I had my MRI on Saturday morning. I did not sleep well that night. I don't know if it's because I was nervous or what. By the time I finished showering and packing it was after 1 then my body decided that 4am would be a great time to wake up. Usually if I wake up at 4, which happens quite frequently, I can just fall back asleep within an hour or two. That wasn't the case and I was awake until I went to get my MRI at 9:00.
I really did not want to go. MRIs aren't fun. I hate wearing a hospital gown. It's always cold in there. Plus now that they moved me out of the pediatric center I don't get to watch a movie or anything during the 30-40 minute procedure. But I think the biggest reason why I hate getting MRIs is because they need to inject contrast into my arm and they can never find the vein.
My appointment was for 9:30, but they told me to get there at 9:00. I was glad we got there at 9 because they took me back within a few minutes and so I got it over with quicker. This time they gave me the IV before I went into the machine so that they could just put the contrast through the IV instead of trying to do it in the middle of the procedure. Usually they take me out about half way through and just inject it. I hate that because they can never find my veins and part of the reason is probably because it's cold in there and my veins constrict more than their already small selves. The woman who gave me the IV was really nice though and we talked about travel and my upcoming wedding. (She had asked if I had plans for the day, so I told her that we were picking out a flower girl dress.)
I went and lay down in the machine. I've done this so many times that I know exactly what I need to do. Although I learned this time that I was able to keep my ring on even though I had to take my other jewellery off because of the magnet of the MRI. I was glad she told me that I could keep my ring on because I hate taking it off.
The technician was talking to me during most of the MRI. She told me how long it would take for the scan each time she did a different one. She also told me when we was putting in the contrast since it was automated this time instead of someone actually injecting it. The contrast felt very different going in this time. Usually it feels cold at first because it's colder than your blood temperature, but then it makes your arm feel warm. This time it was extreme. My arm felt like it was on fire and it got all tingly. My whole body started to feel really hot, part of my face felt numb, and there was a warm feeling that made me feel like I peed my pants, but I didn't, don't worry.
She took the first scan with the contrast and then asked me how I was feeling. I told her that it felt different than any of the other times I was given contrast. She took me out of the machine and checked my arm. It seemed to be fine. The contrast showed up on the image, so it went in correctly and nothing seemed wrong. My arm was feeling better after the initial burning sensation when it first went in. I was glad that she said it went in fine because the last time I had an MRI, the person must have put my IV in wrong because it didn't go in my vein but instead it just all stayed in my arm. The upper part of my right arm was about twice as big as my left arm when that happened. But then at the end of the MRI she told me that the increased intensity of the pain might have been because they put it in at a faster rate than they have before.
I wasn't going to get my results until Monday. We went to Sandusky for the weekend. Over the weekend, we had lunch with my grandparents. My grandma said that she would sometimes get headaches in the same place that mine was earlier this month, although her pain has moved upwards on her head in recent years. She described the pain in a way that seems like a good way to describe it. She said it's like labor in your head. She had never been to a doctor about her headache, so she didn't know what caused it. But now it seems like it may be genetic or something.
Monday came around. I talked to Rohan in the morning for our weekly google hangouts. Then in the afternoon I had my neurosurgeon appointment. My dad came with me and my mom met us there a little later. We got into a room right away, but we waited there for what seemed like forever. It was over an hour. Then five people came into the room. FIVE! Usually it's just my one neurosurgeon that I had during my operation. One of the other people was another neurosurgeon that I've seen once for my appointment, but I wasn't sure who the other people were. My mom said they might have been students that were shadowing him or something. All I know is that when I saw five people coming through that door I did not think that it was going to be anything good. I thought for sure that they found something wrong, whether it was a recurrence of the brain tumour or whatever it was that was causing my headache a few weeks ago.
He asked if I had any questions, so I brought up my recent trip to the ER. He said that he doesn't know what it was, but it definitely was not from a recurrence of my brain tumour and since it's not back I won't need to get another MRI for about five years and if that's clear I'm done. Thank God! I guess all of the people in the room wasn't a bad sign! We talked about my other headache for a while, but there was no reason that they could think that was causing it. The other neurosurgeon said that since my grandma also gets them that it might be a weird type of migraine or something. He also had me perform some of the neurological tests for balance and coordination. We also talked about how life has been for me. We said that I'm going back to Australia because I'm engaged. He was the first one to warn my parents that everyone that he knows that went to Australia now lives there. He said that back in 2008 before I went for two weeks with my church. Who knew how true that would be! I also told him that I finished my MPH and I hope to do research and get my PhD in Epidemiology. They all said that they'll keep an eye out for my papers, so they made sure to ask what my married name will be.
We went to check out and then went to the radiology area to order a copy of my most recent MRI and CT scan. I had the other ones up until this year, but it's definitely a good thing to have when moving to a foreign country. That only took a few minutes, so we got it right then.
Since we got such awesome news, we decided to go out to celebrate. We went to dinner at a new place in town called Zola. We were actually pretty disappointed with it. The customer service wasn't very good and they definitely did not know how to cook a steak. I ordered it medium, but when I cut into the end of it it was rare! I then cut into the middle and it was blue rare. We had them take it back to cook it more because there was no way that I could have eaten any of that without getting sick because my body is not used to eat that. Then he brought it back out and it was still rare in the middle. I could eat some of the end even though it was still bloodier than I like. At least the frites and mashed potatoes that I got were good.
Then we went to Coldstone for dessert. Apparently it was National Dessert Day, or at least that's what my mom said. I got my usual Berry, Berry, Berry Good in a Gotta Have It size. Yeah, it's huge but totally worth it. They didn't have one of the ingredients in both what my mom ordered and what my dad ordered. It was kind of weird. At least I got the right ice cream. We ate it in the car and my mom and I both had our seat warmers on. It was pretty cold. It's actually starting to look and feel like Fall, unlike Saturday when I wore a sundress! But the cold won't stop me from eating ice cream! Then we went home and watched TV.
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