My Progress!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Tuesday


Well, the MRI was a bust. Remember the last time I had to have an MRI done for my knee and I had a difficult time finding a place with a machine that would accommodate my size? This was part deux. I think the place I went to today was the the same first place I attempted an MRI at last time. I got there and the second I saw the machine, I thought ..."Yeah..this isn't going to work," but I let them try.

They had me lie down and get comfortable and THEN the tech realized that he forgot to undo some straps that I was now laying on. Instead of asking me to move, he just kept trying to yank them out from under my 400+ lb girth. I finally realized what he was trying to do and rolled to the side a bit to help him (duh?) get them out from under me. He raised me up to the level of the MRI and then called in for reinforcements. The tiny little receptionist came in and got on the other side of me, counted to three and then both of them PULLED on the mat I was laying on to bring me into the imaging area. "This thing isn't mechanicalized????!!" I asked. The male tech said "No, sorry ma'am." Again with the "1....2.....3...HEAVE!" and I was entering the chamber. "Well, I guess you two can skip the gym today right?" I swear, sometimes I think God has a think tank up there trying to decide how humiliating they can make these sort of experiences before I say "Hey, you know what? I should probably do something about this weight huh?" Let me just say that you must not go to hell for being a smartass with a sick sense of humor...apparently you just get all the fun jobs in heaven. I wouldn't be surprised if my mom and grandmother were heading this task force up lol.

Anyway, they get me half way into the chamber and while I fit, I had absolutely NO room to inhale. See, usually, the resting position for your diaphragm is curved. It sits right underneath your lungs and the middle portion is higher than the sides making it kind of like the top of an "O." When you inhale, your middle part of your diaphragm moves down allowing your lungs to expand and take in more air. This causes your abdomen to move outward as it accommodates the same amount of organs in a smaller space. Every time I went to take a breath of air, I felt like someone was was pressing on my abdomen making it impossible to get a full breath of air. I could NOT do this for 45 minutes. Five minutes into it, I was already hyperventilating and getting red in the face. So, attractive tech boy and chearleader receptionist girl get to HEAVE HO me back out of the machine and send me on my way. Sigh....so now I'm back to square one trying to figure out where I went for my last MRI. I'll keep you guys updated on when that gets rescheduled. For now, my doctor is reviewing my records and will get back to me asap.

Still doing my exercises and watching what I eat. I haven't exactly stuck to the shakes and lean cuisine, but calorically, I'm staying within my 1800 calories a day. I'm feeling better, but still have to be very careful about moving and bending at all. That's my update for today chik-a-dees! See you tomorrow xx

4 Comments:

Kate said...

Hey, you need to call around and ask places if they have an 'open mri.' This is a different machine than the tiny tube. The images aren't quite as good, and size does degrade the pictures somewhat, but ask for an open machine. That's probably where you went last time. Now, a bit of motivaton for you.....I work in an xray dept. sometimes obese people come to the ER who are very sick, or in a lot of pain. Often they are too big to fit into any diagnostic machine. In an emergency, this can be really bad. You have such a great opportunity right now to keep up with your treadmilling and your diet. You can get yourself healthier and fit enough that in a real emergency, you can be imaged to find out what is wrong. I am sending you SO MANY good wishes for your continued motivation and success!

Diana said...

Gosh darnit, life is just so feaking unfair. I'm really sorry you're going through all of this...the pain, the horrible MRI experience.

At least you still have your sense of humor. That's a blessing. :)

Keep up with the treadmill. Even a little bit will help. Good job on the 1800 calories a day, but is that really enough for you?

Hugs to you sweet lady.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry you had such a difficult experience. I think the MRI machine is challenging for lots of people, not just those of us who are obese. I've seen the open machine and it does look much easier to tolerate so hopefully you'll be able to find one of those.

The few times I've been in the ER I always felt like I had to continually apologize for my size; I can't wait not to be obese! We'll both get there.

Great job on staying within your calories!

mandatorybloghere said...

I cant imagine they are laughing at you I am sure they and everyone around you is very worried and hope you can manage to get your surgery and start your weight loss