wait and watching period began for the next 30 minutes. I stepped out into the rain like Gene Kelly. Once back in my apartment, I took off my soaked clothes ( must have looked like a wet rat …) , climbed into my pajamas and waited for DBS side effects to develop. I missed Grey’s Anatomy, but was able to throw my clothes into a washer and dryer in the meantime. Having been turned off for about 4 hours cleared my mind, diminishing those headaches finally. I could think, at least, efficiently now. Phew…Would these settings last this time ???
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