Follow-up on metal in the eye
Well, I had my x-ray yesterday and it showed no metal in the eye.
This second chain of xray, MRI, and other imaging labs had a sign-up form that was longer than the other chain's (in addtion to the fact that verbally they wouldn't brush off hobbyists' exposure and say it only applied to those who worked with metal full time) .
They had a list, a longer list, of about 30 things they wanted to know if you had, not just metal pins in bones that had been broken, and metal staples, but if you had had one of those camera pills that you swallow. Do those have lettle metal external antennae or lights that can be knocked off?
And someone said it was a myth that tattoos could be a problem, but it and permanent makeup was a question on the list. By permanent makeup, I think they mean tattooing "eye liner" on one's eyelid. So both halves of that question refer to tattoos.
Not every yes answer meant you couldn't have the MRI, although I think metal in the eye did mean that, unlsss one had the metal removed. (Although one of the questions at both chains was whether you had had metal removed from your eye. They didn't assume that the removal got all of it.
The x=ray tech said she HAD had people with metal in their eyes who didn't remember getting it. That was in answer to my question about whether it always hurt. Apparently it doesn't always hurt, maybe if it's small.
I passed the X-ray but only lasted 5 minutes in the closed MRI. Even though I had gotten up at 2 in the morning and was verrry sleepy, I had on a blindfold, the tunnel on this one was larger than the other (and I had two inches between my nose and the ceiling instead of one**) and they had given me a valium This place used foam rubber earplugs instead of headphones. He said I could hear him better when he talked. Without radio as a distraction, I tried distracting myself by counitng to 100, but I was able to mulitply while I was counting and to use up a half hour it seemed I would have to count to
1800, and since I was counting fast, probably 3600.I made a mistake assuming they would use headphones. The first chain had different kinds of music available, plus FM radio (every station their off-the-air radio could receive I suppose) and probably AM radio. It's conceivable they had web radio, but otoh, they didn't ask me what I wanted at all, and at that first place, I brought it up when I was taking my clothes off, so I suspect it's just over the air radio there. I think one should ask in advance so that if they do have webradio, he can come prepared with the url. . . (It turns out that on 88.1, at that time, they were talking about Edison and making the light bulb. That's so good I'll have to find it online. It would have been a much better distraction than ear plugs.)
He thought the doctor might give me a stronger sedeative (Atavan?) and said they had a semi-open machine that classified as a closed machine. I"m not sure he's right but he gave me the machine make and model.
As it stands now, this will make it harder if not impossible for the orthopedist to know how to treat the pain in my back. (I wonder if this has to do with buying another car 18 months ago, or if flipping the mattress would help, or maybe I should move my computer back to my desk and stop using a keyboard and mouse on a tv t able. I changed that about 20 months ago. .)
**Maybe I shouldn't have asked for a second pillow, or even a first, but lying on my back without a pillow is another thing I have trouble doing. I sleep on my belly or my side, and occasionally fall asleep almost sitting up.