Went today for the final test, the abdominal MRI. I arrived at about 4:20 for my 4:30 appointment. The receptionist said they were running late by about 30-45 min. I wasn’t thrilled since I had to fast 4 hours for this one and hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since 12:30 pm. That would still mean I would be finished by 5:30-6:00 pm. Not that bad. At about 5:00 a technician came out to let me know that they were running even later than they expected and that it would be another hour. She also said that this test didn’t require fasting, so I could go out and have a snack or something light and should come back at 5:45 pm. Great. Nice of them to give me the wrong instructions about fasting.

I got back at about 5:30 pm. At 6:10 pm I found the technician and the receptionist talking. They agreed to bring me in next, much to the chagrin of some other woman who was bitching her head off saying she was there before me. Nonetheless, they took me in and I got yet another IV inserted–this time in my right arm, since the left was still bruised and swollen from the IV for the CT urogram on Wednesday.

At about 6:45 pm they took me to the “tube room” and gave me instructions. For 1/2 hour I was to lay inside the tube and take deep breaths, breathe out, and then hold my breath for 20 seconds while the booming of the MRI was happening. When the booming stopped I could breathe normally for about 5-10 seconds and then it would all start again. I lasted for about 10 minutes before squeezing the “panic button.” I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe at all and almost passed out.

I think it was a combination of having to wait for over 2 hours to begin the procedure, being inside the tube and having to do the controlled breathing that got to me. It’s bad enough having to lay perfectly still and listen to that ungodly noise in your ears, but at least you can close your eyes and kind of zone out. But having to do this breathing bullshit was just too much. They asked if I wanted to try again (since they hadn’t yet injected the dye), and I said no.

The technician said he did get some good images and I told him I would talk with my doctor to find out if we really needed to go any further with this test. As far as I’m concerned, there had better be a damn good reason to do any more of this. I’ve had it with tests and am ready for some results and decisions.