My Lyft cab driver was driving around the O’Shaughnessy curve like he didn’t want to wake up the pavement. The slow pace at such an early hour gave me a unique chance to look into Glen Canyon. It was still dark but the sky beyond the rocky canyon was a silhouette of red. Daylight was coming.

It was the only MRI appointment I could get from CPMC (California Pacific Medical Center) within two weeks and I didn’t want to wait. I was the first MRI person of the day. The hospital is closed at that hour but the office inside is working so they come out and get you. The front desk person, I was meant to call, arrived five minutes late. She was friendly and apologetic about an accident on the bridge. I told her I was relieved I didn’t have the wrong day.

Even though it’s only the right shoulder, they are looking at, they make you change into hospital wear. It’s not something you’ll wear on the runway but it’s soft. Your whole body goes into the machine. And the sound of that thing is like a band having a real feedback issue on a speaker. Only it’s louder and sharper. They give you earplugs for the noise and headphones so you can hear the technician’s voice say stuff like: “alright this one is going to be a long noise for 5 minutes.”

It’s a Tesla machine. You know this because it’s on their answering machine like some sort of advertisement. It’s a tube and you’re the fleshy toothpaste. It makes the rooms at the pod hotel look big. I found myself closing my eyes and thinking of other things. I also immediately regretted having two cups of coffee. Honestly, there were a few moments I felt my heart race but I was able to corral it in. If you deal with some claustrophobia, twenty minutes in this thing will seem longer.

Everything was happening real fast since my doctor’s appointment on Thursday. He could tell, on the initial X-Ray, that what was going on was a calcium build up on the shoulder. It was causing the inflammation, pain and limiting my range of motion. He went forward and scheduled the MRI for this morning and gave me two possible options: a) a cortisone shot (would break up the calcium) or b) arthroscopic procedure where they stick a few pins in your shoulder and remove the calcium or most of it. He literally stared at me and waited for me to say A or B. I asked: “which do you recommend?” He shook his head, “whichever, they’ll both work.” I found myself going for option B. He was going to have me on an operating table Tuesday morning.

At home Thursday night, talking to Garry and doing my internet searches regarding the procedure, I completely switched. The doctor’s assistant has been calling me because she was waiting on my insurance to approve the MRI. On one of the update calls, I told her: “I’m not doing the surgery…please cancel.” Personally, I’m not crazy about changing my mind on things but my feeling here is…it’s my shoulder.

There is another thing moving my decision. I’m noticing a little improvement in the shoulder, even from Thursday to today. Thursday, the doctor grabbed the spot where the calcium build up was and I winced in pain. Today, after I got back from CPMC, I grabbed the spot myself and I didn’t feel pain. And it also looks like my range of motion is back, I’m able to move my arm all the way around. There is still one angle, I still feel something but it’s all improving.

It will be interesting to see what information the MRI comes back with…fingers crossed.