Big Girl's Blouse

My arm is really sore.  The reason why this is, has a story which I completely underestimated, one that I never even knew to fear... I went for an MRI scan.  My shoulder has never fully recovered from the woeful thunk, as I hit the hard ground off a zipwire at the end of February.  I've seen doctors, done months of physiotherapy and seen an orthopaedic surgeon and it finally ended in an MRI scan to establish if what's hindering complete recovery could be fixed with surgery.  I arrived at the hospital without a care, just thinking about using the trip to also get an x-ray on my hip done (don't even ask!) two birds, one stone and all that and confidently approached the desk.  All of a sudden a wave of talking and activity overtook me... 


fill this in, answer that, sign this, take that off, put this on, come this way


... before I really knew what was happening I was lying on a narrow bed, in a bright, white room, hoisted up on my right side, shoulder and arm exposed to the cold air.  A man, who assured me he was a doctor, told me that first he would be injecting an anesthetic into the shoulder joint, and then would be following this up with a long needle full of dye, which he would need to use an x-ray type machine to make sure he got it to the right place, oh, and by the way there was a risk of getting an infection and another risk of something being damaged by the needle, but don't worry, it hasn't happened yet...

Hoping that the worse was over, I was then wheeled to the MRI room and shown the long, thin, low tube I was to lie INSIDE for the next 30 minutes while staying as still as possible, oh and wearing a head set to drown out the racket that goes on in there. 

To say I was apprehensive is an understatement.

I was terrified.  Having to bite my lip and dig my nails into the palm of my hand to stop myself from crying.  The only way I could cope was by keeping my eyes tightly shut so I couldn't see how tiny the space I was in, was.  It felt interminable.  The noises changed in tempo and volume, the tube vibrated at times, stopped and then started again at a different speed. 

When it was finally over, I was shaky and confused, and just desperate to get my clothes on and get as far away from that place as I could. 

Note to self; research any proposed medical procedures thoroughly before signing up for them.  And stop being such a baby!