Well, This Was Unnerving

So, it's about 8.30, and I'm sitting in the "waiting room" at the breast MRI office. Their slick pamphlet made this place look like the Mayo Clinic, but you know, not so much.

There was all kinds of security to get in, and then inside, the image kind of popped like a thought balloon in a cartoon. No place to stand or sit while handing in and going over all my paperwork. No actual waiting room, just chairs in a hallway. There was an absurdly cheery man sitting there, presumably waiting for his wife. On the form I had to fill out, there was a line that said "Social History" and under that, this: ATHO/TOB. ? Well, my social history, as you know, is that I'm something of a recluse, and I was about to write that, but I asked, and they wanted to know if and how much I drank and smoked. "ATHO" apparently is code for alcohol use. O. Kay.

But the weirdest thing was that the noise of the MRI was clearly audible in the waiting area. Yuck. You know, the worst thing about an MRI is the noise; it's like a jackhammer. So it was unnerving to have to listen to it twice, for the person before me and then for me.

When it was time for me to change into the little strange robe-thingy, they actually had the man go wait in the lobby outside the office, because I would have to go back and wait in the same hallway waiting area we had both been sitting in. So, a very strange place.

But the MRI itself was fine, went well. I had made an "MRI Mix" on the iPod and they put that on, and I could even hear it behind the pounding.

You're wondering why I had a breast MRI this morning and am not freaking out. It's because I already know it's nothing. When I had my mammogram in early December, the radiologist decided to really investigate these cysts that I've had for oh, maybe 15 years. They've been examined before, and by several doctors, including a breast surgeon, and I've been assured that they're nothing. I think that maybe they were inflamed because, remember, this was when the Crohn's was just starting up and all kinds of parts of me were inflamed. And I'm hoping that now, thanks to the prednisone, they will be down to nothing, and the radiologist will be happy. Otherwise, I have to go for a needle biopsy on Thursday, which hurts, and I know from past experience -- I've had one before -- that these cysts kind of vanish when a needle hits them.

Okay, TMI yet?

Anyway, that's my day. I couldn't eat before the test, but when I got home I made scrambled eggs and I ATE CHEESE WITH MY EGGS. So far, I am still alive. I'll let you know if that changes.


WATCHING FULL HOUSE :: ENTRY #1682