Wednesday, May 06, 2009

DJ Lazy in the MRI Tube

I spent two hours in the MRI tube tonight. 

That's not counting the hour it took to travel to Brigham and Women's Hospital, the 45 minutes my appointment was delayed, the 15 minutes it took me to fill out the forms and put on my johnnie, and the hour and a half it took to get back home. 

That's right. My bi-annual MRI (although I blew off the series I was supposed to have last summer so technically it's my only one this year), took 5 1/2 hours or, in babysitter talk, 55 smackaroos. The kids and I love our babysitter, Ash, but I would have rather had a spa day with a friend or gone to a concert with this me time.

But, it was not a total waste of time.  I have a new idea for a musical project. I am going to become a DJ.  I'm thinking my stage name will be DJ Lazy but I'm also considering Lazy I.M. 

Seriously, though,I want to work with a musical producer or sound engineer or one of the other very talented audio people I know to remix the really, really loud sounds that are blasted into one's ears during an MRI. I want to take those horrible but incredibly rhythmic sounds and create music.  I got the idea when I was trying to not move my eyeballs during the brain scan and trying not to swallow during the thoracic and cervical spine scans (with and without contrast). I tried to imagine dancing to each sound like it was a percussion instrument.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of hanging out in an MRI tube, here's a little sample of what you're missing. 

Imagine a mix of the machine gun rat-a-tat-tat sound with the electronic water drip torture sounds with maybe the clunk, clunk transition sounds in between.  I'm telling you, I am really onto something. People will hear the MRI mix in clubs and beg their primary care doctors for an MRI referral. It will spawn expressions like "That's magnetic resonance, man!" and "I had an awesome weekend. I was in the tube!"

I found this video that was created for children to prepare them for MRIs. I have decided that my next MRI will be at a pediatric MRI center. I want movies!

5 comments:

  1. Julie,
    Kids' MRI machines are the best! A couple of years ago I was a study participant and spent 2 hours in a machine at the kids' hospital. They had to use it after regular hours so one Sunday afternoon I watched Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Weir Rabbit in the tube. Very cool.

    S.

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  2. my vote is Lazy I.M. too funny. I hate MRI's cause I can't lay still for that long

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  3. Of the MRI sounds sampled, #3 is my personal favorite.

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  4. Oh Julie- I am laughing so hard. My last trip down the tube was much harder to tolerate than the first two - I'll think of your post next time, and try not to wiggle w/ giggles. Love your writing!

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  5. Lazy I.M. thanks you for your support. Peace out, my peeps.

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