I
share this true but pathetic story to commiserate with other tortured
souls who relentlessly endure and survive extreme humiliation. We're a
group of accident-prone fools who regularly trigger embarrassing
situations that would permanently traumatize a normal person. My
experience this week will be difficult to surpass: I farted inside an
MRI machine.
In medical terms, I had torn the meniscus cartilage
that acts as a shock absorber between my shinbone and thighbone. In
middle-age woman terms, two demons from hell invaded my body and lit
fires in my knee and then danced around poking the raw nerves with
electric forks. The pain was beyond intense, and the accident severely
damaged my body so I couldn't stand, walk, or even crawl to the wine
bar.
Five drug-induced days later, I finally saw an orthopedic
surgeon. He manipulated my knee until tears streamed down my cheeks and I
threatened to tear off his arms. It should have been obvious that I was
injured by the way I was ripping off chunks from the sides of the
examination table. I silently vowed to add him as a nasty character in
my next short story. Finally, some lovely angel gave me legal
narcotics. Soon my ravaged leg was a big, bandaged joke, and I laughed
and laughed.
A few days later I experienced the MRI - a magnetic
resonance imaging procedure that uses a magnetic field and pulses of
radio waves to make images of damaged ligaments and joints. A handsome
young technician helped me into the tube of terror and strapped down my
leg. I nervously remarked that a first name usually was required before I
allowed anyone to tie me in a bed. He didn't laugh but ordered me to
hold still for 45 minutes. So there I was, in pain, suffering from
claustrophobia, moving on a conveyor belt into the white torture
chamber, and I didn't have a clue how to remain motionless. And, to
complete the distress, my only audience wasn't amused by my jokes.
After
about 20 minutes, I started to get anxious. I was tied down in a tunnel
and could only hear strange beeping noises and grinding sounds. For all
I knew, they were deciding which body parts to extract and sell on the
black market. Then a queasy feeling predicted a pending passing of gas. I
bit my tongue, pinched my side, and tried to focus on a pastoral scene
in a green meadow beside a babbling brook. I could hear my mother's
advice: "Squeeze the dime." I fidgeted.
"Please hold still," came a voice from outside the shaft of shame.
I
watched as the lights and numbers revealed how much time remained.
Three minutes. I could do it! No! My body betrayed me at the one-minute
mark. I was trapped and helpless so my nervous body did what it does
best: it farted. I released gas with the intensity and conviction of a
team of sumo wrestlers after a chili-eating contest. And the confined
space caused the sound to be amplified as if a dozen foghorns had
simultaneously activated. I didn't know whether to cry, giggle, or call
my son and brag.
"Well now, I think we have enough images," the handsome technician said, suppressing a laugh.
The
magic bed moved backwards into freedom, bringing along the putrid
stench of decay. I was mortified as my imaginary meadow became a ravaged
pasture full of rotting manure. What in the hell had I eaten? I avoided
eye contact with the timid technician and hobbled back to the dressing
room. Once again, I accepted my fate of being the perpetual, reluctant
clown, the oddball, the one who farts during a complicated medical
procedure.
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