MRI

I have been on the list for a bit to get an MRI on my shoulders due to a nagging vacation injury caused by luggage that was too heavy - and you know who is to blame for that!!!
Anyway, I was booked for December but also on the cancellation list and they called this morning with the option of going in immediately - which I did.

 This is more about the power of visualization than anything else. They strapped me down, put headphones over my ears and slid me down the tunnel. Please God, give me a coffin with some room to move when the day comes, but I decided to ignore the confined space, close my eyes and imagine a morning that I spent in Hawaii a few years ago. My wife stayed in bed and I went down to the lobby and bought a coffee and headed through the open doors to Waikiki beach. Beside the pool was an open air bar and no one but staff in the vicinity so I saddled up to a bar stool, opened my book (Hawaii by Michener, interestingly enough) and proceeded to enjoy the warm ocean breeze, the smell of beach sand and an hour of quiet relaxation, Bob-style.

I used that memory this morning to ward off the inclination towards claustrophobia and it worked like a charm. Now, all I need to do is stretch the time from the 40 minutes in the MRI machine to 40 years of real life.