The eyes have it!

My zapping is getting quicker every day. This is mainly because when the zaps first start they have to do a few CT scans just to make sure that my head's positioned correctly. Once the alignment is sorted, there are fewer scans. And so my zapping today only took about 12 minutes, which was nice. Amusingly, if you try to text someone on a phone with predictive texting, the word "zapped" is presented as "warped" - which somehow comes over as more fitting!

Just for a laugh, here's an early MRI scan (about a year and a half ago) which I thought I'd publish because it's got my eyeballs in it!

MRI Scan #2 - 30/06/07

My second MRI scan and I'm a bit better prepared. Having had 1 already, I know what's involved. Secondly, I've had 40mg of Propanolol just to calm me a bit.

This time I take "Kiss This" by the Sex Pistols to listen to. The MRI operator says that it's cool!

Appoint with Neurologist - 23/05/07

I had an appointment with my (note it's "my" now, rather than "the") neurologist today to get his interpretation of the MRI scans. Anyway, it turns out that I have what's called a "low-grade glioma." It's a form of brain tumour although it's not apparently malignant. The neurologist suggested that there was nothing really to worry about but it should be monitored. So he recommended that I had more MRI scans at 3, 6 and 12 months from now, except he hinted that he expected to see me before then...

My first MRI scan - 03/05/07

After my seizure I saw my doctor who referred me to a neurologist. He then recommended that I had an MRI scan. I'm ever-so-slightly claustrophobic so I wasn't looking forward to it. I was told to bring some music with me, something loud, so I brought Fatboy Slim. Anyway, everybody was very pleasant and the only bit that spooked me was when I lay down and they put a sort-of grille over my face and clipped it into place. It wasn't touching my face, nor was it a full face-mask but I just felt uncomfortable because I felt that I was clamped in. I closed my eyes the whole way through. During the experience I could hardly hear the music over the noise of the scanner. Every so often, the MRI operator would say "10 minutes" or "5 minutes" which is when the scanner would start up again. She would also occasionally ask if I was okay. Anyway, eventually the scanner slid back and light came back (although I still had my eyes shut) and I assumed that the session was over. I was wrong. It was just so that I could have a dye injected in my arm which would highlight the blood vessels in my brain. The injection didn't hurt but I had to go back into the scanner. Another 20 minutes or so and it was all over, however. Now I had to wait for the neuro to look at, and interpret, the results. In the meantime, I was given a copy of the images on CD. I had a look at them on my PC, and they were interesting, but I couldn't see anything wrong.