MRI

Wednesday I was emotional at work. I taught my classes and made sub plans during my prep just in case I wouldn't be in the next day. I told the Music teacher (he is my 'partner teacher' and works right across the hall) what was going on so he could help out my sub if need be, even though I was pretty sure I'd be there the next day.

I went home, showered and did my hair and make-up so I'd feel good about myself (eyeliner and mascara always make me feel more awake and 'with it').  I was nervous and ate crackers with peanut butter and had a glass of cranberry juice for dinner while I made grilled cheese for The Bee (who left work early to get home and come with me to the hospital). We arrived at the hospital and went to the Radiology/Imaging unit. There was a middle aged man at the check-in desk asking about the dyes they were going to use for his procedure, "Last time I went into anaphylactic shock. The Doc told me that I almost didn't make it, of course that was a few days later when I was awake again..."  Are you kidding me? That is NOT what I needed to hear. Thankfully I had researched 'pituitary MRI' so I was pretty sure that the contrast they'd be using had very low risk for reaction.

Sue, the lady at the admissions desk was very nice and took all of the info they needed. I handed my wedding ring to The Bee so he could hold it for me (even though I found out later I probably could have left it on since they only needed to look at my head, oh well).  Then the MRI technician, who must have been about my age, introduced himself (his name was Nate), and took me back to the room with the MRI machine. I got an IV in my right arm (this was the first time I had to do that, and I was glad it wasn't as bad as I expected) and a little alarm thing to hold in my left hand (they can't hear you when the MRI machine is doing its thing, so if you need to get out or something you use the alarm). I started to tear up (big surprise, right?) and he asked if it was the IV or my nerves. "Just my nerves," I said. He put earplugs in my ears (it gets loud in there!), adjusted my mirror (so I could see the tech room throughout the whole procedure) and then I was put in the tube.

I think I was in the MRI machine for about 40 minutes all together. Nate took a series of pictures and I had to lay completely still for anywhere from 2 minutes to (I think) 14 minutes or so, but I could move (a tiny bit, you are pretty stuck in that thing) between when the pictures were being taken. I could feel my shoulders tensing up because I was nervous. When they put the contrast through the IV my arm felt weird and a little cold but thankfully didn't hurt at all! When all the pictures were taken, I was taken out of the machine and had the IV removed. I said, "That wasn't so bad! It was hard to stay still for that long, though!" Nate laughed and said I was lucky I could be in the enclosed MRI machine because the pictures will be much better and clearer than if I had been in an open one. I asked why anyone would use an open MRI? His response was if someone is claustrophobic or if they are too large to fit in the tube! I guess I am lucky that I don't have either of those problems - I tried to think of the MRI as a chance to be lazy and practically nap for 40 minutes!

I got a call the next day (checked my cell phone at lunch and the call came in at that exact moment!) and my doctor said the radiologist had looked at it and everything was normal. No tumor or any other weird things. I was relieved but now I feel like, "Great, we still don't know anything!"

As for the cause of my high prolactin? It could just be caused by stress. It could also be caused by the costochondritis I ended up in the emergency room for last July. I have been pretty high anxiety for the last 6 months or so and the emotional stress caused by my lack of pregnancy, my summer job (which I am not working next year, yippee!) and some family craziness caused the chest pains. Costochondritis is the inflammation of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum and it went away after I took ibuprofen for a week and didn't lift anything that weighed too much. I still get the same chest pain when I am very stressed, and apparently costochondritis (or any chest pain/chest wall trauma) can cause an increase in prolactin. I am hoping that is the cause for me, but we might never know!

Next time: Today I had my pelvic ultrasound...