dreadedmonkeygod . net

I had an MRI exam on Tuesday night, and I actually managed to get the pictures on disc. I'll post some of the cool-looking ones here once I pick 'em out and convert them from DICOM medical format images.

It looks to me like either my menisci are completely shredded, or there's nothing wrong with me a night in Vegas wouldn't fix. But I have no idea what I'm looking at, so I'll wait and see what my doctor says. ("Hmm... yep. No doubt about it. You have squirrels in there, and they're chewing on the cartilage.")

Oh, and I called the facility that did my original MRI, and they said they'd have films and digital copies of my records for me tomorrow or Monday. Awesome. I'll have MRIs of my knee then and now, so my doctor can get a really good look at what's going on. More info is better. ("Ah, not squirrels! Marmots!")

And all this leads me to observe that things have changed radically since 2005. My current sports doc has a computer in every exam room, and x-ray images are stored digitally immediately. No slapping films up on light boxes, not here. A couple of clicks, and he's zooming in and out looking at the details.

Back in '05, when I asked for digital copies of my MRI images, they didn't know what I was talking about. Today, they just said, "On CD? No problem. I'll have everything for you tomorrow."

I can't help thinking that this is How It Should Be. I'm really tempted to call my old GP and try to get all my records on disc. I'm really intrigued by the notion of taking complete ownership of all my medical records. I'd love to walk into every appointment from now on with my complete medical history in my hand.