So off to the RUH have my MRI scan. Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines!  Gosh, these are big beasts which require a room to themselves and can range in cost between £0.6 and £1.9 million. The construction of MRI suites can easily add another £325,000 to the total cost.

For those who might be having a scan let me run through what actually happens.

I’ll lay it out in # points because it’s probably easier on the eye.

# after checking in I saw a nurse assistant who asks innumerable questions about anything to do with metal for example have I had it inserted into my body, Have I swallowed anything metal, do I have any tattoos? Do I have any blood thinners?
I suppose having metal on is the same thing as putting metal in the microwave, they don’t go together. I had a metal zip in my trainers that had to be noted down.

# I was then invited to unrobe in a small room and put my clothes in a locker leaving only vest and underpants on and putting on a gown

# I then had to have a cannula,which is a means of injecting medicine into the veins. This is used in this case to inject a contrast dye (iodine based) so that the peculiarities of the body can be seen in much greater contrast.

# Through good fortune the appointments were on time and within a few minutes I was ushered into the suite.

# I had previously been asked if there were any CD’s I would like to play since the procedure is quite long, in my case about 25 minutes, and I might want something to distract me.I was advised by a friend to bring one

# I was strapped in, my body was made as immobile as it could be, and I was given a panic button so that if I felt claustrophobic I could press it and the machine would disgorge me. In fact it was quite light and pleasant inside.

# I took the precaution of bringing an eye patch so that my slight tendency to claustrophobia would be mitigated as indeed it was.

# After my set up the machine was turned on and I was gently moved into the bowels of the machine. There started a number of quite loud ticks, noises, tapping, vibration, plus a quite extraordinarily varied orchestra of sounds; I could quite easily imagine I was listening to a Symphony by Karl-Heinz Stockhausen.

# at frequent intervals I was told through my headphones by a very posh English female voice to take a deep breath and hold still. There followed 11 or 12 bleeps and the lady then said to me ‘please breathe normally’ which I found quite amusing for something that is instinctive and we do anyway. It’s a bit like me saying to the heart ‘please pump blood round the body’.

# I could just about hear the music from my CD player between the instructions and the noises but quite frankly I could as well have done without it, as the music make little difference in psychological impact. In the background to all the noises. There was an repetitive onomatopoeic sound that sounded like …fountain fountain fountain … and I found that soothing.

# Eventually the machine stopped, the investigation ended and I was unstrapped and I got up and walked rather unsteadily out of the suite to a waiting room where I sat with other recovering scanees (I made that word up) where after they took my cannula off after about 10 minutes.

# I went back to my changing room to collect my clothes, get dressed, and off I went.

My favourite restaurant

To lunch at my beloved Lansdown restaurant in the RUH. Staff east in another section if they wish though they can mingle with the patients. I have never seen senior grade surgeons or consultants there so I guess they eat seperately. To celebrate my scan I treated myself to a special Sunday roast type meal with roast potatoes, chicken and all the trimmings plus a sticky pudding with tons of custard.

Visitors should note the open times:
Breakfast- 7.30-11
lunch 12 – 2pm
Dinner 4 – 7pm
Anyone on hospital business, friend of patient or patient can go in and eat.

Interesting chats with fellow patients

I had a number of conversations which though brief, with people waiting with me during the procedure

# The first man lived in Seend and spoke about The Barge in which is a canal-side pub and diner. We talked about drinking and he said that he gave up because it was doing him too much damage. He had previously owned a garage but due to his failing eyesight, not being able to drive car etc he decided to hand over the keys to other people.

He then took to drink which he indulged in quite heavily but decided eventually that it was a waste of time and money plus affecting his health. He then started collecting guitars and told me he had ‘about 116’. I teased him about this but he said he didn’t have an accurate idea of the exact number as he was always buying and selling, getting better models and so on.

I said well sorry about the eyesight and said that the main thing is to retain your sense of humor.

# One of the nurses was called Mora I guessed from South America. It was her job to remove the cannelas. She had a lovely voice so I told her how pure her voice was and that had she ever tried to sing? She was so moved and said that was the first time anyone had told her. My intuition had told me that there was something there so I encouraged her to have a go.

# I talk with a rotund chap and we spoke about the large number of staff from foreign parts. He said he had  been to another hospital where there was not one British person there. This was just his observation. No judgement.

# While I was waiting to have my cannala removed there was a silver haired man of senior years sat next to me so we got talking. I commented on the staff at RUH and said that all the staff seem to get on well. He agreed with me and contrasted it with Southmead Hospital in Bristol which he found efficient but rather cold and dictatorial.

I commented on the architecture of Southmead saying that it was cavernous almost Cathedral–like at the entrance and in the wards not conducive to the staff gathering in cluster rooms for companionship and spending their rest breaks there.

I’d said that all who design hospitals should pass some tine in such an establishment and on hearing this my silver headed friend said that he was an ex-architect and had taken part of the construction of the the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab in Dubai apart from various works in Qatar and also locally in Bath, (he mentioned the colonnade) and various other places throughout the world.

I wish I had had more time to talk, but people were coming and going all the time so we only had a few moments.

# I then had a short but amusing conversation with the lady who was reading a book and I commented that I could not concentrate on books for long periods and have found myself reading the same page three times.

She said that her book was very boring and hoped it would get better. It was about people in spaceships looking out into space and we both laughed at this and I said I wasn’t quite sure how I could get better because there is plenty of space to look at.

Rules of talking with Strangers

For the 50th time in my diaries I again say that it is really worth striking up a conversation with a stranger no matter in what context you find yourself.

It could be a bus stop, waiting room, in a train, restaurant, but there are certain protocols attached to eating places which are briefly that the more formal the seating, the less likely you would be to join someone and talk to them. In a workers cafe I would have no hesitation at all about chatting to someone at the next table.

As for talking to strangers when flying I would tend to limit that to short flights because if you are confined to sitting next to someone and unwittingly say something that is out of order or embarrassing, you have to endure the next part of the flight in stony silence or feigned indifference to the person seated next to you.

On a long flight I think you could with least risk speak to someone say in the last hour before landing so if things go south it won’t do too much harm. I observe there is an understanding that although the seating may make you feel in a crowd, people do want their own privacy and that should be respected.

I’m reading increasing numbers of people who get drunk on a plane, urinate, people who let their kids kick the seat in front for six hours at a stretch, groups of people who fight but I may have been lucky because people on the flights that I have taken in the past just want to get from A to B its quickly as possible and not trouble anyone.