tactics

As most of you know, I am going in for an MRI on Wednesday the 15th. The idea is that this will allow my ENT to rule out the two most serious possibilities of my illness: an auditory tumor or early multiple sclerosis. The technical jargon on my script for the MRI scan says that I am having an MRI of the Internal Auditory Canal and Brain. Luckily, I am having an "open" MRI, which means that I won't have to be stuffed into one of those long tubes--instead the machine is more like a cone that my head goes into. Unfortunately, I have to have a contrast injection, which will introduce a chemical into my blood that will make my vascular system light up on the scans. That way, they'll be able to tell if I have a blood clot or other blockage in any of my major vessels. Most auditory tumors are operable: they use something called a "gamma knife" that shoots radiation through your skin into the tumor to destroy it. So, probably the worst possible thing I could be diagnosed with is MS, since it's progressive in later age, and requires a lot of invasive treatment to manage. My ENT says the only real reason they're checking me for it is because I'm the right age for onset of the symptoms.

After the MRI (assuming it's clean), I'm being sent to an experiemental audiology lab at UB, where they'll do tests on me to try to determine what's wrong. The major theory is that the carbon monoxide poisoning I suffered almost five years ago has caused some neurological damage to the nerve endings in my inner ear. They might possibly put me through a hyperbaric chamber to force out any CO that's still in my body (this should have been done years ago, but the people at the ER didn't tell me when I went in for the poisoning). Other than that, I'm not really sure what else might happen: maybe balance and auditory tests where they put electrodes on my face and then put water into my ears to see how my eyes move when the nerves are stimulated.

One weird thing I didn't know was that tattoos can cause some problems during MRI scans. Since there are sometimes trace metals in the inks used for tattooing, the MRI (which uses a magnet so powerful it weighs several tons) can react with the ink and burn your skin. The technician at the MRI lab said that mine shouldn't be a problem, since I'm only having my head done. I'd be more nervous if I was getting a full-body scan!

My symptoms have been a little more manageable for the last three days, so maybe things are looking up. I dunno. I will let everyone know how the test comes out as soon as I get the results. The radiologist should be able to go over the scan with me right after it's done. I'm not really nervous yet, just sort of relieved to know that I'll be able to stop worrying about whether or not I have brain cancer. I'm sure I'll be much more nervous later on...

--Q