ARTHROGRAM MRI - ANOTHER HORRIBLE MEDICAL PROCEDURE TO CHECK OFF MY LIST

Yes, I am evidently on track to have every horrible medical procedure known to man before I die.  I just got back from having my most recent - an Arthrogram MRI of my right shoulder.

I spent about 45 minutes in the open MRI, which is not a problem for me.  I got to listen to Christmas music and I fell asleep a couple of times.  Afterward, I went to another room to get the contrast injection.  I was lying on the table, and saw an x-ray of my shoulder, which was pretty cool.  The technician asked me if I wanted to watch the screen while they inserted the needle into my shoulder joint.  He obviously does not know me.  Here is what they did to me, and just in case you are wondering, the patient in the video is not me:



I know it may look like fun in the video, but it was not.  The first needle going in wasn't bad at all, but when he started injecting the lidocaine, I felt sharp pain not only in my shoulder joint, but shooting up into my chin and down to my fingertips.  It was pretty rough and I yelled a bit.  He said he was done, and that I was numb, and then he started injecting the wonderflonium and guess what!  I was not numb, I yelled a little bit more, and he had to numb me again.  When he did that, I had to yell some more.

By this time, I was pouring sweat, shaking and headed into a mild panic.  He asked if I was prone to panic attacks, and I told him yes, but only when I am having painful medical procedures.  He got me to open my eyes and reassured me that the painful part was over.  He finished the procedure, and there was no more pain.  After the contrast material was in the joint, I went back into the MRI for another 15 minutes.  I just could not relax, due to the stress of having the pain, and I felt myself scowling all the way through it.

I am home now and feeling nervous and I want to binge on carbs.  They gave me a little gift at the MRI place - four Fannie May chocolates in a pretty little box.  I ate three of them and gave one to Bill.  I also ate the box.

They also gave me a disk with 221 photos.  Here are two of them:

Ah!  I see... that I have an arm bone. Aside from the bone, which I definitely have, I have no idea what I am looking at.  In 24 to 48 hours, they are going to fax me the report that will say whether or not I have a torn muscle.

Just in case you are new around here, you can read about my shoulder injury.