Read Miki's real story to find out what it's like to have an MRI scan.
Most people don't even know what an MRI is.
For anyone wondering, it means Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Basically they take pictures of your insides with magnets. It takes about an hour and they have to inject a dye or contrast partway through.
I am perfectly healthy (we hope). There is nothing definitely wrong with me other than being medically kind of weird. If I am healthy though you may be wondering why I have had MRIs.
The story
It’s kind of a long story so bear with me. You see, in October of 2005 I fell off a horse. I was in enough pain that my mom took me to the hospital where they did some tests, X-rays and a CAT scan. They told me that they found nothing wrong with me but that I had a cyst I should talk to my doctor about.
So three weeks later I was scheduled for an ultrasound to check out the cyst. They saw something the size of a softball in my pelvis and decided that they needed to do an MRI that day to see what it was.
The scan
The MRI machine looks really scary, especially the first time. It is huge and looks like a tunnel. They give you earplugs, and if you're lucky music, because it is so loud. Then you have to lie still for an hour with nothing to do. It is not as easy as it sounds. By the end my legs were twitching involuntarily and they had to repeat one of the images because I coughed.
Then there are the needles. I really hate needles. They have to inject me every time. It makes me feel wobbly and sometimes sick when I stand up.
The diagnosis
The next day I got a phone call from my doctor telling me that I had fractured my pelvis and my coccyx and that the large thing they saw was a haematoma and they needed to do another MRI in three weeks to make sure it was going away.
It was. I have now had a total of seven or eight MRIs mostly to check out the cyst in my pelvis. They still haven't decided if anything is wrong with me. I am also visiting the orthopaedic for cysts in my pelvic bone. It isn't any fun but it is just something I have to cope with. Considering the alternatives, having the cyst monitored like this isn't the worst of outcomes.
This story may have been edited for editorial and confidentiality reasons only.
