MRIs & Why I Am HAPPY That Silver is NOT Magnetic

So, I went for a lumbar spine MRI today, with a 'qualifying' diagnosis of radiulopathy.  Anyhow... besides staring at a BIG gray surface a mere INCH from the tip of my nose (that is, when I wasn't closing my eyes and picking out cool bass riffs from the near-deafening THUNK-THUNK-THUNK of the machine and doing four-counts in my head) and having to lie, PERFECTLY STILL for 45 minutes - on what may as well been a slab of plywood as far as comfort was concerned...  I came out swimmingly.  Well, after I spent a good few minutes (with ASSISTANCE!) getting my broken self up off said contraption.

Until I came home and saw my films.

*insert expletives here*

Can I just say that while I am *seriously* intrigued to read the official report on the interpretations of my MRI... what both my dad (who himself has had, oh say, 10+ MRI's on his spine & 35 years of medical experience) and I saw... is NOT pretty.

There are at LEAST 2 separate levels where my pinal cord is NOT round... it's smooshed.  Like a tic-tac.  From the wonders that is called a MASSIVELY herniated disk.  Times 2.  Or more.

One level is bad enough that it is visible not only from the slices taken head-to-toe... but also from a SIDE view.  NOT good.  So not feeling optimistic here.

BUT!  There is true acknowledgement for why my back is DYING!  And my right leg sometimes wants to commit hari-kari!  HOO...ray... okay, maybe not so much hooray.

However, there actually is a bit of a funny here.

I walked in that office, prepared as could be, wearing yoga pants and a bra-tank, topped off with a t-shirt.  See!  No metal in my clothing!  NO gown for meeeee!  I didn't even wear my rings, so all I would have to stick in the locker were my earrings and my sunglasses... and my body, it would be metal-free.

Except in all of my WONDEROUSLY thorough glory... I forgot to take out my cartilage hoops.  And didn't realize it until, oh... 3 hours or so AFTER my appointment was over.  Yep.  REALLY grateful that sterling silver is NOT, I repeat NOT magnetic.  Heh.  Or else I'd have some hefty bleeding coming from my upper ears from the piercings being RIPPED out by the sheer magnetic force of the machine.  Yum.  Sounds like fun to me!

Of course, now I am left with the problem of HEY!  The Lyrica seems to be helping at least a little bit!  So congrats to Big Pharma for that and the competent doctor who prescribed it... AND sent me for an MRI.  BUT... (and there's ALWAYS a damned but, isn't there?  *sigh*) I obviously have greater issues going on that honestly, after about 18 months of pain from the initial injury?  Isn't likely to resolve on its own.

Which means spinal surgery.  I can't even PRETEND to try and wrap my brain around THAT one just yet, what with everything else that's been spinning around me at full force lately.  And C'MON!  I'm starting COLLEGE again on Wednesday!!  This is SUPPOSED to be a time of progress...  right?

Crap.

On a much more humorous note, here's a little something that Greyson pulled on us today.  There we were, eating dinner... and he pipes up with, "Mommy, you need to go get a pizza from Pizza Hut and put it in the freezer, so if I get hungry before bed, I can eat a piece."

Whaaaa?  The child is TWO.  I don't even WANT to think about what he will be saying by the time he hits those Kindergarten doors.


Though he DID report to us, once again, that he is going to be a doctor when he grows up.  He's been saying that since right around his 2nd birthday.  I'm sensing a bit of determination here.  Heh.  Of course, there ARE times where he wants to be a ROCKSTAR doctor... which I haven't *quite* figured out if that means he wants to be BOTH a rockstar AND a doctor, or if he plans to cater to the rockstar genre.  Hell, maybe he'll even tour with a few bands as their personal physician.  ROFL

Maybe he'll just grow up and be able to help fix his Mommy.  That's always a nice thought, don't you think?