I just read this believable but somewhat disgusting MRI story. Having worked in the field of MRI design for several years, I found it fascinating: Man Coughs Up Nail Stuck In His Nose For 30 Years / Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Southern Colorado, Breaking News, News, Weather, School Closings, Traffic from KKTV 11 News Tom
Thanks for sharing that while I'm trying to eat my breakfast. I'm imagining that nail didn't look so great after 30 years either.
I had an MRI done and one of the questions on the form is about working with metal. Since I had used a metal grinder occasionally, I first had to have an xray to make sure there would be no metal shaving pulled through my eyes.
Huh, I had better file that in my "weird s*** that happens at the doctors office" folder (Carefully prodding all over for any metal objects)
I have had 3 cervical Laminectomy's on my neck, and before the 3rd operation, I had an"Open MRI" done. The tech, after it was over came in and said, "I thought I told you to remove all metal". I did, I said. He shows me the MRI results, and around C2 there are what appear to be tiny tiny flecks of fuzzy image. I explained that I was going in for a 3rd operation on C5 and the light dawned. It seems that the drill bits they use, tend to shake / break off flecks of metal. They were not flushed out thouroghly enough after op #2. I then had to have a closed MRI which has much more resoultion that an open unit does. Problem solved, but I now know what a Mk 48 torpedo feels like when its shoved into the torpedo tube!!! Thank God for Xanex!!!
I like this post, especially the last part. In previous jobs I have managed R&D engineering for a company that makes MRI units and also the company that makes the Mk 48 torpedo. I never thought the two would come together in the same conversation. Tom
Of course, there is always the funny story involving Tom, a prototype MRI unit with a coolant leak, and the cigarette that refused to light Hint: if the coolant displaced so much O2 in the room that a cigarette refused to light, it was probably a hint there wasn't enough O2 to properly breathe ....
Maybe they were doing so much blow, that a nail accidentally in one of the lines just got snorted up there I'm reminded of that scene from "Bringing Out The Dead" when the cynical triage nurse is interviewing the cokehead. "So, you've been snorting cocaine for three days and now it feels like your heart is about to explode and you want us to help you. Well, I don't see why we should. Did we sell you the coke? Did we shove it up your nose?" Priceless!
So I'm not the only one who wondered that. And the article said it has been there for 30 years but not how it got there or how they knew it was 30 years. There really was a Simpson's episode about a pencil up Homer's nose.
So I should Thank You for my experience ... While I admire the design of a Mk.48 and its ability to break the back of most ships.. I also admire the technology behind a MRI, fortunately for me, all the Techs who worked on me, allowed me to see the results. They can't really tell you what's wrong with you... But they would Nod or Shake the Head when I pointed things out with a relevant question on the SCAN!! I catch on quickly!!! I just hate torpedo tubes! Which I believe are close to the same diameter as a MRI tube, well at least the one's I have been in!!! I am however VERY CLAUSTROPHOBIC!!! Well at least when it comes to being shoved into tubes that are Cold, Dark, Long and VERY noisy!!! I can pretty much McGyver my way out of most situations when called upon to do so, I give up on steel tubes!!! That being said, Thank You for your help in creating these Modern Marvels!!!
Maybe the guys ex-wife/ex-girlfriend put the nail up his nose while he was asleep. Now I'll be up all night thinking about that possibility. :madgrin:
good thing DH has spent enough time in an MRI to know that they won't pull any (more?) metal out of him. he'll be spending a lot of time with them in 2 weeks.
I'm sure Tom had a part to play in the first series of MRI machines. Such as the time some women walked into the prototype machine suite, and suddenly started moving their bodies in a weird, rhythmic fashion Turns out the wire reinforcing in their bras were - shall we say - stimulated, which was .... stimulating ... the women. I - unfortunately - have never had career experience stimulating women that way. However, once while in the Army, a bunch of us really scared the s*** out of a guy at a DEW radar site. I sure hope we didn't give him a brain tumor in the process ....
Oddly enough I haven't read that book. I should sometime. I knew some of the old timers that went way back to Wembley. NMR, obviously, had been around for a long time before it was used for imaging. I remember the NMR guys at The Upjohn Company, when we moved into a new building, and they spent months getting the NMR machine sealed, evacuated, and running again. It was a fussy beast. The first MRI images were only a few pixels, but it was enough to see that the concept had promise. The concept is pretty simple if you understand fourier transforms and phase encoding, but getting it to actually work in a clinical environment is devilishly complicated. You need faraday shielding to keep out RF, and magnetic shielding to prevent interference from passing cars and the like. The signal levels are so low that almost anything gets in the way. Add to that liquid helium cooling and lots of superconducting wire and you have an expensive technology. I wish there was an easy way to make it cheaper. Speaking of which, have you guys been following some of the recent advances in MRI? One research group has announced some promising work using something other than the usual proton imaging. This new technology is supposed to allow direct imaging of some of the harder tissues, and has a signal 1000 times stronger than the current systems. I hope it turns out to be true. Tom
First of all, I don't recommend loading a Mk.48 into an MRI. It probably wouldn't do either of them much good. The Mk.48 is a very large beast. We had one hanging in the lobby of our headquarters, and visitors were always shocked by the size. It's no wonder they can break the back of a ship. The MRI company that I worked for had the largest bores in the industry. No, I'm not talking about my engineers, I am talking about the magnets. Large bore magnets were and are important for fat people and people like you with claustrophobia. Unfortunately, signal to noise is inversely related to magnet bore, so for the same performance it is cheaper to have a small magnet. We used a lot of industrial design tricks to make the bore feel larger: a large tapered opening, gradient lighting, and moving air. Getting back to Mk.48s and claustrophobia, you would probably enjoy submerged egress through a torpedo tube. I imagine the part where they close the inner door and start flooding the tube would be really fun for you. Just one last odd thought: One of the buildings where I worked had a torpedo tank in the basement. It looked like the world's skinniest swimming pool. Tom
You're being unusually quiet about wire reinforced bras .... I've used a similar line with clients I don't particularly like. "Ok, this is pretty easy to understand. Do you know calculus, Fourier Transforms ....? No? Huh. Then it's impossible for you to understand. It's Magik then" A somewhat similar issue: A lot of folks are unaware the Air Traffic Control system uses a lot of Cold War technology. By "Cold War technology" I mean vacuum tube radar consoles, like something out of a SAGE blockhouse. The radar system will allow an Airbus A320 to disappear at the MM and IM on final, but it *will* pick up cars on the Interstate two miles away. Oh I bet you guys had parties in the basement, where after the third round of drinks somebody cracked open the valve and suddenly everybody was squeaking like Alvin and the Chimpmunks. That's still in the strict prototype/lab environment, right? I thought it was years away from being fielded
Just curious if you were involved in the ADCAP refit. There was a lot of initial DARPA and later on, MURI funding, for that project Actually, the best engineers I know are complete bores with no sense of humor whatsoever. Which is why I find you such an intriguing mystery .... So is going on a diet and getting some exercise. That's a pet peeve of mine. I have direct personal experience of what its like to become a fast disgusting slob. It was strictly due to being lazy and having weak self control I bet the Navy could offer thrill seekers - eg those suicidal folks who jump off buildings and bridges - special adventure rides in Ohio class submarines. Charge them maybe $50,000, bring on board 100 of them. At the end of the ride, they have a choice of going out the torpedo tube, or out the missile tube. PHOOOM!!
I have found that engineers as a group tend to be cynical and often pessimistic. I have always found that the pessimistic side really helps to evaluate a design and imagine how someone can break it or otherwise f*** it up.
