When I arrived on the morning of my scheduled appointment, I learned that the accommodations I had hoped for weren't feasible. 

The lab technician advised me that there were indeed machines big enough to accommodate my raised head, but theirs wasn’t one of them.  I could try to get examined by another lab in the provider’s chain, but there was no guarantee they’d have one anytime soon, and I knew that the longer the interval between the alarming incident and the test, the lower the likelihood would be of finding whatever the problem was.

Reluctantly, I told her I’d be willing to give it a try—but not to be surprised if I didn’t last any longer than a minute or two.  

I lay down flat on my back on a padded platform, and soon found myself being trolleyed into the business section of the machine.