Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Nobody has an MRI Scan for the hell of it.

So it is fair to say that the whole experience is not particularly pleasant. There are a number of reasons for this: you have to at least suspect that there is something wrong with you and the procedure is not the most comfortable thing you will ever do.

In my case I was having one because it was almost certain that I had had a Stroke. The medics were almost certain but wanted the final confirmation that only an MRI Scan could bring.

The whole concept of the MRI Scan got off to a poor start with me when it looked as if even the wait for one would mean a longer stay. I had come into hospital on the Thursday evening and by the early hours of Friday morning I had been admitted. It was clear, very early on, that I was not going home again until the Consultant had seen the results of the MRI, the CT scan I had had before admission not being enough. Of course this requirement came with the expectation that the next available slot would be sometime on the Monday.

On Friday, having almost prepared myself for a weekend sampling the delights of a diner, bed and breakfast stay curtesy of the NHS, I was somewhat taken aback to be informed just as afternoon visiting began that I could have my scan but it needed to be now. Having changed into the “Hospital Gown” I was given and put on my shoes and socks I waited. Within moments an orderly appeared who, after advising that I put a jacket on if I had one, told me he was to escort me to the scanner. Not knowing how long it would take, or even where it was in the hospital, I assumed it would be similar to the CT Scan, a few minutes so I told my partner that I would be OK and that she should wait for me. How wrong I was.

The MRI Scanner was not just in another part of the building but elsewhere on the site, it took ten minutes to walk there, where I was left in the hands of two technicians who where at least expecting me. After the shortest of waits, during which I filled in some minor paperwork, I was led into the scanner room. Once I had been asked to take off my shoes, but leave my socks on, and jacket I was told lie on my back on the gurney with my head toward the machine. After placing a tube in my hand, for emergencies, and plugs in my ears both technicians disappeared into the control room but not before warning me to lie very still and advising me that it would only take a couple of minutes. Following a slight jolt I began to enter the tube that is the MRI Scanner.

I don’t generally suffer from claustrophobia but the closeness of the walls, the antiseptic whiteness of the tube and the deep mechanical sound made me feel uneasy.

Suddenly I was returning to the much more comforting surroundings of the scanner room. Believing that it was done I began to sit up but was told to lie back down by the approaching technician who went on to explain that she needed to fit an apparatus to my head that would keep it absolutely still. The contraption that she set about constructing about my head felt like a close fitting Meccano helmet, only made of plastic: metal and the magnetism of the scanner not being compatible. The building of this device seemed to take forever and apparently required much delicate placement and replacement of large amounts of foam padding. Eventually the technician seemed satisfied and retreated back to the control room. Again I entered to tube but this time I took a feeling of being trapped in with me. To my relief, seconds later I was making the reverse journey, only for the technician to play some more with her feat of engineering, before ensuring that I still had the bleeper in my hand and leaving again. I was encased in the tube for a third time. This time the disembodied voice of one of the technicians filled my ears as she told me that I had to stay completely and totally still and that it would only be a few more minutes. Oh, and that I should try to relax. Easy for her to say!

The noise came back and all I could do was try to follow instructions. I was not sure if I was allowed to move my eyes so I looked straight ahead but that made everything feel even closer so I closed them which had the effect of making time elastic.

After what felt like hours but was in actual fact only a few minutes the noise faded and I began to slid out of the tube. This time both technicians appeared either side of my head and were deconstructing the plastic helmet. And they were smiling!

I was told to go the waiting area while they checked the results. So replacing my shoes and jacket, to cover the gap at the back of the gown that is exactly what I did. Before long one of the technicians reappeared to confirm that the results were fine and that I could go back to the ward. As I got up to leave she said that I was to wait until someone came to escort me back. So I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually another orderly arriveded to accompany me up to the ward, where I arrived just as the two hours of visiting time came to an end and my partner had to leave!

Then began the wait for the results.