My-oh-my, what an MRI!

Heidi thought it might be good for me to share the story of today's MRI with you myself. So, here I go.

Today was the long awaited "next step" in dealing with my heart issue. My cardiologist told me that he wanted me to have an MRI of my heart before I am to consult with the heart surgeon that he is recommending to do the surgery. This MRI was scheduled for 10AM at Sutter Hospital in Sacramento, so after dropping Anthony off at school, I headed out through the fog to Sacramento arriving right on schedule just before 9AM to check in at the hospital.

By 10:30 I had been introduced to the team that would be doing the MRI and was on my back ready to go into the tube. I have had MRIs before, but this was something else! This time I needed an IV because a portion of the test would involve inserting a dye into the bloodstream. There was also a 2x2 square piece of equipment that sat on my chest for getting pictures of the heart. Another difference from previous MRIs was that I had to hold my breath for most of the pictures, so I was told throughout the test when to hold my breath and when I could breath regularly again.

Into the tube I went. I was pretty comfortable with the whole situation and even took some little naps between pictures. After a while, I was pulled out of the tube for a couple of minutes for a short break (This doesn't mean that I got to get up off of my back), then, back I went into the machine. Another short break after a while and back in I went again. Then I started to get uncomfortable. After sticking it out a while longer, I started trying to get the attention of the technicians, but had no success. After many prayers, I was finally given the word that we were done, I came out of the tube, was unplugged and able to stretch my arms and legs and was sent on my way.

I really had no good sense of how long I had been in the machine, but it felt like I must have been in there for about an hour-and-a-half. Was I ever shocked when I got to my locker to retrieve my things, put on my watch and noticed that it was exactly 2PM. I had been in there for three-and-a-half hours! Wow! If I had known that going into the test, I doubt if I would have made it through.

So, a HUGE thank you to all of you who were praying for me during my test. I had no idea how necessary those prayers would be, but I was certainly sustained by a supernatural power. To think that I was able to remain comfortable and calm during the first 3 hours of that test, and then was able to manage to hang on for the last uncomfortable half hour.

God is SO good!

Let's hope that these fancy pictures will be a big help in getting us the information that we need for the next step of this marathon.