I was admitted--very rapidly--to the hospital under the Stroke Protocol.
New Year's Day 2020
I had three consecutive MRIs.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I will get to the above dates before the end of this post.
I remember three times when I heard a song on the radio for the first time. Each helped define a significant time in my life.
1970.
"Close to You" by The Carpenters
I was dating my future wife at the time. We were both young and in love. I thought they wrote the words for us. I'm still not convinced they didn't.
1973
"Killing Me Softly" by Roberta Flack
I was near the end of my teaching credential program. I'd never heard more haunting melody and lyrics.
1979
"Music Box Dancer" by Frank Mills
I was driving home late one night after a class in my Master's Degree program. I remember wishing they would play it again before I got home.
My wife's favorite song as a teeny-bopper was "Happy Together" by The Turtles. That was a defining song for her. It's now her ring-tone on my smartphone.
"God Bless America" by Kate Smith became the anthem of unity in the United States after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. Major League Baseball teams still have live versions during the 7th-Inning Stretch.
You can think of songs that remind you of times and events in your life. Unfortunately, not all the songs you hear are welcomed.
Earworms
These are songs that you can't stop replaying in your brain, even though you desperately wish you could. I'll not name one because I don't have to. One of your earworms most likely used the previous sentence as an invitation to perform in your brain over and over and over AND OVER just now. Sorry about that.
Hymns and my MRI exam
I had an MRI in 2005 before a laminectomy and partial discectomy of my 4th and 5th Lumba vertebrae. I remember the noise, but only my waist to my feet was inside the tube for that one.
The MRI experience of 1/1/2020 was different.
After removing the metal heart monitor leads from my chest, removing patches of my then abundant chest hair in the process, they slapped on their own wireless leads and a plastic helmet and shoved earplugs and me into the bowels of the tube. The photo below shows the deed beginning.
Within seconds, banging and clanging and humming and swooshing enveloped me. It was LOUD. I shudder to think what the decibel level is WITHOUT the earplugs!
They did three consecutive scans. I was told I'd be in the tube for 35-40 minutes.
It's easy to lose track of time when surrounded by LOUD noises. However, it wasn't long before I decided to try something to distract my brain from concentrating on the noise level.
I grew up singing hymns in church. In many Sunday night services, the song leader allowed congregants to choose songs. As a teenager, my buddies and I would do our best to get "Wonderful Grace of Jesus" on the playlist. It's a long song with some outstanding echo parts for tenors and bass singers. Our song director usually obliged.
I began "singing" hymns in my mind inside the MRI tube.
The NOISE LEVEL made it difficult to recall any hymn lyric at first, so I switched to what we called "choruses" when I was a child and teenager. Most of them are repetitious with silly lyrics in places. Many have accompanying arm or whole-body motions. "I'm in The Lord's Army" is an example. Click the title to hear the words and see the motions.
They don't allow movement during an MRI, so I switched to choruses without motions and hymns. I was able to get through the first verse of nearly every hymn I recalled, but no further.
Oddly enough, I remember every stanza of the choruses.
Forty minutes flew by.
I breathed a prayer of thanks for the healing power of good music as they slid me out of the tube.
FINAL THOUGHT
The importance of music in human life and why you like some songs and not others, especially remakes of a song from your teen years is the topic of the book, "This Is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel J. Levin. I recommend it highly, and as an audiobook, if you can! Try your local library.
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The worst part of Earworms for me is that I can usually only remember one line of the song or two lines of the chorus, over and over. I end up looking up the song so I can sing the whole thing! I had an MRI in 2014 to check my lower spine and I remember how loud it was! I did the same thing you did, except I 'sang' contemporary worship songs. And just like yours, my MRI went by fast. He is our Peace!
ReplyDeletePeace. Hope. Love. And, so much more!
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