Weeeeee’re off to see the wizards…
Posted By Russ Emerson on December 31, 2008 at 3:04 pm
. . . the neurology wizards at Duke.
OK, that’s not terribly accurate. I went up to Duke yesterday for an MRI.
This was the first MRI I’ve had in about 18 months, the first since my surgery last year. It was also the first time I was subjected to a non-open MRI machine. I felt like a torpedo… and I have a better understanding why some people freak out when in the machine.
Note to self: have shoulders narrowed; they’re just too dang wide for an MRI.
I came out of the MRI with a pounding headache. As expected, the process had screwed up the settings on my shunt, which is magnetically programmable. This was expected, so one of my neurosurgeon’s residents was on hand to reprogram the shunt, which is — surprise, surprise — done with a special electromagnetic tool applied to the top of my head. It turns out that the MRI had reset the shunt valve to a flow rate approximately 700% of normal.
That would explain that headache. The other headaches I’ve been having for the last month or so, not so much.
With the MRI out of the way, I can now be scheduled for plasmapheresis.
Faster, please.