MRI

My body was telling me to give it a rest last week. I felt like the walking dead by the end of the week because of stress and as a result, I think it started to manifest as physical symptoms  As you saw in yesterday’s post, I’d been dealing with another knee flare-up that had me in tears most days, and last Thursday night I managed to burn the INSIDE of my arm on the cookie sheet while I was making dinner (no I wasn’t having cookies for dinner). It was extremely painful and I had a blister on it the next day. Sheesh! What a week! By Friday I was ready to throw in the towel on everything.

Instead, I skipped the pool and went to yoga instead. I thought I might be able to relax, relieve stress and maybe help my knees a bit with a yoga session. I had about 20 minutes or so before the class started so I spent that time doing my PT exercises and stretching.

Even though I’m not really a fan of yoga, I quite enjoyed going to the class on Friday night. It really did help me relax and de-stress. I also did a lot of new poses I’ve never done before. The instructor asked at the start of class what everyone wanted to focus on. Some guy said shoulders and I said hips and knees. She worked both and I felt pretty good!

Since Michael was spending the entire weekend parked in front of his new 60″ TV watching the Masters (his old TV broke and he PANICKED that he would miss his beloved show) I made a bunch of weekend plans for myself. There was my second workout from Suzanne (finishing up week 4):

There was a pedicure with my friend Robyn and then we went to a Vietnamese/French restaurant for some tea. Robyn got the Thai iced tea and I got regular iced tea:

Sunday I had sushi with my cousin Anna for lunch:

We met at Sushi Ohana–delicious! Sundays was happy hour and all plates were $1.75. I ate too much sushi and then afterward I stopped at another friend’s house to meet her new baby. He’s 11 days old and too cute for words.

And the most abnormal weekend event: I had an MRI on my knees Saturday afternoon. My sports medicine doctor decided it was time to see what was going on. The most recent flare-up prompted this. I felt both relief and anxiety with this. I wondered, would I prefer that the MRI find an injury? That means I have an ANSWER and a possible solution (i.e. most likely surgery). Or would I prefer no injury, which would be GOOD but would still leave me wondering what is wrong with me and when I’m going to get better.

Sigh.

I’ve never had an MRI before. Everyone in my life that has had one weighed in and told me how horrible it was. I’m not really a claustrophobic person–the only time I feel like that is either on a bus or elevator that has too many people on it or if I’m underground in some way (for example, cave exploring). Even though that comic is making a joke, you really do feel like you are being buried alive in that machine.

I was hoping I could take my headphones in and listen to podcasts but that wasn’t allowed. I had to remove everything (even my earrings–thank god I didn’t see this video BEFORE my mri) and couldn’t take my phone in there. The machine was huge and while I wasn’t feeling nervous or claustrophobic, the second I SAW the MRI machine, I did. It is really scary looking. It’s the size of a small coffin. Seriously. Thankfully they were only scanning my lower body and I didn’t have to have my whole body in there because I would have freaked out!

I was put in the machine up to my collarbone. You would think not having my head in there would be ok and not scary but it’s still scary. If my whole body had been in the machine I think there would be half an inch between my face and the top. SCARY. Too small. Too close. No thank you. Not only is it very uncomfortable, it’s extremely loud. If you want to hear what an MRI sounds like for an hour long session, check out this video. If you skip every 30-40 seconds you can hear the range of sounds. I heard all of them. For an hour.

Despite how loud and jarring it was, it wasn’t totally terrible. I had to keep absolutely still and it took about an hour to do both knees. I started to drift off into that half sleep state that I go into when I have acupuncture. But I tell you, I was glad it was over with. I felt a little shaken up afterward but I was glad I did it. I hope that I find out what’s going on. Now I just have to wait to hear from my doctor…

Monday I had a follow-up appointment with my physical therapist. It had been about a month since I saw him last. He tested my legs for their strength again and I’VE IMPROVED. I blame it entirely on Suzanne’s program. He said my glutes are much stronger and he had a hard time pressing my legs down. I’M STRONG. And despite the flare-up I’d been dealing with last week, my knees have been pretty good for a few days. Progress. Every little bit counts. Still no results from the test though. Maybe next week?

QUESTION: Have you ever had an MRI?