A couple of glasses of lemonade, and a slice of toast - they've persuaded me to take part in some heart stress tests, so no caffeine this morning
Taxi picked us up (Avril went along for the ride), 15 minutes earlier than planned. It seems it was a specialised section of the hospital, set aside just for research, and the doctor/researcher, met me at the door. A few forms to complete, some signatures, and straight into the MRI room to begin the research. Something to do with kidney failure, diabetes, and the heart. The wanted to investigate my heart function, under stress, whilst in the MRI scanner. I was laid in the scanner, for around 90 minutes, with a cannula in each arm. One injecting some sort of dye, the other set to later inject a drug to stress my heart, and would I mind if the also scanned my kidneys, whilst there - which I agreed to.
They gave me some idea what to expect, when they got around to pumping the stress drug in, more rapid breathing, heart pounding. When they actually pumped it in, it hit me like a sledge hammer, and I was feeling quite panicky, trapped in that big doughnut.
Unlike my last two sessions in the MRI scanner, I was clearly able to hear what was said to me. This one seemed less noisy, and I'd opted for not music over the headphones.
I enquired how you tell a CT scanner, from an MRI scanner, the answer - both are a large doughnut shape, but a CT scan is much quieter.
Then came the peddle the bike tests, whilst I was monitored.
