Flying and Other Alien Experiences

I’m baaaack. Despite the corn fields, corn fields, corn fields, I made it without falling asleep and running into a barn. That’s because I took a charter bus from the airport to my parents house! However, I almost didn’t fly out due to losing too much fluid the day before from my diuretic. I guess I was dehydrated from losing 4 pounds in one day, and got very sick. But I rallied the next morning. It was wonderful to see my parents, sisters, brother, and extended family, and they held a nice party that everyone attended. And for once, the weather was perfect. (This is really saying something for Chicago.) I only wish I could do it more often. This year won’t be the year, however, of more than one trip back home.

On Wednesday I had a MRI study of my eyes and brain to investigate the mystery of my swollen optic nerve. My doctors are almost positive that it is not due to amyloidosis. They don’t know if it is a side effect of Velcade and/or steroids, or if it is unrelated. I opted for an open MRI, because I cannot tolerate being in a closed MRI without losing my mind.

I tried having a closed MRI a few years ago. I told the technician, who insisted on keeping me in that torture chamber much longer than I wanted (probably all of 2 minutes), that it didn’t matter what the MRI would find, because I would die if I stayed a minute more in that tube! Thus the open MRI was the only way for me. It actually wasn’t terrible. I laid my head in a foam head positioner. Not bad at all. But then they put this mask over my face that looked like I should be a goalie! Not good. But I could breathe, and that is always a good thing. ; ) She slid the table back under the MRI scanner, which looks like a hovering spacecraft, no kidding. I felt like my head was in a microwave. If you’ve never experienced it before, it is so noisy! Knocking, banging, weird, wooo-wooo-wooo alien sounds. But I persevered and completed the whole procedure. More tests and stuff next week. For now, they say the optic nerve is no longer swollen, so that is good news. Have a great weekend.