Testing completed

On Thursday I made it through my two test.  The hardest thing I had to do to prepare for the test was to give up caffeine! No caffeine after midnight or before the test which meant no coffee,no hot chocolate, nothing like that in the morning! The MRI proved to be everything everyone said it would be-NOISY!  The machine looks just like what you see on television.  First you lay down flat on your back, it feels like your head is lower than your body, you can feel the blood rushing to your head.  They then placed a clear hood of some kind over my face.  They said it is a faster machine and warned that it would be a lot louder than the old one.  They also gave me a ball to hold onto which I was instructed to squeeze if the procedure became too much. I was in there for about 40 minutes. I got through it by counting along with the machine in my head to 60, it takes about 60 seconds for each image. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be because I occupied my mind on the counting. A few times I could feel my hands getting sweaty but I kept counting to just get through it.


My second test was the EEG.  That one was easy.  I was laying down on my back with my eyes closed.  One time the tech wanted me to open my eyes and look ahead, then close them again.  I was then instructed to increase my breathing, it was like forcing myself to hyperventilate.  I was told that I might get light headed, dizzy, dry mouth or tingling in my fingers but to keep going. After returning to normal breathing a strobe light was then placed in front of me (my eyes were to stay closed).  It started slow then the strobes became faster.  I could see different colors, it was weird. Made it through again! 


It will be a week to two weeks before we get the results. These test were tiring mentally but I knew that I had to have them to get a more definite diagnosis. I am glad its over but glad I went through it! Now it was time for a BIG cup of coffee!
                                                             Dave