MRI= Tube of intenseness

   I had my first MRI today.  Thankfully it was just a Cardiac MRI so I got to go into the tube feet first.  Before the test I kept talking about how it wasn't a big deal because, in my mind, I could drive myself there and back when I was done.  My thought process changed a little bit as I was laying inside this MASSIVE tube for 45 minutes, listening to the tech guy through headphones telling me when to breathe.
    It reminded me of that blonde joke where a blonde goes to get a haircut and she's got headphones on.  The barber did his best to cut around them but couldn't finish the job without taking them off.  He didn't think it was a big deal so he took them off and the blonde collapsed in the chair.  When he listened to the headphones it was saying "Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in"
   I already can get myself in trouble if I think too much...and here I was, stuck inside this huge tube, breathing when I was told too, and the only thing I could do was think.
   So I thought.  A lot.  About how much I wanted some ice cream, about my many colonoscopies and how I'm so grateful I'm never awake for them, about how cool the human body is, about how I really wanted to see the pictures or images they were getting, about how my heart was doing with the little aortic valve opening and closing away, about the contrast dye stuff they were putting in me, about if I was going to get a bruise from the IV since I normally don't, about when I'm going to have to have surgery---a few people have thought out loud to me that I should just get it done now...that's a different thought--, about if I should find a cardiologist up in Salt Lake or get a second opinion, about how lucky I am to live in a place that can meet all of my medical needs, about all those people I would hug if I could, about my upcoming service trip to Costa Rica with my mom, about...a lot :)
     I also decided that putting someone who knows that something is wrong with them, into a huge claustrophobic tube that has runway lights down the middle for an extensive period of time with nothing to do but breathe and think is maybe not the best idea.  I understand for now that it is necessary, but seriously, there is just one word to describe it...intense.  Thank goodness for being able to calm myself down and for Mike telling me when to breathe.  And thank goodness we have this technology...but still, can't wait for the day when they have a smaller less intense way to get the same imaging.