CAPTURED...

The loud screeching of metal gears grinding jolted him from his state of semi-sleep. A little disoriented, he tried to ignore the irritating sound, willing in his mind for it to go away. Once that didn't work, he reverted to what he thought would be a more effective alternate plan: covering his ears with his hands like a child who wishes to ignore a parent's nagging. Only then did he realize that somehow he had been strapped down, arms bound tightly to his side. In fact, he was also bound at the waist so that he couldn't even twist his body. He was shivering, as a continuous draft of icy air embraced him. As the fogginess of disorientation slowly cleared from his eyes, he could see that he was in some sort of cylindrical capsule, the roof of which was mere inches from his face. It would have been dark, had it not been the two light emitting strips found on the top of this weird sarcophagus. It's light was an unknown hue, not quite lime, not quite aqua, but definitely alien. The sounds continued, but now he could distinguish other ones. One sounded like a bird's chirp, but it was definitely artificial in timbre and too regular in the frequency in which is occurred. Without warning, a sharp, high pitched siren went off somewhere close by, close enough to seem like it was coming from inside his head. He could feel himself moving, although he had not summoned his body to do so. He was on some sort of mechanical platform that was controlled remotely. Then, without warning and penetrating through all the mechanical sounds, a human voice boomed through an intercom built into this strange coffin, the sound of which was distinctly mid-rangy: "Now Mr. Chan, take a deep breath, breathe out and hold your breath..."

Not having experienced an MRI before, it only seemed fitting to describe my initial impressions in a sci-fi context. I should have suspected something when the entry questionnaire included the question "Are you claustrophobic?". The 2 technicians that were there were very helpful at explaining each step of the process and even used humour to set my mind at ease. Yet, nothing really prepares you for the first few moments after they slide you into the "coffin". It's a little daunting because of the low level lighting and the really loud sounds (despite having been given a pair of ear plugs). I should find out why those sounds are necessary, but it sure brought back memories of that video game "Half Life" as I envisioned the different alien monsters that each sound I heard reminded me of. All in all, the whole procedure took about an hour and a half. I had to "pose" for about 60 shots. Each shot involved a specific breathing process: take a deep breath in, breathe out deeply and then hold your breath for 15 seconds, lying perfectly still as the machine did its thing. They warned me not to fall asleep, otherwise, one of the techs would come out and tickle my feet. I did fade out a couple of times, only to snap back and think to myself: "Oh crap, did I just breathe in the middle of a shot?" The results will take about a week and a half, after which I will meet with the cardiologist for her feedback.

Similar to the MRI machine that I was a prisoner to for over an hour!










Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a noninvasive, non-x-ray diagnostic technique based on the magnetic fields of hydrogen atoms in the body. MRI provides computer-generated images of the body's internal tissues and organs. When I stumbled on this website, I (in a weird, funny but twisted way) thought about the havoc that this product would wreak in the imaging lab of the hospital. The warnings are pretty funny (although I don't think that they were meant to be humourous)!

http://www.unitednuclear.com/magnets.htm