How long will the MRI last? for some things it can be less than 15 minutes, and for others over 45. My trouble when I went to try to get an MRI several weeks ago was that they had me put my arms over my head and then when the gurney went in I realized that that meant that my breast flesh pressed against my neck, which really startled me. I recommend that you practice lying in that position for as long as the scan is going to last. The diameter of the "bore"-the tube of the MRI-is 24". With the space for the gurney that leaves 24" side to side and 15" from the surface of the gurney to the ceiling of the bore. I was also startled to realize how close that was to my face-about five inches. I was so startled by all this that I immediately said I wasn't ready and to get me out. It took the controller (who'd gone back to the control room) about 30 seconds to get me out, but by that time I was so startled by the experience I wasn't ready to try again right away-especially since the fetal MRI they wanted to do would take an hour or more. So we rescheduled the MRI, and we went and purchased a 24" diameter piece of sona tube and put in plywood at just the right height so I could practice. I found out meantime that I could bring my own cd and since my hands above my head would reach just out into the open air, I could hold chris' hand and occasionally strain my neck back and see his face. Chris found an audio track of MRI sounds, so I practiced being in the tube in the right position, with headphones playing some of my favorite music, and MRI sounds on really loud in the room. It got me to the place where I could pretty comfortably spend stretches of 25 minutes in there. (another thing I learned-if you insist, they'll give you breaks for long scans). More time than that and my shoulders and back muscles would begin to burn. They also said they'd give me valium.
I turned out not to need one-when I went back this last wednesday for the pre mri ultrasound, the brain part that they had worried about on one of the fetuses was back within normal parameters.
At any rate, we've got the stuff for what we're calling our "discount MRI" lying around now, you're welcome to it. (And sona tube that large was a challenge to find).
Oh, and I forgot, if you try to do the MRI and fine you really can't they now have what are called "open-bore mri" machines that are more like lying on a glass plate with machinery over your head than being in a tube. They have one of these machines at a place in Los Gatos-I couldn't go there because they don't do fetal mri's there, but you might be able to.
I turned out not to need one-when I went back this last wednesday for the pre mri ultrasound, the brain part that they had worried about on one of the fetuses was back within normal parameters.
At any rate, we've got the stuff for what we're calling our "discount MRI" lying around now, you're welcome to it. (And sona tube that large was a challenge to find).
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