I have mentioned Mitchell before and how his life so dramatically changed when he called his mother from school and she came to get him and they found out he had a tumor along his spine. He is quite amazing and I have suggested you check out his blog at:
http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=mitchelllouie
Today I place his latest entry here because it is so inspiring to see how Mitchell meets this continuing challenge in his life. Who else would think of playing paintball in his head while in an MRI machine and then fall asleep and get through three hours in a hammering tube?
Mitchell is my inspiration for this day!! Here are words from his blog. His parents post for him.
It’s been a Good Friday. This week Mitchell had to undergo a couple of MRI’s to get a baseline of the head, neck, and entire spine after his treatments of radiation and chemotheraphy. Magnetic resonance imaging scans are a technique that uses magnets and radio waves. The patient lies inside a large cylinder shaped magnet and the scanner makes a picture of tissue in the body. MRI scans provide clear pictures of parts of the body and surrounding bone tissue making it useful when examining the brain and spinal cord. MRI’s aren’t for those who are claustrophobic, can’t lie still for long periods of time, or have metal hardware such as screws, plates or even a pacemaker. One slight movement, itch, or sneeze can cause a distorted image to occur thus repeating the scan again.
Imagine being strapped to a rolling bed, placed into a cylinder tube and then listening to loud hammering taking place for three hours. Makes you want to run out of the place after hearing the first hammer noise. Each scan takes about an hour as the MRI scans the head, the cervical spine (neck area), and then the rest of the spine. We told Mitchell if he couldn’t handle three consecutive hours that we could do the scans separately on different days. Usually, you would perform each scan on three separate occasions but not Mitchell. He said to power through the scans and get it over with. The technician doing the scans was amazed at how Mitchell handled being still and no re-takes were needed. Later, I asked Mitchell how he was able to lie still for so long. He said that he would play paintball games in his head. Every time he heard the loud hammering noise, he would pretend that was an explosion of paint. He finally got tired of winning and being king of the hill and then fell asleep.
