MRI Number 5 & Lessons I've learned

I actually did not have my MRI on January 18th. Apparently there is a new protocol for premenstrual women. MRI must be performed 7-14 days after the first day of the last menstrual cycle because of all the false readings. I think this is wonderful that they are doing this but they did not tell me about this when I scheduled my appointment. I was reminded of my MRI the Friday before my MRI and no one told me of this. I checked in Monday morning and no one told me of this. It wasn't until I was finally called in and standing in the changing room when I learned about this. Needless to say, I was not very pleased.

I've been very vocal about them telling women ahead of time. They said they would go ahead and test newly diagnosed women. They were not able to provide me with actual research but that it was instated the end of last summer. I was not aware of this so I am informing women I know about this and making enough noise for them to be notifying their clients prior to an MRI.

A week later, January 25th was my MRI. Everything went smoothly enough as I spoke to the technicians and asked them about the new protocol. My scan went well too. It's never very comfortable having to lay face down with your arms above your head for a good 40 minutes. When I was done I remember my right arm was very sore from me lying on it. My face also felt very sore because I was lying on it. It wasn't until I got in the changing room that I noticed that my left eye was slightly swollen. I asked the tech if it was an allergic reaction. She said most likely. (Did she not notice it when I first got up from the MRI machine? ) I was asked many questions and my vital signs taken every few minutes. I was given Benadryl and was detained there for monitoring. The swelling and itching went down drastically in the 45 minutes I was there as the benadryl kicked in. The above picture was taken about two hours after everything happened. There is still some swelling above my iris. I wish I remembered to take a picture of it when it first happened so you can compare the two.

Anyway, if I want contrast in the future I would need to have steroids and antihistamine the day before and the day of my MRI. I've been doing some research on the dye and it's actually pretty scary. It's ironic how not having this test can delay early treatment from a recurrence but having this test may kill me too. (Or have adverse side effects.) I did learn that you can do MRI without contrast and the accuracy is still the same. The contrast is good to see the blood vessels. I see my oncologist in February so I will need to pick her brain. I'm not done with my researching but I learned a great deal from MRI number 5.

By the way, I received the happy phone call a few hours ago that everything was clear!