I really don't like MRIs...

Slept for crap, again. I hate that I cannot fall asleep like I used to but I do not want something from the doctor to help me sleep either. It's almost like I cannot sleep until I know my wife is home safe from work. Anyway, I finally dozed off about 4am local time and was up at about 8:30 or so. I decided to make myself the Scottish Breakfast Tea I bought yesterday and now wish that I had bought some more as this is good stuff. Not really sure how to describe it but it was smooth, almost silky with a earthy/oak flavor profile. The problem with having been a professional brewer and beer judge for so many years is that I critique EVERYTHING I taste. Bad habit, but it makes tasting new things fun.

The pain today is moderate, I am sure that I have developed a tolerance to the oxy and that is the problem rather then an increase in pain. Thankfully my appointment is tomorrow morning and I should be on new meds by the afternoon. I am not looking forward to the switch, but since I trust my doc I am willing to give it a try.

I have also had several people, especially Saija suggest that I get a T.E.N.S. machine to help with the bad days. I used this extensively when I was in physical therapy and liked the results it provided, so based on that and the suggestions I will break down and buy one. I will hit ebay though and see if they have cheaper ones.

I have been wondering how we will track the progression of the arachnoiditis. Will they take another MRI or do we just keep treating the pain and track progression by what hurts? I am not claustrophobic by any means but MRI's suck. Not only are you trapped in the damn thing for 30-40 minutes, it is so loud they make you wear earplugs. You cannot bring anything in with you, no music because the magnets would destroy the media, no books/magazine because you have no room to move and read it, you just lay there and try to not think about how bored you really are. They do have an open MRI machine now and there is one here in my town, but it is not covered by my insurance and when they say open it is a misnomer. The only thing "open" is the sides where you can hang your arms down. Your face is still going to be a few inches from the top of the machine anyway. Basically, getting an MRI sucks and I do not look forward to doing it again anytime soon.