Thanks for the support! Luckily I'm a very pragmatic person, so I'm not freaking out or anything (yet), but I compensate by collecting as much information as possible so I can be prepared to whatever heads my way.

Dejibo - My research MRI was done in a closed machine that is only 6 months old. The description says that it is 3T, but I don't know if means tesla or something else. My referral was actually to an MS center - bonus of being at a large research university! It is actually two buildings over from my campus office, so that is convenient at least. They were sent the images today and I was told that I will get a call to schedule in the next week or two after somebody takes a look.

Yeti - The brain MRI with and without contrast was the only thing that was recommended by the guy who looked at it before, although my PCP said that they might do one that focuses on the brain stem or spine. So who knows at this point. They can take my blood and stick me in a giant magnet as much as they want, but I'm uninterested in a spinal tap haha.

This is such a nice community, I'm glad I stumbled on it in my Google search I'll keep updating as I find out more...