Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

I thought it's very noisy? The machine has huge magnets that get switched on and off a few thousand times a second. Every time the current goes on the magnetic coil stretches, and when the current is switched off it contracts again. Hence a very loud hum. If you fell asleep, you must have been remarkably relaxed.

Very noisy. It sounds like a mind control machine out of a 1960s dystopia. They gave me ear defenders to wear so the noise wasn't so bad. I only woke up in the middleas I almost dropped the thing he gave me to summon him if things went wrong and I dreamt I was dropping my car keys.

It was quite claustrophobic at first but fine once I was used to it. Quite relaxing actually
I'd been stressing in the build up to it. Idiot that I am.

vivatifosi

Re MRI... it's amazing how useful it is and how it has come into place over a very short period of time. Just reading on wikipedia that the technology wasn't invented until the 1970s and the first medically useable images taken in the 1980s. Brits were at the forefront of its development all the way too.

More importantly, how's your back Gen?

GDB2222

Reading on a bit more, the main magnet is static. It's kept on. There are smaller coils that are switched on and off to make a change to the overall magnetic field. I guess these are the ones that make the noise.

One scary point is that the superconducting magnet has over 1000 litres of liquid helium. If the magnet warms up because something goes wrong, that helium very rapidly gets boiled off. That's enough helium gas to displace all the air in the room several times over.

michaels

Generali wrote: »

Had a MRI on my back today. $300!!! I don't know what the fuss is all about. I fell asleep twice in there.

So you turn up, the consultant says this might hurt a bit and then presents you with a 300 dollar bill?

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

More importantly, how's your back Gen?

On the plus side, the new pills are much more effective. On the minus side I think the pain is moving to new sites. I think the swimming is helping (I'm up to about 1.5 miles a week with an end target of 2-3 miles/week).

I can get the new scan on the weekend and so will get an appointment with the specialist, hopefully next week.

So overall not bad out of ten. I'm in constant pain which wakes me up most nights but it could be a lot worse and indeed has been a lot worse.

On a more dark note, I've been taking mild codeine pills with paracetamol to keep the pain down at night. I just realised yesterday that I don't remember the last time I didn't take a couple at night. I'm going to stop taking them entirely until Mrs Generali's birthday, no matter what the pain unless I am prescribed something because the pain has got that bad. The last thing I need is a codeine habit. I didn't take any last night with no ill effects except a wobbly stomach at 4am (see Trainspotting for what happens when you stop taking opiates). No babies on the ceiling though.

GDB2222

Does paracetamol help on its own? Or ibuprofen? As far as I am aware, those are not habit forming.

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

Does paracetamol help on its own? Or ibuprofen? As far as I am aware, those are not habit forming.

I can't take ibuprofen as I am taking a better prescribed NSAID. The specialist kinda laughed at me when I said I was taking ibuprofen.

Paracetamol doesn't touch the sides.

chewmylegoff

Generali wrote: »

Very noisy. It sounds like a mind control machine out of a 1960s dystopia. They gave me ear defenders to wear so the noise wasn't so bad. I only woke up in the middleas I almost dropped the thing he gave me to summon him if things went wrong and I dreamt I was dropping my car keys.

It was quite claustrophobic at first but fine once I was used to it. Quite relaxing actually
I'd been stressing in the build up to it. Idiot that I am.

I was quite nervous about having an MRI as well which turned out to be much sillier- it was only my knee that needed to be scanned but I just assumed it would be the full body scanner. I got there they just pointed me to a chair and instructed me to sit down and stick my leg in the hole!

SingleSue

Well, I am a wuss, I went into panic mode in the mri!

Have had a couple, one for my back and one for my shoulder...the shoulder one, the position they put my arm in absolutely killed, I was in tears with the pain and she had to pull my arm down afterwards as it had completely locked but it actually cured the shoulder problem. Once the pain from it being locked had subsided, I once again had full movement in my shoulder, something that had been missing for over a year.

Generali

SingleSue wrote: »

Well, I am a wuss, I went into panic mode in the mri!

I was fighting the panic at first but in the end found it really quite funny. The noises the machine makes are ridiculous.

I even think that at one point I was dreaming about some mad film staring a long-forgotten pop star that had silly noises being played while our hero squirmed under out of focus bright lights and lots of crash zoom was used.

I suspect that a month of face bondage whilst having chemo made this an awful lot easier. I hated that.

Got my next PET scan in about a month and I'm awaiting the call from the hospital. I had night sweats last night which I've been told to watch as a symptom of the cancer coming back. I'm putting them down to it being a weird time of year in Sydney when you go to sleep under a sheet and wake up under 2 duvets.