Mri

[RKJ]

I've had 2 or 3 of them, don't really care for them but after the initial uneasiness I close my eyes and drift off to sleep. But a few of your stories, those freaked me out.

[dannyd]

I go to sleep as soon as they roll me in. Longest one 3.5 hours brain and heart. Probably had twenty. The one for the Liver is an E ride, they put what looks a tennis racket on your liver and shake you for about hour and half.

[Battis]

I've done the open ones, but they're only a little better. When I got there last night, they told me I had to wear a mask in the machine and I said, "See ya later." They let me go in without a mask. To show how claustrophobic I am, I actually have trouble with a Cat scan, those big doughnut shaped devices. Being stuck in that underground pipe that was being backfilled really did me in. You'd think that after being married for a century or so, I'd be able to handle anything. Sometimes that wedding ring closes in on me (or maybe my fingers are getting fatter).

[Gewehr-Guy]

While I have not yet had the pleasure of an MRI, I doubt I would enjoy it. I can relate to Bedbugbilly's experiences with the SCBAs, I hated it every time we had to use one on the fire dept. I could handle it if I could see any bit of light, but during night training in a strange structure it was all I could do to keep calm. We still had steel tanks and older bunkers that never fit well, probably weighed50 lbs. When the low air bells started going off, and guy's tanks started clanking together when they were following the hose out, you better get out of the way, or they would crawl right over the top of you!

[dannyd]

I was just thinking I have been MRI'ed from head to foot. Maybe that's what's wrong with me

[lightman]

I am in the same as lightman for my MS only I get spine neck head orbs both with and with out dye. Some of mine have went 3 hours. The tube dosnt bother me and they pipe music in thru headphones to deaden the noise. My last few have been open machines. The dyes are a bigger issue for me.

My trade also creates some issues for me, Being a tool and die maker my MRIs are usually preceded by a battery of X rays looking for metals embedded.

I forgot about the dye. I have them both with and without the contrast. Fortunately I've never had a reaction to the dye except for the copper taste in my mouth.

[NyFirefighter357]

New standards were put in place around 2002 after a 6yr old boy was killed when someone accidentally left a steel O2 tank on the gurney they wheeled him in on. I believe the standard is no more steel tanks in the medical field. When they turned on the 10 ton electromagnet it flew out of the holder on the gurney and into the MRI machine causing blunt force trauma to the boys head. This hospital isn't far from me as it's the one I had a stent put in at.


Boy Killed In Freak MRI Accident

July 31, 2001 / 9:13 AM / AP


A team of investigators from the state Health Department is on the scene at the Westchester Medical Center north of New York City, where a 6-year-old boy was fatally injured by a flying oxygen tank while undergoing an MRI exam.

Health Department spokesman Robert Kenny said investigators were checking records and interviewing staffers in the wake of the boy's death, which came after his skull was fractured when the tank was pulled through the air by the MRI machine's powerful magnet. The hospital and the Westchester district attorney's office also are reviewing the case.

The boy, Michael Colombini of Croton-on-Hudson, died Sunday, two days after he was hit by the tank, which is about the size of a fire extinguisher. The county medical examiner's office said the boy's death was caused by blunt force trauma, a fractured skull and a bruised brain.

The medical center in Valhalla said the tank had been accidentally "introduced into the exam room" after the boy was in the magnetic resonance imaging machine and the 10-ton electromagnet was switched on.

The oxygen tank was "immediately magnetized and drawn to the center of the machine, causing head trauma to the child," the medical center said in a news release.

The boy was sedated when he was struck, the hospital said. The MRI was scheduled to check his progress after an operation to remove a benign brain tumor, which was discovered last week after he fell down at home, friends and relatives said.

"You'd think that if you had survived all of that. you'd be sort of home free," said Diana Heaton, Michael's kindergarten teacher last year. "We're all shocked and saddened by this. He was just an awesome kid who liked having fun."

Edward Stolzenberg, president and chief executive officer of the medical center, said in a statement that the hospital assumes full responsibility and "will do anything it can to ease the family's grief."

"The trauma was due to what can only be described as a horrific accident, and the entire medical center is grieving," Stolzenberg said.

An MRI generates images of the body using an electromagnet, radio waves and a computer. It is conducted eight million times each year in the U.S. to diagnose many diseases, including brain tumors, spinal disorders and heart disease. It is considered nearly risk-free, but no metal objects are supposed to be in the testing area.

Carin Grossman, a spokeswoman for the medical center, would not say who took the oxygen tank into the MRI area.

"It was brought into the area of the field of the magnet and it went through the air," she said.

In Rochester, N.Y., last year, an MRI magnet yanked a .45-caliber gun out of the hand of a police officer, and the gun shot a round that lodged in a wall.

The Westchester Medical Center, 15 miles north of New York City, has been trying to position itself as a topflight medical center. It is a major transplant center and has recently ventured into robot surgery. It suffered a set back in March when an accreditation team caught the staff altering a patient's chart and automatically gave it a ranking that was among the lowest in the country.

© MMI The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

First published on July 31, 2001 / 9:13 AM

[dannyd]

I forgot about the dye. I have them both with and without the contrast. Fortunately I've never had a reaction to the dye except for the copper taste in my mouth.

Forgot about that too, heart was the worst two types of contrast fighting to see who could make me sick first.

[Battis]

A few years ago, a friend of mine - nice looking woman - was having an MRI about the same time I needed one. I suggested that maybe we could share a machine. For some reason, it didn't happen.

[MaryB]

No way are you putting me in that tube while awake. I have to be totally sedated. I managed the open one in a place that had it next to a window so I could see outside. That helped with the claustrophobia some. Tried the open but it was in a dark room with 2' of space on either side of the machine, NOPE get me out of here! I pretty much tell them to deal with it and a CT scan is good enough!

[Duckiller]

Tried twice , once in a standard machine and once in an oversized machine. Lasted about one minute each time. Third time I had a good dose of propolol ( what mikey Jackson liked) and I remember nothing. went to sleep as I was pushed down a hall to the machine and didn't wake up until I heard a nurse giving my daughter care instruction. I can not stand confined spaces.

[dannyd]

I started about 35 years ago getting MRI's. The first one was from GE and the tube was so small I just fit. The doctor said I probably would not make without sedation told him I would be okay. They were laughing at how loud I snored. Can't help I go in and automatically go to sleep.

[skeettx]

No issue here, but I did spend 5 years in a Minuteman Launch Control Center 60 feet under the ground in Montana

[Shawlerbrook]

I had multiple mri’s about 20-25 years ago with no problems. That said, don’t know if that would still be the case. Youth makes many things easier probably because you don’t know any better.

[tinsnips]

Many ct scans.a few pet scans ,an a few MRI's don't really bother me much. Sometimes it hard not to move when you are told not to.

[Biggin]

I had to stop doing them because I have had both hips replaced, but the newer ones aren't as powerful so in some places, I can still do them. Don't do claustrophobia. I started my professional life as a mechanic working on fighter jets, and was mildly claustrophobic, but got over it as crawling intakes was a daily occurrence. FYI, they do make Open MRI machines, which don't enclose you as much. That might be a viable option for you if you check with your local diagnostic imaging providers AND your insurance. My wife, OTH, has terrible problems with it. She's a lot heavier than she used to be, and has actually gotten stuck in an MRI machine. Lots of spinal problems, so they try to have her do MRI's pretty often. Almost never works.

While I have not yet had the pleasure of an MRI, I doubt I would enjoy it. I can relate to Bedbugbilly's experiences with the SCBAs, I hated it every time we had to use one on the fire dept. I could handle it if I could see any bit of light, but during night training in a strange structure it was all I could do to keep calm. We still had steel tanks and older bunkers that never fit well, probably weighed50 lbs. When the low air bells started going off, and guy's tanks started clanking together when they were following the hose out, you better get out of the way, or they would crawl right over the top of you!

Maybe I'd be okay after all. I've been a firefighter and done some diving. That never seemed to bother me. Hmm

[dangitgriff]

No issue here, but I did spend 5 years in a Minuteman Launch Control Center 60 feet under the ground in Montana

You mean you were a 2,628,000-Minuteman crew member?

[Mk42gunner]

I've had a few, two or three at the VA in KC in the tube type and one in Butler it was more of a donut type. Mabe that is the open type?

The first one was no problem, I went to sleep just like at the dentist. The second was a big problem, I think it was because the frame they put over my face was a lot bigger/ thicker/ more noticeable, or maybe because it was the first heavy snowstorm of the year and city drivers.

The last couple I went in feet first, so no problem.

Its weird, because I have been under houses were you had to decide if you were going to lay on your back or belly before crawling under, and all sorts of contortions to repair/ clean gun mounts.

Robert

[Winger Ed.]

I had one for my lower back a few years ago.
Being one of the 'full figure' types, I felt like a sausage being stuffed into a case as I went into the tube.

I closed my eyes, and held still like they said.
If it was a ride at an amusement park, I wouldn't get in it, but it was no big deal either.

[chuck40219]

Never a MRI but a bunch of cat scans, on my 3 rd pacemaker so I started out in my old age with a pacemaker. Always have to tell them no MRI. Is a cat scan close to a MRI?

chuck40219