2006 Space Odyssey

No, this isn't an image conjured up to help create the mood for another weird dream I've had...although it does certainly look like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, doesn't it? It's a stand-up MRI machine, an honest-to-goodness 21st century apparatus that I spent about 50 minutes in this morning. Chalk it up to yet another weird Suz experience.

I'm thankful that I had it done, actually...after years and years of back problems, I finally saw someone that suggested I have an MRI scan to find out what may be giving me grief. (I guess regular ol' X-rays just don't do the trick. How 20th century, after all...) I requested this open stand-up one because I've been through these MRI tests before, and believe you me, they are not for the claustrophobic. I didn't even know I WAS claustrophobic, until I had my first MRI. Most of the machines have you lay inside this enclosed tube, and nobody warned me about this. Nobody told me that I'd be laying in this tube with a very loud noise hammering in my ears for about 45 minutes, told to keep as still as possible. It's amazing how when someone tells you you can't cough, clear your throat, scratch an itch, take a big deep breath...that's exactly what you want to do, more than anything.

So! Now I know better, and now I request one of these open babies. I've been in one where you lay down but yet it's still 'open'...but today's 'stand-up' was even better and definitely felt even less confining. I even got to watch the Today Show, something I never do anymore. It was almost relaxing. If any of you ever need an MRI, I highly recommend it. Unless of course, you are like the first tech that put me into the Tube of Hell and scoffed, "I could fall asleep in that thing!" How nice for him.