MRI today - what to expect

Has anyone ever had an MRI for a tumour before?  Could someone run down exactly what happens and what it was like for me please?  I'm autistic and sometimes just having an idea of what will happen when it comes to new experiences makes them less challenging for me, I would really appreciate anyone taking time to share their own experience.

Also, does the radiographer share their impression with you on the day or should I resign myself to more waiting?

  • Hi, I had an MRI on the 20th and am yet to receive results, I think results are available after 10/14 days but you will have to make an appointment with the GP or a follow up appointment with your gyne/specialist/etc. 
     

    They go through a questionnaire with you regarding pacemakers, metal, kidney function if there's contrast dye included, and side effects for that. They will even ask for your consent to give you buscopan if it's abdominal, lol. They then ask if you're wearing anything with metal and if you are then they give you a gown to wear. I wore a cotton top and tracksuit bottoms and i was allowed to keep them on. You shouldn't wear makeup with glitter or metallic shine either because it can muck up the picture. If there's contrast media there will be a cannula fitted. Throughout this process there's a strange noise from far away, a rhythmic machine "breathing" noise almost. I asked what this was and he explained it was the helium in the machine keeping the coils cool or something. So no robot band playing in the next room :sad:

    They then take you to the room, explain it will be noisy and put earbuds and ear defenders/headphones on you. They give you a button to press in case you want to get out asap, or if you wanted to talk to them. If it's an abdominal scan they put a "vest" on you, and if it's a head scan they put a "hat" on so the picture can be seen better. They gave me a pair of mirror-glasses placed on/above my head at an angle so i could see out of the machine, making it less claustrophobic. 
     

    It depends what machine they're using to scan you, mine was quite fancy and had a gallery of natural beauty pictures projected behind the machine that i could see with the glasses-mirror. I eventually asked them to switch to woodland as I got sick of sealife :laugh: . My sister told me when she had hers they gave her headphones that played music! I didn't get those, and I'm not sure I'd want them :confused:

     

    The machine has different sounds it's makes depending on what scan is being performed. This is what my machine sounded like. It's not as bad as the video makes it seem.

    https://youtu.be/9GZvd_4ot04 In the comments some has commented some time stamps which separate the different scans. It wasn't too bad, focusing on the rhythm of the sounds helped calm me down. As much as those sounds can help calm someone down :laugh:

    Just concentrate on what you can see if you get the mirror-glasses. I could see some drawers, sick bowls, a clock, etc etc and the screen had a progress bar at the bottom which was a lifesaver and what I focused on mostly. They have a camera so they can monitor you and see if you're in distress, even though they're not in the room you won't be alone during the process. 
     

    The machine will tell you how many minutes long the scan is going to be performed for, and will let you have 5 or so seconds in between each scan. The guys will speak to you in between scans at least for the first scan to check you're okay. My scan in total lasted 45 minutes and the worst thing was the boredom. Thinking of things just to think of things. I just made up a story or thought of a scenario 

    Good luck! And I hope this wasn't too detailed, now I'm reading it back I notice I seem a bit silly. Literally every last detail :happy:

  • [@flowershop18]‍ not too detailed at all, this was exactly what I was hoping for and SO reassuring to read! Thank you so much for writing it all, it's exactly this kind of level of detail I wanted that the internet wouldn't provide! I feel much more reassured for my scan today, thank you. It was very kind of you to take the time, I appreciate it so much!

    I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get your results soon, the waiting is undoubtedly the worst part. At this point I don't care what the results are I just want to know what's going on.