Thoracic spine MRI today

Today I went for an MRI of the thoracic spine, where I have new mets. My ears may have heard MRI, my eyes saw my hand write it in my calendar, but clearly my brain didn't register it.

Normally for an MRI I bring my own eye mask and ear plugs and take some lorazepam so I don't get too stressed from the claustrophobia of being in the MRI tube. But since my brain didn't register MRI as MRI, I was not prepared. Luckily I carry meds with me and was able to take both some lorazepam and some hydrocodone in case I had pain from lying still on my back for 30+minutes.

The technician provided a wash cloth, which we draped over my eyes. She gave me ear plugs and pads over each ear to close down even more sound. (MRIs are notoriously noisy. The patient is subjected to with all kinds of clanging sounds.) They gave me a panic button to hold I and practiced my yoga breathing during the scan. Best of all, the doctor decided not to have a scan with contrast, so I didn't have to have a vein accessed.

I get the results next week. We already know from the bone scan that I have more mets. The MRI results should give a better idea of how serious they are by pinpointing the location(s) close to the spine.