Detection or medical monitoring of meningiomas by MRI: testimonies
Here are two testimonies, from Emmanuelle and Nathalie , founders of Amaeva. Both are different, each person has their own feelings. Do not hesitate to join us from Facebook either to share your own experience if you have already spent an MRI or to ask all the questions concerning this exam.
Pass an MRI by Emmanuelle
Many people tell me that spending an MRI is a source of anxiety for them, and I understand them, I was in the same case as they two years ago.
Now, after a certain number of MRIs, we get used to and anxiety is no longer the same at all.
I put the technique I had, which is similar to self -hypnosis, it worked on me, and the relationship with the caregiver is also important.
I was lucky to the first MRI to have a careful and calm assistant, who took his time. This is often the case, so if you have fears, do not hesitate to say them. For having had a dozen manipulators since, I have rarely met who are not sympathetic.
This first time, I told the person who put the infusion: "I will never be able to enter this machine, never". At the time, I was much more anxious by doing this exam, than by what he was going to update!
The person had told me to think about a place that I liked a lot and to project myself into it. To breathe slowly, and stay in this place. To get used to this place here and now, to move, to look and feel what is going on there.
If you have a contrast product to inject, you will be given a infusion. The liquid will not really heat up, and less than iodine injected during certain scanners.
You must remove from yourself everything that can be metallic.
Then, by entering the room where the machine is, to go around the machine, to see the size, to tame it in a way. To say that the machine "wants us good", that it is there to help us (yes, I know, it may seem strange, but when you think about it, it is not so silly)
The room is often very cold, and the interior of the MRI even more.
You may be offered a blanket to be less cold, especially winter.
We will offer you quies balls.
Once lying on the stretcher that will slip into the device, close your eyes and only open them when you come out. If it was only one thing to remember, that would be it: close your eyes and try to escape. With noise, it's not always simple, because it sometimes has a hard time forcing your brain to be "elsewhere". In his bed, on a beach, with her children, someone we love ...
And do not forget that if you are too uncomfortable, we give you a ring, which allows radiologists to know that it becomes too hard for you. Some radiologists speak to you during the exam, others not. We cannot know in advance if we will come across someone understanding or a little rough. But most understand the anxieties, so it's good that many have it and what is not a sign of weakness!
Plan a waiting time for the results if you are provided immediately. You may be asked to come back to seek another day, or tell you that they are sent directly to the prescribing doctor.
Some MRI stories by Nathalie
When I passed the first MRI, I received from the clinic to examine a whole explanatory sheet and a questionnaire (allergy, if we have prostheses ...). What I selected was "report if you are a claustrophobic". And I am, mainly in elevators but also in buses.
So I arrived well stressed on the exam. I pointed out to the person who asked me the infusion for the contrast product and she told me to close my eyes and that it was going to last about 15 minutes.
Once in the machine, blocked by a kind of plastic helmet because the head should not move, I closed my eyes. Well I can say that it makes a hell of a noise! And I started to panic. Fortunately, there, I opened my eyes (you can keep your lenses, phew) and there was a small mirror allowing you to see in the room where they control the machine. Salvating mirror because it opens on the outside and just it allowed me to calm myself. I looked at the person behind his computer all along, I remember seeing him drink his small bottle of water.
After the exam, I waited for a moment, quietly, in a box and the radiologist came to tell me the news: meningioma but certainly benign. There, I remained frozen, I had heard this word but I did not know what it was really.
I then passed a complementary scanner, this exam is much less stressful and it was very well unrolled.
My second MRI was made in another clinic. There, he gave me some quies, perfect because they reduce the noise. They had set up the small mirror and we see a computer screen where they passed a cartoon of Walt Disney ... Well, without the sound and very boring little but it occupied me well and I found the exam. I was not alone that day, so I waited for the results by chatting in a waiting room.
The last time, a short time ago because today I have to spend an MRI control every year since the operation, I have returned to the first clinic. The little mirror was offbeat, I saw nothing but I didn't stress. MRI is not a painful examination , you don't feel anything. You just have to be patient. So I thought of a lot of things that I was going to do in the afternoon when I got home. Waiting for results in the box was more complicated. Fortunately, I was able to take out my laptop and go for a walk on the internet. There, the radiologist sent me speed, not really wanting to interpret the exam. “See with your surgeon”. The other times, they had spoken to me for a long time, explaining things well and answering questions ... Like what, everything depends on who we fall or perhaps as they pass many MRIs every day, now radiologists take less time with patients ...
Detection or medical monitoring of meningiomas by MRI: testimonies
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