Time to be Stoic

They told me I needed an MRI-guided biopsy.  I’ve had many biopsies over the last twenty years.  And I just had an MRI.  I could not fathom how to combine the two.  I was soon to find out. 

This time I had a female tech to guide me, but there was also the requisite young man.  And the doctor.  In terms of body part placement, I knew what to do this time. 

With my normal hearing challenges, however, combined with ear plugs and headphones for music, I could not hear them when they told me what to expect.  I just waited and tried not to jump at inopportune times. 

What I remember:  compression, being pushed into the tube, banging/whirling/wheezing, being pulled out, needle placement, pushed back in, more banging/whirling/wheezing, pulled back out, sample taken, clips put in, and finally I could move.  While I was in the tube and stuck with needles, the female tech held my hand.  Very sweet. 

Then I was led blind (no glasses), deaf (no hearing aids), and still dressed in gown and socks, to a different part of the building for a mammogram.  Yes, breast biopsies are always followed by a mammogram to make sure the clips are in the right place. Clips are little pieces of metal left in place to guide the surgeon.  It was all rather traumatizing.