MRI- back

A couple months ago, I was told that I needed an MRI of my back so I got put on the waiting list. They don't tell you how long the waiting list is, but I got a call on Wednesday asking if I'd be able to come in the next day. I was free, so I went down to Canberra Hospital yesterday. I made sure to leave plenty early because I had to transfer buses and it takes over an hour to get down there. Plus my appointment was at 1:30 so I wanted to make sure I had time to eat when I got there. I ended up spending almost the whole day there.

I've had plenty of MRIs before because of my brain tumour history. I've probably had close to a dozen. This one started off normally. I changed into scrubs and laid down at the MRI table. It felt much longer than the brain scans, but I figured that different parts of the body just take different amounts of time. (I had a full body one when they found my tumour but I was unconscious that time.) Most of the way through they gave me an injection of contrast, which again is normal.

But then I started to leave the MRI. I got dressed and on my way out of the hospital I started feeling sick. I felt disoriented and queasy. I made my way to the main lobby and sat there for a bit. Realizing it might be a while until I felt alright, I messaged Rohan. It wasn't letting up and I started feeling feverish as well. I asked if he could come get me because I was worried about trying to take the bus, especially with the transfers, in my current state. I figured being at a hospital was best in case something did happen.

He was able to leave work early (even though he was in a meeting. Isn't he the bestest?) and go get the car to pick me up. I think I finally got home about 2 hours after the MRI and I still felt sick all night. I'm not sure if it was because of the contrast or because the MRI felt really shaky and I have bad motion sickness. It was my first MRI outside of the University of Michigan hospitals, so it's hard to know what the difference was. I just know that it was not an experience I'd like to relive so I hope that the pain was at least worth it and shows something that will lead to my diagnosis.

Random pictures:

I got to wear booties with my scrubs, which was cool.

 I got a pretty big bruise on my right arm from where they injected the contrast. It's probably one of the biggest I've had when you consider they got the needle in the first try. It's also a lot more painful than many bruises I've had. Usually I like to poke them because I oddly like the feeling and I read online that it helps them heal faster. But I tried to poke this one or at least rub it and it's too painful! (I moved my hair tie up in the first picture to try and make look better. It was hard to focus my camera on the bruise.)

Also I took was taking my medicines this morning and thought I'd share a picture. This is part of why I feel like I'm an old lady. How many 26 year olds need to take this many pills every day?