MRI story

[qbee42]

I just read this believable but somewhat disgusting MRI story. Having worked in the field of MRI design for several years, I found it fascinating:

Going to the doctor doesn’t get any weirder than this. A man gets an MRI, but ends up getting a lot more than that.
For Prax Sanchez a trip to the doctor's office was never so unusual. Not for Prax, instead everyone around him. He had quite the story to tell.
"I never had any idea there was any metal in my face," said Sanchez
That's right. Metal in his face. Literally.
"To us, he's a medical miracle. It's amazing. We've never seen anything like this," said Cheryl Paterson, a medical receptionist at an Old Colorado City family clinic.
This time around, Prax didn't come for a check-up of his blood pressure like he usually does. Instead, to show his doc what happened to him a few weeks ago.
"When I went to lay down on the MRI machine, I had a real pain on my right side under my eye," said Sanchez.
What was about to come next, no one would ever expect.
After his MRI, Sanchez coughed up a nail that was stuck in his nose.
It was over an inch long. Doctors say it could have been up his nose for 30 years.
"Once it's in the nasal cavity like that, a little membrane forms around it and it becomes a foreign object.," said Dr. Jamieson Kennedy, a family practitioner at the west side family health center in Old Colorado City.
Prax is just fine. Soon, he'll be back for a more normal check-up

Man Coughs Up Nail Stuck In His Nose For 30 Years / Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Southern Colorado, Breaking News, News, Weather, School Closings, Traffic from KKTV 11 News

Tom

[dogfriend]

Thanks for sharing that while I'm trying to eat my breakfast. I'm imagining that nail didn't look so great after 30 years either.

[koa]

I had an MRI done and one of the questions on the form is about working with metal. Since I had used a metal grinder occasionally, I first had to have an xray to make sure there would be no metal shaving pulled through my eyes.

[jayman]

Huh, I had better file that in my "weird s*** that happens at the doctors office" folder

(Carefully prodding all over for any metal objects)

[KK6PD]

I have had 3 cervical Laminectomy's on my neck, and before the 3rd operation, I had an"Open MRI" done. The tech, after it was over came in and said, "I thought I told you to remove all metal". I did, I said. He shows me the MRI results, and around C2 there are what appear to be tiny tiny flecks of fuzzy image. I explained that I was going in for a 3rd operation on C5 and the light dawned. It seems that the drill bits they use, tend to shake / break off flecks of metal. They were not flushed out thouroghly enough after op #2. I then had to have a closed MRI which has much more resoultion that an open unit does. Problem solved, but I now know what a Mk 48 torpedo feels like when its shoved into the torpedo tube!!!
Thank God for Xanex!!!

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by KK6PD

I have had 3 cervical Laminectomy's on my neck, and before the 3rd operation, I had an"Open MRI" done. The tech, after it was over came in and said, "I thought I told you to remove all metal". I did, I said. He shows me the MRI results, and around C2 there are what appear to be tiny tiny flecks of fuzzy image. I explained that I was going in for a 3rd operation on C5 and the light dawned. It seems that the drill bits they use, tend to shake / break off flecks of metal. They were not flushed out thouroghly enough after op #2. I then had to have a closed MRI which has much more resoultion that an open unit does. Problem solved, but I now know what a Mk 48 torpedo feels like when its shoved into the torpedo tube!!!
Thank God for Xanex!!!

I like this post, especially the last part. In previous jobs I have managed R&D engineering for a company that makes MRI units and also the company that makes the Mk 48 torpedo. I never thought the two would come together in the same conversation.

Tom

[jayman]

Of course, there is always the funny story involving Tom, a prototype MRI unit with a coolant leak, and the cigarette that refused to light

Hint: if the coolant displaced so much O2 in the room that a cigarette refused to light, it was probably a hint there wasn't enough O2 to properly breathe ....

[hyo silver]

How could someone have a nail up their nose and not know?

[jayman]

Maybe they were doing so much blow, that a nail accidentally in one of the lines just got snorted up there

I'm reminded of that scene from "Bringing Out The Dead" when the cynical triage nurse is interviewing the cokehead.

"So, you've been snorting cocaine for three days and now it feels like your heart is about to explode and you want us to help you. Well, I don't see why we should. Did we sell you the coke? Did we shove it up your nose?"

Priceless!

[Dave_PH]

Originally Posted by hyo silver

How could someone have a nail up their nose and not know?

So I'm not the only one who wondered that. And the article said it has been there for 30 years but not how it got there or how they knew it was 30 years.

There really was a Simpson's episode about a pencil up Homer's nose.