MRI; short for Magnetic resonance imaging. Just in case no one already knew this common knowledge.

I was at an MRI a few weeks back and x-rayed (can you say that with an MRI?) my cervical spine (neck) to see if there was any logical reason to why I have been having so much trouble with it since my accident. For those who have never done an MRI; it’s basically a little tunnel that they slide you into after securing the part they need to be still (in my case head and neck) and giving you a little emergency button-thing so that if you would panic, you can get those nurses back in. I assure everyone; I did not use it. I actually dropped it and lost it inside the machine. Anyways, after this you lie very still inside this incredibly light tunnel (haha) for 30-60 minutes and listen to something that sounds like ten giants beating the machine with a sledgehammer [listen!], and pray to God you didn’t leave anything metallic on yourself (I actually did, but a nurse caught it in the last second.

Columna Vertebralis

When I last mentioned this in a post I said I was sure the results were going to be sent to busy-bee Dr. E who never has time for me, but I was (pleased?) to see the letter was written by the orthopedist Dr. A who I met earlier this month. She must have remembered me and actually gone to collect these pictures from Dr. E, which is an engagement I appreciate

In the letter she said that none of my discs were herniated (which actually had been better, because it had been operable) but that the discs in the caudal (lower) part of my cervical (neck-area) spine where bulging, although not enough to put any significant pressure to my spinal cord. Yet, exactly how much it could affect me (pathologically) is of course not proven. Back to square one.

Madelaine Edlund

Have to write about this because it’s been a week, and it still gets to me. Last week I was following a football (am: soccer) game online and wondered why it was delayed half an hour. As it turned out, one of the girls on “my” team (eg. the Swedish-based team; UIK) had been lying still on the grass for 15 minutes after the goalkeeper (on the English team; Arsenal) had slammed her elbow into her neck. Now, this might have been an accident or it might have been semi-intentional I don’t care, but the fact that there wasn’t a doctor present at this game (mandatory, may I add) was crazy. That there wasn’t any paramedics either was outrageous. They actually had to call for an ambulance. Meanwhile, UIKs and Arsenals physiotherapists tried to stabilize the girls’ neck as she lay on the field without moving. Arsenals respons to the Swedish complaint is; “We had four physiotherapists present who could deal with these things”. So, in other words, in England;
Physio+Physio+Physio+Physio=Doctor.
I assure you, in Sweden, it’s faulty.