ENT - Nasoendoscopy and MRI Scan
It seems that medical "bulletins" are becoming poplular on the forum, so here's mine:
I've endured pain and discomfort on the left side of my face since Xmas - it's been variously diagnosed as toothache (treated with antibiotic then tooth extracted), earache (blood tests, ear treated with antibiotic/antibacterial then olive oil before being syringed), glandular (blood tests, suposedly self-clearing) and finally cancer which resulted in more blood tests and then a "nasoendoscopy", which was the procedure I most feared - a camera on a tube up my nose and down my throat .....
Luckily, my ENT consultant turned out to be a very empathetic and gentle lady. Since she had established the severity of my “gag” reflex, she advised me that she would first anaesthetise my nose and throat with a spray. Having done that, the consultant showed me the camera tube and asked me to raise my legs up and concentrate on keeping them there. I thought that the procedure was odd but complied – the next thing I knew the tube was up my nose and down my throat without me feeling a thing. The consultant soon completed the camera scan and asked me to drop my legs – as I did that, she quickly and painlessly extracted the tube. Immediately, I asked her why I had to raise my legs – she laughed and told me that it was just a distraction technique for nervous patients .....
Since the consultant had seen nothing “sinister” on the camera scan, she had decided to refer me for an MRI scan of the soft tissues of my neck, which took place yesterday. I wasn’t perturbed because I’d had an MRI scan a few years ago but, after undressing and laying down on the scanner “bed”, I was unhappy to discover that my head would be encased in a plastic “helmet” before my whole-body insertion into the machine. In the event, I endured the subsequent “claustrophobia” for 25 (long) minutes. Now I await the results.
In the meantime, the consultant has advised me on jaw exercises in case I am suffering from TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) .....
All the "practitioners" have advised that I should "keep taking the painkillers" .....