Part Eleven: Context is Everything

            It was like living in a construction zone.  Or maybe it was a sword fight using steel pipes.  Besides the jangling of my nerves, my lower back hurt.  My shoulders hurt.  My legs hurt.  New pockets of pain appeared as the clanging and banging continued for a solid hour.  Next time I am going to take pain meds before submitting to an MRI.

            Holly was great company on the way to and from my appointment.  Especially on the drive back, I was grateful to be passenger instead of driver.  I was both rattled and exhausted from the hour on my back in the machine.

            Yet, I am so thankful for modern technology.  Here it is not quite 2 pm, and I have the radiologist’s report from my 9 am MRI.  If my back didn’t hurt so much despite the pain pill I swallowed once I got home, I would jump for joy.  No evidence of metastatic disease! 

            Alternating between the radiology report and Google definitions of terms, I inch my way through medical terminology.  It is clear to see that my back has arthritis issues with the biggest problems at T9-T10, though the rest of the thoracic spine is not in great shape, either.  So fibromyalgia is not the lone culprit of my pain.  Makes sense to me. 

            Funny how context shapes my reaction to results.  Finding out that my discs are degenerating and at least one is bulging is fantastic news.  I’ll take back pain over cancer spreading any day.