Here are two entrys by Zoe, my LOML. I took Zoe up to Whidbey General yesterday for a trip in a MRI. She wrote about it last night. If anyone has a date with a MRI coming up, check it out. Zoe also has Fibromyalgia and lives with chronic pain. She put up a letter fom someone with chronic pain that describes her world. If you know someone with chronic pain, the letter might give you some insight into what they are going through.

MRI -- Are you experienced? I am.

All systems go. I highly recommend that if you are claustrophobic, then lie down, close your eyes, put the washcloth on, and let your Tech put the headphones on you. Gregg assured me that he would be monitoring me. He did, and he could talk to me through the headphones. He was very conscious of what was going on. He even saw when I had a "bad moment" one time, and took time, without telling me, to wait until I could relax, ok, BREATHE again . I would like to share with you, that you should work very hard to NOT move your hands, unfortunately, I did.E I barely moved, and I touched the top of the cylinder. Dang! Very unsettling. That was a very defining moment for me, to avoid all the negative feelings and thoughts I had that scared me to pieces about small spaces. The fan wasn't enough, I was hot, I had to find my breath. Slowly in and out, finally I worked on, and managed to calm down enough to hear and finally listen to the audio tape and "escape" and traverse time and space from inside a casket..er MRI cylinder to the concert yet again

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A Letter to Normals from a Person With Chronic Pain

Having chronic pain means many things change, and a lot of them are invisible. Unlike having cancer or being hurt in an accident, most people do not understand even a little about chronic pain and its effects, and of those that think they know, many are actually misinformed. In the spirit of informing those who wish to understand: These are the things that I would like you to understand about me before you judge me. Please understand that being sick doesn't mean I'm not still a human being. I have to spend most of my day in considerable pain and exhaustion, and if you visit, sometimes I probably don't seem like much fun to be with, but I'm still me, stuck inside this body. I still worry about school, my family, my friends, and most of the time, I'd still like to hear you talk about yours, too

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