MRI Scan Completed - Now We Wait For The Results

Navigating through Spanish health care

Here in Spain it's simple to get something done, that is, once you know where to go. Many businesses lack a website or have half-working websites with just little info. That's been one of my biggest issues in the past weeks to navigate through the clinics offering MRI scans with my insurance and getting an answer once I found one.

Some businesses simply never respond to their contact form emails or messages sent in their app. It's ridiculous but I know this is how it works here. At least I'm seeing an uptrend of solid web sites as well from other businesses so slowly, Spain will be easier to navigate at some point.

Once you know how something works, you don't have to do the searching next time, so it's highly recommendable to save good experiences somewhere in your favourites or bookmark them for a quicker result next time.

First experience in this new clinic

In the middle of a industrial area in a small town nearby there's a clinic offering scans such as MRI and some others. At first, I somehow totally missed them having a website, later I found out why, because their website name is a totally different one than how they're found on maps. It was only yesterday when I discovered they have an online appointment request button so I knew I was finally close to getting an appointment. Sadly I could not add any comments in the request so I just waited until they called me back.

It took a few hours and when the receptionist asked me something I could not understand, a friendly guy speaking English came to the rescue. It was about getting the authorization code from the insurance. I'm glad this happened because otherwise I'd have an issue there today simply because the system connected the referral to another clinic first. This needed to be changed first, good to know for any other time in the future this may happen. Like I said, once you know, it's an easy fix. Just a 5 minute phone call to their customer service and you're good to go.

Next day appointment

The guy asked me if I wanted to come today (yesterday) but on Thursday this is not convenient for my boyfriend to drive me as he has a 13 hour workday on Thursdays. Thankfully, they had time this morning, so I'm very happy they called me back quickly.

After I got this done, I made a new appointment with the trauma doctor because now I knew I'd have the results in a week or so. Sadly, I have to wait 3 weeks for the first available slot, but at least it's booked now.

So much pain

I'm happy things are moving now because yesterday was a very painful day. Not every day is like that but yesterday I felt a constant pressure in my back and it became more painful after I got out of bed, it didn't disappear after taking my meds, in fact, in the afternoon I was going nuts from the pain and didn't knew how to handle it. In the evening, I took my second pill 2 hours early for the first time since I have them.

Today it seems ok-ish but laying on that MRI bed which is very hard did not help much. I'm happy my boyfriend agreed to drive me, even though I'm not affected by the meds constantly, when in pain, I most definitely don't feel like getting on the highway is a smart move. Especially in the middle of nowhere with just mountains and greenhouses around you, I rather have someone with me and not having to deal with traffic.

Glad it's done

After filling in all the paperwork, I could go in immediately and I was told it would take about 12 minutes. I don't know if it took longer in the end but it sure felt like 30 minutes to me at least. I had several MRI scans in my life, the last one also for my lower back, but I didn't recall it to be this unpleasant. I remember nurses telling me to relax and it may be a bit uncomfortable but always ending up thinking, it's not that bad, is it? While this time, I really felt uncomfortable being in that tube as well as feeling everything warmed up inside, lol. I had trouble keeping my arms still at some point and wondered should I ask to put them next to my body or maybe don't because if I mess up this part of the scan, I have to stay inside this thing even longer, lol. My mind was all over the place at some point and I was so happy when he said it was over.

I hope I never have to do one ever again, so let's hope they have clear results! I can check them online in about a week.

Huge dragonfly

Outside of the waiting room, my boyfriend and daughter saw a dragonfly. When we left, it was on the wall and it was huge! I think 15-20 cm and of course, I had to take a picture of it. I could not really see if the picture was very clear using my 200MP camera on the phone but it turned out quite sharp, thankfully.

What a little piece of art, right? I remember that these (smaller editions) were flying at a local nature swimming pool when I was young and I never really loved them near me simply because they look like a tiny helicopter, haha. When taking this picture, I constantly wondered if he was not going to lift off causing me to have a scare and drop my phone, haha.
Nothing happened, it stayed put while I took 3 pictures and two of them were good enough to share thankfully.

Happy Friday, and enjoy the weekend!