tonystott wrote:
The excitement continues...
Working on the theory that my foot is now on the mend, I have lifted my sights towards getting my back surgery. Knowing that the orthopaedic surgeon wanted an MRI scan of my back, I obtained a referral and booked an MRI while the cortisone was still working like a charm. I went into the MRI tunnel, with no back pain, but there wasn't enough room for my arms, so I had them back over my head. Unfortunately, as I only have singular elbow joints in each arm (!) I couldn't get my elbows low enough to fit in the tunnel, despite the operator trying to see if jamming me in there might work. Fortunately, they had given me a get-out-of-jail buzzer, so I got out quickly.
So that was a waste of time...
Two days later, another 120km drive up the highway, to another MRI scanner which had a bigger diameter tunnel.
Beauty.. fitted like a charm and they even found music from my fav. band Little Feat, to attempt to drown out the MRI sounds. This time I lasted the distance without complaint.
Unfortunately, they told me that they were unable to obtain clear images of the critical part of my back due to "dark contrasts and artifacts" (WTF?
So looks like the surgeon will find out what's what by opening me up and having a good look.
I am not making this stuff up!
I had a similar experience with an MRI. They were attempting to image my elbow and my shoulders were too big to fit in the machine (it was a semi trailer based MRI). They tried fruitlessly to jam me in there. I'm also fairly claustrophobic so that didn't help either. Eventually they gave up and sent me to an open MRI. Needless to say they didn't find anything wrong with my elbow.