This morning I had to have an x-ray, a great way to start a vacation, and, yes, everything is fine. We arrived to a long line up and a sinking feeling that we'd be there for hours. Turned out that we got through the process faster than we did at the drive-thru at Harvey's We registered, sat down and were almost immediately called in.
The technician asked if Joe could come in case I needed help she couldn't give. I agreed and we all went into the room. While I was still seated she explained what I had to do which included taking off my shirt and dropping my suspenders (or, in England, braces). I was scheduled for two, one taken with my back to the machine, one taken to the side.
The first one was easy to do because I could hold on to my pants, preventing them from falling to the floor, while in the position she wanted. The next one was going to be more difficult, I needed to have my hands up holding on to a grip she installed. This meant that I couldn't hold on to my pants and that they would definitely fall.
I asked her if Joe could hold my pants up while the picture was being taken. She 'leaded him up' which meant that he had to put on a costume that made him look part samurai and part Dirk Bader. He stood behind me, grabbed my pants and for the first time in our relationship held them up.
It was hard getting an x-ray while wanting to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Disability can be a deeply funny way to live.
I'm told as a baby and early toddler I had to be practically hog-tied for x-rays - my particular condition was found at the age of nine months, and I got a TON of x-rays as a kid, though my parents did everything they could to keep the total number down as far as reasonably possible. But getting one-year-old me to hold still for spinal x-rays was...not fun.
ReplyDeleteThere is no real point to this but how many people have stories about x-rays beyond "yeah, they took one when I broke my arm that one time." Restraint, pants-holding - those are at least DIFFERENT. :D