Teri’s Blip in the Universe

A few days ago I had my first breast MRI. I was a little nervous, as I typically am right before doing something I’ve never done before. The picture below is a fairly close representation of what it was like for me with a few small exceptions.

One, the sides, by my breasts were not open like that, they were closed.

Two, I had a hospital gown on, open in the front, and a big heated blanket placed over the top of me, it was very cold in there. So I wasn’t exposed, the way this picture shows.

Two, there were coffee filters placed in each breast hole – why – I have no idea. I did think it was kind of funny though.

Three, I asked for a donut type pillow instead of the big pillow like the lady in the picture is using. I wanted my head to be straight down, not turned to the side. Personal preference.

Four, I didn’t have a big, peaceful smile on my face like this woman does here.

For me it wasn’t a very pleasant experience, as I have very small veins and issues with chronic muscle pain that starts at the top of my neck and goes just past my butt into my large leg muscles. Since this was an MRI with contrast, they had to put an IV in my arm. It took them an hour to get the needle in, and I was left with veins that burst (blown out as they call it) and needle marks all over my arm (front and back). If you have normal people veins, then you won’t have this same problem. I was crying, and with each unsuccessful needle stab I got more upset, and more tense which always makes things worse than they need to be. Also, my pain issues are always exasperated when I lay on my stomach – which is why I don’t do it. Well, I didn’t have a choice here, the boobs go face down which meant so did I. It was very painful for me to lay like that for an extended period of time, but again, if you don’t have problems with pain, then this shouldn’t be a problem for you either. So basically, if you don’t have teeny veins or neck/back pain issues, then the things that happened to me in this paragraph won’t be your reality.

They put a ball type thing in my left hand, for me to squeeze during an emergency, it would stop the MRI and they’d pull me out. Not wanting to repeat the IV fiasco or have to start the MRI all over again, I vowed to myself that nothing would make me squeeze that ball.

They put earplugs in my ears as the workings of the MRI are very loud. The first go around was without contrast. The second part was with contrast. What this means is that they injected a sort of dye into my veins, via the IV in my arm. It helps them to get a good comparison of what they are looking at. Before they injected the dye, the technician walked over and told me that they were about to do it. It was nice to have the warning. I felt it being injected – it was an icy cold feeling, slowly moving from the IV injection, up my arm, through my shoulder, and I could feel it in my breasts too. It was an uncomfortable and odd sensation but not what I would call painful.

Oh, and I don’t suffer from claustrophobia, but I know some do – the MRI that I was in, had an open front and back, I wasn’t really full encased in it – and with my head being face down I wasn’t all that aware of being inside of a small area. I’m not sure how claustrophobia works, but maybe knowing that it just goes around your sides and top, but not the front and back might help ease your mind a little bit.

The actual time spent in the MRI itself was about 30-45 minutes or so.

If you want a good breakdown of the technicalities of the MRI and the purpose of contract/without contrast, I found a good site here that explains it.

Anyway, I hope this has given you and idea of what to expect when you go for your breast MRI. I think for most women it’s not that big of a deal, you just go in there, lay down, take a nap, and before you know it, it’s over.