Five on a Friday

1. Daughter-Two has been planning her Halloween ever since the girl down the road suggested they go trick or treating together.

I wasn't prepared to rule it out completely if this other girl kept asking, but I'm certainly not encouraging it. Daughter-two asked why I wasn't that keen on Halloween and I explained that it would be lots of fun in the States, where all the kids in the street would dress up and everyone would get into the spirit of it and have candy ready etc etc ... but here it's basically just knocking on strange people's doors and asking for treats which they aren't even likely to have on hand since it is not an established tradition here. (Although admittedly the one time Daughter-One and her friends did it they got a great response from Chinese families who had seen trick or treating on kids' TV shows but never experienced it so were very excited to see them). But still, we like to take a stand against creeping globalism ..

Daughter-Two thought for a moment and said, "yes, it's a bit rude to just go around asking for things and, anyway, I probably wouldn't be able to eat most of what they gave me, so why don't my friend and I dress up and go around with a huge bag of lollies and say "trick or take" and GIVE people sweets when we knock on their doors?". Sort of a reverse trick-or-treat if you will. I like this idea MUCH more!

 

2. She would be able to buy the big bag of lollies herself, since I had to bribe her to have allergy shots this week. I told her I couldn't afford to do it each time but it was the only thing that worked. Hopefully now she realises that it doesn't hurt that much AND you get jellybeans afterwards it will be easier. Otherwise it is going to be a very long 3 years. And she'll be able to pay for her own school fees at the end of it.

 

3. How wonderful it is to see the sun again. Nothing like spring and the promise of summer to lift the spirits. Even if we probably can't afford a beach holiday this summer. (Don't feel sorry for us, it's because we have something very exciting planned for later in the year)

 

4. Yesterday (to keep an overly-cautious specialist happy) I had to have an MRI. Given it sounded like a painless, glorified X-ray type procedure I agreed.

Big mistake.

If you've never had an MRI scan yourself, you're still probably familiar with them from programmes such as "House". It's that big tube-like thing that they slide people into, then talk to them through an intercom from a safe distance until they realise the patient has stopped responding/started convulsing/blown up because they had metal inside them.

It's never particularly reassuring when you have a procedure which requires the technicians to retreat to a safe distance in another room while you are left alone with the death-dealing equipment is it?

After confirming once in writing and twice verbally that no, I didn't have metal inside me so was unlikely to blow up, they slid me into the machine.

Basically it is like being inside a white coffin with your arms above your head and just your feet sticking out the end. Because it is a very noisy coffin they also give you earplugs and head-phones.

At first I thought "this isn't so bad providing I shut my eyes". Because there is fresh air piped into it, you don't get the suffocating effect that I imagine would mar the whole coffin experience in the event of being buried alive. So as long as you don't open your eyes you can pretend you are lying on a beach or something. Of course, then you open your eyes and realise that the lid of the "coffin" is three inches above your nose.

The other thing to remember is that your arms are above your head when they slide you in and that is where they stay because you can't bring them forward because the lid of the "coffin" is ... three inches above your nose.

For an hour.

Surprisingly it wasn't until about 40 minutes in that my shoulders really started burning.

They also get you to do a lot of holding of your breath for 20 seconds or so at a time. At first the technician was very good about saying "keep holding ... keep holding ..aaaand .. breathe normally again". But one time he just forgot to tell me to resume breathing. So I kept holding my breath until finally I had to breathe. Or maybe there was a temporary fault in the intercom because he didn't say anything for what felt like ages but was probably just five minutes. In the complete silence I lay there wondering if maybe aliens had landed or they had all been struck by a sudden attack of a zombie virus and I was the only one left (invisible in my tube in my sealed room) and how long would it take me to wriggle out with my arms above my head . Of course I realise now I wouldn't have been able to wriggle out at all because I was well and truly strapped down and I don't think MRI machines come with eject buttons.

Eventually to my relief he started talking again, and not too long after said "I think we are just about done now ... we're just checking but I think we have everything we need". And left me there for another five minutes wondering if I ever regain use of my shoulders again or if I would walk around with them raised above my head for the rest of my life.

 

5.Moving on to more cheerful things, here's a sneak peek at this week's new kit, coming soon to Designer Digitals:

 

Comments

[Heather T.]

Ugh! I'm so sorry about your MRi--that sounds horribly painful, on top of the terrible experience it is anyway! I've had about 5 of the bloody things--brain MRi's to rule out multiple sclerosis--and it just got worse each time. And since they're doing the brain, you don't get to wear headphones.

And what a neat idea DD2 had for Halloween! I think it's brilliant, and if Allen insists, I think we'll give it a go that way (he doesn't eat candy either).

[Raylene]

Definately a thorough description of an MRI. Should be printed in a manual somewhere . . . I have heard other participants talk about the noise factor, which would GIVE you a tumor if you didn't already have one! Ah, the things we go through as we get older . . . ultrasounds get my vote for the best invention. Barium swallows and enemas are at the bottom of the list! eeeuuuwww!

Hope you get a stellar report from the MRI!

[Merrilee]

Oh, no, I've never had one of these MRI's, Lynn. I'm sorry you had to endure this and I'm glad it's now over. Hope everything is OK, of course!!! I'm glad spring is is on the way you are.