nervous

Initially, I thought it would be really cool to have a brain MRI done.  Now, I'm not nearly so thrilled.  "Permutation exploration" is not always my friend.

• I had sinus surgery done a long time ago.  If they left anything metallic behind in there, it could rip out through my eyeballs or zip through my brain and turn it into swiss cheese.
• I have a cap on my baby tooth that was built up with huge amounts of amalgam (various metals).  If that stuff heats up, it could burn the tooth and sear my jaw.
• Searching the web tonight, I find that some people do have reactions to the scans: dizziness, nausea, headaches.  I've already emailed my boss tonight in case I have to call to skip work Thursday afternoon.

All 3 very unlikely to happen, I know.  But I'm supposed to wake up in 7 hours to get ready for the appointment, and I'm still in no mood to sleep right now.

MRI brain scans

The process was very fast and uneventful.  That's good, since I only got 4.5 hours of sleep last night.  I go to see the neurologist on Tuesday morning next week.

I wore my purple Zubaz and an Animal Humane Society t-shirt.  I took off my glasses and my shoes.  They gave me ear protectors (against the loud noise) that had a local radio station piped in so I could listen while I waited.  I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time, and they told me to not wiggle even my feet during the procedure.  There was no injection of any enhancing chemicals.

There was much clicking and humming and thumping.  The last minute was so obnoxious that the roller-bed was shaking from the force of the machinery.  A few of the scans gave me a sensation of slightly brighter ambient lighting, but I resisted the curiosity to open my eyes and check directly.  They gave me a cd of all the images after they were done.  (I asked for a copy.)  It's been an hour since the procedure and I have no headaches or dizziness or nausea. 

They took 129 images.  Here are 6 that I like.  I've expanded their sizes to make them easier to view here.
( Click to see the photos... )

That's my brain.  :)