I had my MRI today.

I had allegedly the first of two MRIs, but the second MRI hasn’t been approved yet.

It was in fact rejected.

The first MRI was also rejected by insurance, and then the doctor appealed, and then regarding the second MRI, he said he can’t appeal until after I did this first MRI, which I’ve now done.

And I’ll get his results in a few days, or his take.

I already got some insights from my dad, who is a retired orthopedic surgeon, but we’ll see.

The fun thing was getting into the position they needed me for the MRI was a great trigger for the arm pain.

So that was great. Your Daily Lex If you’re just tuning in or catching up, I’m dealing with arm pain and numbness in my left arm for months and months.

Physical therapy hasn’t fixed it, and so these MRIs are next.

Trying to figure out what’s going on and how we can fix the arm pain.

It’s been frustrating enough that some days I can’t finish my workday the way I’d like, and so I have to switch to using various transcription tools.

And I much prefer writing with a keyboard than simply speaking out the words I would like to write.

So it’s all been very annoying.

They said, you know, don’t have any metal on you.

So I had left my smart ring and smart watch at home, but of course I had my phone.

And it used to be that you could do at least some MRIs while wearing whatever you were wearing, but they don’t like that anymore.

So they said that all MRIs must now wear gowns because of an increased quantity of metal fabric in clothing.

So there you go.

So I get into my gown, tie it closed.

They wanted an opening in the front, and then I turned to leave the little changing room and it immediately untied.

So I had a double knot it.

Great.

Fine.

No problem.

And then I thought they actually moved very quickly.

My appointment was 8.45.

They asked me to be there at 8.15.

I got there at 8.10.

I was back changing by 8.12.

And they started the process by 8.16.

I left at 8.45, which was my official appointment time.

But so I’m in there and they’re getting me set up and they don’t say like, do you have any other metal?

Like sign this to say you don’t have any other metal on your body.

Like you don’t have any piercings or anything.

But they didn’t like check to make sure.

Maybe they didn’t and I didn’t notice, but they didn’t say, hey, did you take off all your jewelry or anything?

I thought that was weird.

Fine.

They give you the little bulb to squeeze if you have to have them end it.

And then there were two folks helping me.

The guy putting headphones on me after they had put earplugs in my ears to drown out some of the MRI noise was like, what music are we listening to today?

You want easy listening?

I was like, no.

I think I was offended by his easy.

I think I’m still offended by his easy listening suggestion.

And I said 90s.

And that was funny to me because Lauren had told me some time ago, months ago, when she had had an MRI on something or other, that she requested 90s music and it started with like pretty intense 90s rap, which wasn’t what she had in mind.

And I definitely got the same playlist and eventually switched over to like 90s rock, 90s pop and rock, which is what I had in mind.

But it started with some real intense rap, which was hilarious.

But other than the pain that my arm was in from just lying on my back for the MRI, it was fine.

I don’t get any like crazy claustrophobia feelings or anything else.

I mostly just think about am I breathing steadily enough and swallowing gently enough?

Because those are my two instructions.

When I swallow, swallow gently.

And when I breathe, breathe softly.

But I nailed it.

They said it would take 20 to 30 minutes and it took about 15 minutes as measured by my thinking about the songs that I was hearing and how long each of those songs might be.

But anyway, boy, I would love if I could do something to actually help my arm start to feel better before I travel internationally next month.

We shall see if that happens.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my youngest, Liam.

The other two still have a couple days left.

Ani really wanted us to let them not take their health final.

Ani got exempt from all their finals, but you can’t be exempt from health because that’s just a one quarter class.

And Ani’s like, I talked to the teacher and if I simply don’t show up to take that 10 minute exam during finals, I’ll get a B plus in the class anyway.

And Ani wanted us to say, okay, fine, you can skip that day and not take the exam.

And we pushed back.

We’re like, you’re currently a top 10 student.

You have an amazing GPA.

This would mess those things up.

And I can argue it both ways, right?

In the grand scheme of things, who cares?

Ani’s already getting into college.

I just set up all of our payments for the first semester.

Oh my God.

And who cares if you’re top 10 ranking?

It matters for another week and now you’re in college and then who cares?

But it’s also like, it felt to us like the wrong vibe.

Like you want to work hard.

You want to do the things.

And it is annoying to drive a half an hour to school to take a 10 minute test and then drive a half hour home.

And there’s a chance they’re going to make you stay for two hours for that exam, even if you’re finished in 10 minutes, which the health teacher said she suspected students would be.

But, and I, like I said, I could argue this either way.

Lauren felt more strongly than I did.

And yeah, you know, I backed up my spouse.

So I was like, well, no, we got to take him.

So Ani may never speak to us again since we’re saying you have to take this health exam.

But yeah, almost everybody’s done with the school year.

And it’s so joyous when everybody’s done with school.

Every time we get to the end of the school year and I think about how happy we are that the school year is ending, I wonder, why don’t we homeschool our kids?

And then I remember that Lauren doesn’t want to, and she’s the teacher in the family.

And I think it’s very good for them to be in schools and, you know, interact with their kids in those ways.

Because I think my kids are already like skewing homebodies and getting them out in the world is good.

But it’s so fun when they don’t have to go to school.

Anyway, that’s all I got.

Happy June 17th, everybody.

Bye.

Lex.