My First MRI

So far, I had three fractures and lots of physical injuries in the past 25 years. But this is for the first time that I am undergoing an MRI. My physiotherapist had told me that MRI is kind of scary thing (may be coz she is a she). When she told me that, I did not understand why. May be coz, we will be taken into that ‘cave’ and we are all alone….I don’t know..

(Yes, for people with claustrophobia – the fear of enclosed spaces – MRI can be really scary and MRI machines are very noisy too)

But my personal experience was different. The radiologist asked whether I had taken any MRI in the past and I said no. The MRI room looked clean and neat. The equipment was a SIEMENS make. There was music in the room which wasn’t soothing. He asked me to lie down in the table kinda thing and kept some stuffs here and there so that my leg movement will be minimum. And then he gave me something to hold, it looked like a pump used in the BP apparatus. He told me to press it if I want to communicate with those people, at any point during the scan.

Then the table got lifted and there I go inside the ‘cave’ (it had a similarity to the dead body being moved into the furnace of the electric crematorium). It was amusing for me and I liked it. And then he left the room.

Nothing happened for sometime, so I stared here and there and then I read a warning just above my head

“Do not stare in to the beam. Class II Laser…..”

I said to myself: yep, LASER is not friendly with our eyes, I know, common man, let’s begin.

Well, then started the ride… am I in a gaming room? Funny sounds started coming, one was similar to the gunfire in games. Yes, this is the scary part, at least for kids. I enjoyed it. It came every now and then. Then it became boring to listen to it. So I started thinking many other things and finally it stopped. It took around 20 minutes. And the guy came to the room and took me out from the 'cave' and asked:

“Are you alright?”

I smiled at him and said “ yeah, I am”

So, overall, I enjoyed my first MRI, though it wasn’t that friendly for my wallet!