3:30pm, my trip to the doc's office.
A few years ago, I had pain in my lower back (posh word for the top of your butt) and hip. Went for x-rays, which showed…well, not a great deal. Bit of a shadow, not much. So off I went for the joy of all joys they call an MRI scan.
Basically, for those of you who have never had an MRI, here's the 10-second overview:
In a hospital gown you get shoved into a tube and subjected to horrendously loud noise for an hour while laying totally still in awkward positions.
Ok, not quite 10 seconds. But that summarises MRI scans.
Luckily for me, having low-grade, high-functioning Asperger's (in laymen's terms, being damned clever and a bit weird) means I like to know everything about everything that happens to me, so I came fully prepared for an MRI. No credit cards, no phones, no metal fixings, socks, metal-free shoes and joggers and a t-shirt. I didn't have to wear a hospital gown, like most people do.
Unfortunately, nowhere did it tell me that I would be in there for an hour. AN HOUR.
And the noise. Ohhh my days the noise. It is like being sat in a metal box while people drill into it and bang on it, no exaggeration. I was given a wonderful (!) pair of ear mufflers to wear to minimise the assault on my ears, but it drove me insane. I started making up songs to it, or regurgitating songs I already knew that fitted with the rhythm and pitch of the MRI scanner. I must say, the theme tune to 'Bob-the-Builder' sounds great with a dubstep-style rhythm and bass track…
Anyway, I went back a few weeks later to see the consultant at the hospital who said I had a "cyst or something" in my right lower back. They weren't entirely sure what it was, so they were sending me back (hahahaha…oh) to have another MRI scan to see if they could figure it out this time.
So yes, you got it, back to the scanner. This time, I got Bee Radio in my ears to try and drown out the MRI sounds. I think I would have preferred the scanner sounds.
It took them about a month to get me another MRI scan. The pain had been decreasing steadily, and actually was pretty much gone by the time I was encased in the tube for the second time. The results came back and the doc said whatever it was had gone.
But a few weeks ago, I realised I was feeling discomfort in my hip while wearing my 'hipster' jeans. The pain in my back was getting steadily worse, and soon enough the pain in my hip was a constant thing again. Same pain. I thought, "must be the same thing". However, it started to get even worse, and the discomfort - i.e. a feeling that something is pressing on my hip bone - was there whatever I was wearing. Dammit, it's even migrated to my left hip. The past three days I haven't slept until at least 3:00am. As an ice-hockey player, cellist, choral singer and pianist + GCSE-year student, I can't afford this. It makes concentration impossible, and along with other symptoms I've been having it is worrying. All I want right now is treatment. My youth choir is going on tour to Paris - more details later! - in summer and I am desperate not to miss out; I haven't missed a tour since I started.
Fingers crossed for a smooth doc trip, a quick MRI and some sort of treatment, be it aspiration for a growing cyst pressing on a nerve, or medication, or something…
Updates to come...
Bye for now,
Liz △
No comments:
Post a Comment