First Appointment with "Dr Fear"

The first appointment of the day was an MRI scan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging of my liver.

I am not at all squeamish about needles, so I wasn't bothered that I had to have yet another cannula stuck into my arm so that a dye could be flushed around me for the scan.  However, after inserting the needle into the fleshy side of the elbow the nurse seemed determined to push it this way and that in the hope that she might strike blood without really connecting to the fact that you have to put it in a vein first.

When the nerve in my wrist start to hurt, tingle and jiggle around in rhythm with the needle, which was sited some eight inches away,  I thought it was best to let her know that she wasn't having a lot of luck.  So we tried the other arm.

The MRI scanner in the above link is a good resemblance to the piece of equipment that I had to be popped into.  It's a fairly tight space to be in for half an hour but I am not claustrophobic.  However, before I went in I must confess to being a bit apprehensive.  The PET scan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PET_scan I had last Friday is a much shorter and spacious affair but it is silent and a little eerie and so it does feel a little uncomfortable and this played on my perception of what was in store for me.

I needn't have been bothered because it is so noisy in there that at times it feels like you are in the middle of an electro house rave.

Eyes shut, relax, nice and calm.  Now that seemed a good strategy for the MRI and they seemed please to get all the scans in a single take.  The problem is that it doesn't do much good if you are having an ECG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECG immediately after.

Apparently my ECG results showed an abnormality and I had to sweat it out for the afternoon at my desk at work whilst a cardiologist took a look at the results.

This is when I met "Dr Fear".  We didn't have a Sopranos style "sit-down" he merely let me know that he was out there waiting for me.  My worry stemmed from that fact that my heart-rate has always been nice and slow and blood pressure always spot on.  I wouldn't have fancied trying to navigate the next few months with a dodgy ticker.

As it is, it may well be that there isn't an issue at all.  Apparently, the nub of the problem was that my heart rate was "abnormally low" and I was quoted a rate of 47 bpm.  But around 52 is normal for me and when I was younger and fitter it was sub 45.  So not really surprising when I had been laying around on my back for a good part of the morning.

Still, apparently there were a "couple of other anomalies" which the cardiologist didn't care to elaborate on.  I was not party to the conversation but, as I am having a pre-laproscopy assessment tomorrow,  I will be able to pick brains then.  I will be able to find out if I have anything to be concerned about or whether these are just other "normal abnormalities".  I guess this is a by-product of benefiting from a whole raft of tests in quick succession before having another consultation.  It is worth mentioning again that the levels of care I am receiving are top notch (both on technical and human levels)

My ship pitched and rolled a little until I heard about the "abnormality", especially as I am yet to discuss the issues around my lung capacity readings.  Thanks to Kitten, Sam the Eagle, Big G and Jules for providing a listening ear whilst I prattled on about the subject.