I have four MRI's scheduled over two days.

Today is my first day of two scans. And I've never had an MRI. And I'm... nervous.

I've heard multiple stories from people who have gone through this experience, all seem to focus on the sound and claustrophobia. I don't know if I'm claustrophobic - I mean, how tight could this thing be? And, as for the sound, how loud could it be?

My worries, in general, all center around the unknown, and my fear that I'll be in a laying in a bad position and my legs will start twitching, ruining the scan and having to rescan or worse, reschedule for another time to do it again and insurance not cover the cost.

I decided to "self-medicate" myself. I've got a cold and my nose is running, so I took some Sudafed and then, since I was a little "anxious" about the whole "tube" experience, I thought if I could relax (and maybe even nap), it would make things easier, so I took a couple of Tylenol PM's. So, Carol came with me just in case I was a little sleepy when it was all over.

We drove to St. Alexius and went to registration. The guy was sharp to realize I was here for the same tests over two days so he basically pre-registered me for tomorrow as well, giving me all the paperwork we needed and then he walked us back to Radiology. They have their own waiting room, behind these dark wood-trimmed windows with fabric hanging from them. Like a small library in the middle of a sterile hospital. Filled out a questionnaire and just waited... all of about 5 minutes.

The elderly lady was the MRI Tech and started walking me to the testing. We kept going down corridors and turning. It was a labyrinth or corridors and doors. Next thing I know, we're going out an external door through a temporary covered walkway (sidewalk, actually). We were going to a leased trailer, parked behind the hospital. There, inside, was a brand new GE MRI unit in the middle of this air conditioned trailer, which had a small "office" in the front that the Tech worked out of - with soundproof door and glass between the two rooms.

I was lucky - because of where the scans covered tonight - Brain and Cervical Spine - I didn't have to change clothes - I just had to make sure I got rid of any excess metal - so I dumped my change, and my belt on a counter and went into the scanning room.

She lowered the scanning table and I hopped on, and then we maneuvered my head into the what felt like a brace of some sort. She put on some headphones that sounded all mid-range and lousy and loud. She was trying to talk to me, but even though she was right next to me I couldn't hear her for the radio in the headphones and this constant "washka-washka-washka-washka" sound that the machine made at all times, even when idle. I hoped that she wasn't telling me anything important.

Then she put this cage-like thing over my head. The cool thing is, that as I lay on my back, I was actually looking into a series of mirrors that worked like a "periscope" and I could look down the length of my body, toward the door to the room. Hey, this wasn't bad! I didn't have to worry how "tight" the tube was, I could actually just look out and everything was great.

I was flat on my back, but had some kind of pad/cushion under my knees that was really comfortable. I could feel right away that I could hold this position for quite a while.

It came time to be "inserted into the tube" and that's when I realized just how tight it really was. I've always had very broad shoulders (some think it was from swimming at the YMCA when I was a kid, but maybe I was just built this way), so I had to pull my arms in and slightly lift them up to get into the tube. Still, not all THAT uncomfortable.

The Tech came on the headphones and let me know that the first scan will take about 4 minutes and don't be alarmed by the noise.

Then came the noise. Yes it was loud, but I could tell that the headphones where blocking a lot because the sounds were slightly muffled. It was still damn loud. I really can't describe the sound. I can't at all. The closest sound is a klaxon, a fire alarm. Not a bell, a horn. Going off. Next to my ears. Either every second, or continuously. For four minutes. The radio cannot be heard at all, just the sound of the machine.

And that was just one part of the scan. The scans were anywhere from 30 seconds to four minutes, and there had to be at least 5-6 of them. That would be for the brain, and then the bed would slide in, reposition, and then next series of scans would commence for the Cervical Spine. I could barely hear the radio in between scans, as I think my head is buzzing from all of the noise.

It was tedious. It was also hard to try and relax and "drift off" because of the machine that's inches from my head. And I was in good spirits because my legs were calm!

Next, the lady comes into the room and slides me out. The radio is turned off. That's when I realized that what she did was pull the plug on the cable to the headphones. But, the cable isn't a cable at all, it's just tubing. The headphones where like what are used on airliners, with the old entertainment systems that just use hollow tubes to get the sound to the earphones from speakers buried someplace else. A cleaver way to not use metal around and inside the machine!

It's now time to be injected with some kind of "contrast" dye. So, she begins the effort on trying to find a vein. In vain, unfortunately as she sticks me twice in the left arm and can't come up with a good vein. She tries my right arm, but at least doesn't stick me, She tries my right hand and fails, so she gives up and goes to find another tech.

A young guy comes in, introduces himself, shakes my hand, and starts to work on my left hand, finds a good vein, does the old alcohol swab and sticks me and feeds whatever this stuff is into my vein. It actually feels cool as if travels up my arm. Other than that nasty pain of the initial stab, I'm good to go. The table is slid back in the tube, about 3 or 4 more scans are taken in total, and I'm sliding out the tube, all finished.

Sitting up was a little rough, but I eventually got my wits around me and I gathered my belongings and walked back into the hospital. I had one more stop to make - XRay. Apparently, they get an xray of the same area that's scanned so that a comparison and reference can be made. That was just as easy as walking into a room, standing sideways against a plate, firing the xray and walking out. Simple. Fast. Of course, not as high tech as my last hour was.

Yes, the scans lasted about an hour, total. They had scheduled 2 hours for me, one for each scan, just in case something happened or a scan had to be redone.

I met carol in the waiting room and we went home. I still felt a little "wired". Those Tylenol PM's had NO effect on me, as I was just too "up" and "alert" for all of this.

This wasn't a bad as I had feared. If it's the same tomorrow, I think I would even consider calling this a "cakewalk".

Let's see what tomorrow holds.