Wrist Pain: MRI & Blood Test results

I went to see the rheumatologist again today to discuss my MRI scan and blood test results.

The blood tests were fine.

He said there is lots of inflammation and fluid in the wrist. Well, I could have worked that out without an MRI scan.

Here are a couple of views of my wrist taken by the MRI. The scan took lots of slices at different depths of the wrist and from different angles, eg top, side.














[view from top]











[view from side]

Unfortunately, some of the little bones in my hand have been "disrupted", which means that the ligaments which are supposed to be holding them in place are all over the shop and the bones are out of position.

Possible causes are TB (Tuberculosis) or arthritis. Apparently the BCG injection I had in school doesn't protect against getting TB in a joint and there's a lot of it about.

He suggested having an arthroscopy and a biopsy. That means he thinks I should go to a hand surgeon to cut open my wrist and poke around to see what's wrong which apparently the MRI can't show. Then, on the way out, he'll cut off a bit of my wrist for analysis.

I can just imagine the CSI CGI - whirring circular saw cuts through flesh like butter, blood spurts out, we fly with a camera plunging into the wrist and zoom into the bones and ligaments. The camera is rapidly withdrawn to be replaced by a shiny sharp scalpel that, with a flick of the wrist, cuts a chunk of flesh which is grabbed.

Wrist pain: MRI data check

As I'm going to pay for another costly visit to the rheumatologist, I thought it would be a good idea to make sure he has received the MRI scan results & interpretation. I phoned up several times yesterday but was repelled everytime by a busy line.

Today, I phoned up and managed to penetrate their defences. The doctor's private secretary didn't take my call so her replacement had to go and check to see if my MRI info had arrived. Fortunately it had.

So, my 2nd visit to the doctor on Friday is going ahead. I'll write up more then.

Awesome Alliteration

Masuo Kamiyama's even better at it than me.

GPS or How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate Sat Nav

Charlie Sampson thinks Sat-Nav is being used in a cunning conspiracy to get us on to public transport.

I don't know about that but I agree with him that it will get some drivers switching on their sat nav and switching off their brain. It will destroy out own personal geographical knowledge and might stop us caring for the environment if we don't know where that is or what it looks like.

Wrist pain: MRI scan

I went for my MRI scan today.

I got to the medical centre 20 minutes early - what a surprise. Sod's law was duly invoked and I was told the MRI scanner had broken down today. That's what I get for going for the cheap scanner. Actually it was going to cost me £250 rather than £200 - prices never drop, do they?

I was told it was now working but there was a backlog. I was asked if I could wait 30 minutes. I agreed but had to wait 45 minutes, instead.

There was a choice of music. I chose No.1 : Mozart.

I had to lie face down. My lungs were crushed and despite wearing a T-shirt, I felt like I was in a sauna. I was wheeled into the centre of the machine. There was the regular beat of the cooling pumps, accompanied by the staccato of machine gun fire, drilling machines and giants pounding the scanner. With my discomfort, I was warned I moved about too much. So, one set of images had to be deleted but another set was good enough.

I chatted with the technician and found out that the machine was old at 2.5 years. They get totally knackered by 5 years. He reckoned that private hospitals run their scanners into the ground and the NHS gets new ones. No wonder the waiting list is so long - they spend their money on new machines but not on people to operate them.

I did get to see the images - complete with white areas showing inflammation & fluid build up.

Now, I just need my blood test results.

Heard on a Bus: Childish Criminality

"Me & my friends used to get out of lessons 15 minutes before lunch by asking to go to the bogs. Then we would meet up and rob the canteen."

Sushi Superstitions Shattered

Wise Bread blogs about Terry Corson's new book "The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket".

He claims that

The best sushi is not the most recently deceased.

Fish actually has to age slightly in order to achieve a full, rich flavor.Most of the sashimi that we eat in restaurants has been flash frozen using liquid nitrogen. This process kills many of the germs and worms that can develop in fish flesh, but doesn't cause any physical deterioration of the meat.

When you go into a fine sushi establishment and order the freshest daily fish, you aren't eating fish that was caught the same day, or even the day before. If you're eating good sushi, the fish is at least a few days old.

The wasabi you are eating... isn't wasabi

Turns out that real wasabi is difficult to grow and even more difficult to properly package. So what you eat is actually horseradish powder, mustard, and green food coloring.

Traditional sushi doesn't contain tuna or salmon

Tuna and salmon aren't traditional sushi choices because they spoil very fast. Fatty tuna is eschewed by the sushi snobs in Japan. Traditional sushi is technically whitefish, like halibut, snapper, or even clams and raw octopus (the Japanese sushi foodies, true to form, sometimes eat squirming live octopus).

Do you believe these sushi myths? Comment on my blog

Check out Corson's book

and Comment on my blog.

Property Porn Proliferates

Bulging from my local freesheet:

• INVEST WITH LONG TERM CAPITAL GROWTH potential
• Serious about property
• Now you can afford to buy
• Everyone's buying
• Luxurious riverside living
• Invest in India: Mira Road, Mumbai - India's Commercial Capital

With testimonials like this:


"When I bought my flat I thought it would be a good investment but I had no idea that it would make me more than £100K in a year. I bought my 2-bedroom flat in June 2006 for £245K and it is now valued at £360K. Property prices have just gone crazy in the past year. Now I'm very glad I picked this area because I doubt other flats will have gone up by as much as mine."

Now we know what's driven the UK's obsession with property and the property boom.

Now I'm not jealous that all my friends are on the property ladder. One has traded up 4 times and is on his way to his £1M Wimbledon townhouse and another has bought his 4th property.

Hopefully, with the credit crunch & rises in interest rates, the newspapers will replace property porn with real porn - ads for adult chat-lines.

Wrist Pain: Private patient

I went to see the rheumatologist at the private hospital today.

He prescribed blood tests and a MRI scan. I asked him how much the scan would cost. He said between £200 & £700. I asked him about the difference between them. He did not give me a clear reply. So, I decided to go for the cheapest option. If that isn't good enough, I'll go for the most expensive. I reckon the extra cost of the cheapest + the more expensive is only 22% more than the most expensive. So, if I can get away with the cheapest, I will have saved several hundred pounds and if I can't I will only have paid 22% extra.

Wrist Pain: Mental Mistake

After phoning up the NHS hospital everyday to find out what happened to my rheumatologist referral, I finally get an answering machine. I leave a message and someone kindly phones me back to tell me that I've reached the Mental Health Unit. Doh!! Although, I might be frustrated enough to need it.

Are you a child of Generation Y?

The Brazen Careerist has a questionnaire that works out if you are down with the zeitgeist or prematurely middle-aged.

According to the results, I am of Generation Y. Are you?

If you're reading this, then I don't need a questionnaire to say that you probably are.

Wrist Pain: Private patience prerequisite

After 2.5 weeks of waiting and phoning, I still have received my referral to a NHS rheumatologist. There was no answer at the end of the phone. No doubt they are still on holiday.

So, I'll pay to see the same rheumatologist in a private hospital. The GP stay it might cost me £150. I phone up the private hospital and am told it will cost me £180 for a first appointment.

The receptionist helpfully tells me that an injection will cost £80. From how long it takes to give an injection, the doctor's hourly rate is about 5K!! Yes, that 's right. Of course they don't do many injections but still it is ridiculously high.

I still have to wait nearly 2 weeks to see him. It seems that in the private sector you pay to wait less than in the public sect0r and you know how long the wait is.