A Picture of My Uterus, Suitable for Framing

I went to the MRI last Wednesday at the Imaging Center on Telegraph in Oakland. it's the same place that sees my breasts every year, so I knew exactly where to go. And going at 8am helped us find parking, although, as usual, the parking lot was still pretty full.

First, we got a runaround. I came in, presented my paperwork, and without looking anything up, the receptionist told me that I was in the wrong place. She told us to go to the Alta Bates Herrick Campus, the same place where the oncologist's office is. However, we turned to go back to her, as Ruth wanted an exact address, and found out that she had been on the phone with them; she subsequently discovered that I had no appointment there. When I asked her if she was sure we didn't have an appointment at her place, she looked and, voila! there was my name. Lesson Here: Don't always trust what they say.

Shortly after that nearly tragic snafu, some tech named Bill came in and told me to take my pants off and put scrubs on. He whispered to me, "Are you wearing a bra?" When I said yes, he whispered back to me to take that off, too, but keep my shirt on.

After sitting there with half of the pajamas on for 10 minutes, Bill finally came and got me. He explained that I will have an injection about half the way through the MRI. I understood that to be the dye for the contrast part of the x-ray.

The automatic roller took me into the tube. I have been in this chamber before. It's rather tight, so I have to pull my elbows in and rest my hands on my chest, but I'm not supposed to rest them on the plastic platform they've placed over my pelvis.

I was amazed at how long I was in there. I couldn't tell time, but the whole process took an hour, so I would guess a good half an hour. I learned what noises represented repositioning and what noises were about the x-ray itself being employed.

So, about half an hour later, they rolled me out. I met another tech, probably a nurse, who gave me an injection -- which I barely felt -- and told me I would have to hold my breath for 20 seconds. 20 seconds seems like an awfully long time. I could hear him through the earphones as he would tell me, in a thick accent, "Okay, hold your breath now!" I had to do this three times, with a minute in between to literally catch my breath. The second time, I couldn't hold it the whole time, which is just ridiculous. I obviously thought it would be easy. But the third time I got it, and he said it was all done.


They handed me a CD on the way out. Bill didn't explain it, but I supposed it was pictures of the MRI images. Yep. Except that the software provided on the disc was a million years old, a 0.3 version instead of the current 3.4 version, and so it wouldn't download.

I hired Neil, my Mac guy, to come out and help me with it. He downloaded the software from the OsiriX website. And then the pictures started coming up. Black and white, hundreds of them. I have reprinted some of them here.

I can't interpret these pictures. i can occasionally pick out intestines, a bone, but don't know what those big, round blotches are. But isn't it fascinating?