ANA Discussion Forum
Archive => Archives => Topic started by: jw on October 24, 2005, 01:38:53 pm
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Well, I went to the hospital this morning. They were running around 45 minutes late. They took me into a change room (I only needed to remove my coat & shoes - had no metal), ran over the questions again. No, I've never been a welder. But, thanks for being thorough! :-\
The lady said that they would slide me out of the oven (ok, my words, no hers) 1/2 way through to baste me with galidium in order to provide contrast for the MRI.
I went into the room with a large, circular donut sticking out its tongue. I lay down on the tongue and they put a pillow under my knees, put my head in a cage and slid me into the oven. As I was going in I thought "my God, this is a tight fit!". I'm not the claustrophobic type. I looked up and the mirror allowed me to see the room and they had dim lights running on either side of the donut hole, like they have in planes. I was pretty comfortable, stretched my arms out at my side and felt pretty good. In the mirror I could see a reflection of the machine from the window at the end of the room. I could see the digital timer (in reverse) on the front of the machine, so when it counted down from 5 minutes, I knew how much longer it would be.
They did a quick scan of 30 seconds, I think it's "defrost" mode. It wasn't as loud as I thought it would be. I had earplugs in. It sounded like a loud buzzer to me, kind of like a fire alarm. The buzzer had a couple of different tones - higher and lower frequencies.
I could see the attendants running around the room screaming, "Oh my God, he's going to die!" and the radiologist finally giving them a slap and saying that it was only a test pattern. Ok, they didn't, but I wanted to see if you were still reading.
The waited about 10 minutes and then did a 2 minute scan. After a couple minutes longer they did a 5 minute scan, then a 7 minute scan and then a 30 second scan.
During the 7 minute scan, the buzzing got to a very low frequency, and you'll think I'm crazy, but I could feel my head getting warm. It was below my right ear and down to the center of my neck. Has anyone else experienced this? That's where the AN is suspected. I wonder if the little bast*rd was kicking up a fuss, or just because it was the targeted area that it was receiving more magnetic activity? Seriously, though, the base of my head felt warm for about 2 hours afterwards.
The technician came, slid me out of the oven and said that I was done. I asked her if they were going to use the contrast medium and she said No, keeping very busy. I asked why and she said sometimes they use it, sometimes they don't. They didn't need to use it for me. I asked if that meant that they saw something and she said "I'm not a radiologist, I just take the images." She got quite snotty with me at this point. I tried to be friendly, and asked her if it wasn't standard practice to use the contrast medium, and was puzzled why they didn't need to. She picked up the paper I was laying on, walked over to the door and threw it out and told me to throw out the earplugs before I left. I asked how long it would take for the report and she said that by the time the radiologist reviewed it, it would be 2 weeks before I heard anything.
Now, here's my dilemma. If the report comes back that they didn't find an AN, then I'm not going to have a lot of faith in it. How do you know without using the bleedin' contrast medium? I don't want to have to wait another 2 weeks to get the report, then 3 weeks to have it done with contrast, then 2 weeks to get that report. Arrrgh!
However, I suspect that the reason they didn't need to use the contrast medium (and, in my mind, the only logical reason why they wouldn't use it) is because they could see it without. If they did the MRI w/o the medium, saw the AN, then why would they need to use it? You wouldn't need to have it injected into your system, they wouldn't need to have to cost of it, and they wouldn't need to tie up the machine for another 1/2 hour. That seems logical. If you lose your car keys and then find them, you don't keep looking. "Oh, here they are in the living room. Better check the bedroom just in case."
I guess that's my thought. If they didn't find it, why would they not continue? Doesn't make sense. If they found it, why continue? That makes sense.
So, in my frazzled state right now, I can only assume that they found it.
John
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I'm kinda confused, did they inject you with anything or did they just tell you they were gonna, but then didn't? If not that is kind of strange, however they may not have found any kind of mass, so perhaps there was no reason for contrast, which helps determine the nature of the mass. If they didn't use contrast, I would think that is a good sign rather than a bad one.
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They didn't use contrast for my MRI, and they called me before I even got home from the MRI clinic (which is only 20 mins away) telling me to go straight to the hospital. Maybe as long as you don't hear anything that is good news!
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Thanks for the quick replies!
At the start, they said that they would inject me with the contrast medium. However, they slid me out of the oven, and didn't inject me. I asked about it and they said they didn't need to.
I thought that if nothing showed up without the contrast, then they would use the contrast to 'fine tune' it, to have another look and see if anything showed up then. The only reason that I could think to make them change their mind and not give me the contrast was if they saw something.
However, I'm just guessing here.
John
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If they did see something, it would be very important to inject you with contrast to determine what kind of lesion they saw. Contrast allows them to differentiate between schwannomas, meningiomas, paragangliomas etc. All of those tumors can be found in the skull base and enhance differently with contrast, it would be plain neglegent not to use contrast if they saw something. Even an enlarged jugular bulb are an inflamed nerve can look like a mass without contrast. I highly doubt they would not use contrast if they saw something, you may very well be DENIED membership here. ;)
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I see. I was under the impression that an AN might not show up unless the contrast was used. But, if they saw something, they would definitely use the contrast!?!?
I guess I might have to look for a new place to hang out, then. :'(
I suppose you'll let me stay until I get the final results, though.
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When I had My MRI they gave me the xray to carry with me. I could see it very clearly before the doctor even called me to tell me.
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yeah...you can hang around a few more weeks! you brighten up the place! :) my guess is there is nothing there. i'm pretty sure if the tech had seen something out of the ordinary they would have injected you. but this is a GOOD thing...not bad. if you want to come back every now and then and tell a joke or something, you're welcome to in my book! :)
in my case, they did an MRI because my doc thought i had developed MS. they told me nothing about gadolinium beforehand. the MRI was ok...and then they took me out and as i was starting to get off the table (or tongue ;) ) the tech came running in and said "lay back down, exactly where you were before!!! we need to inject you with something...very common for us to do this. but it's very very (he was obviously starting to scare me here) important that you try to go exactly where you were before." ok...that did it..i knew i had brain cancer and i was going to die or something at that point and spent the next 12 mins or so praying w/ my entire heart that i would be ok no matter what the outcome. when i asked the tech how long it would be until i heard from my doctor he too said a week or two. well...i knew it wasn't good when i got back to work and had a message to call my doc on my voice mail. no news is good news....
kristin
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Well, perhaps I'm ok then. Well, I guess that's a matter of opinion. I don't think the AN would make a difference between me being ok or not ok! ::)
I feel better having heard this - no gallyupinum injection is good news!
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No speculation on your experience, but here's what happened to me...
The dr ordered an MRI with contrast. They didn't give it to me even though I asked about it and I got the plain MRI. They called me that night and said "Oops, we forgot to use contrast. Can you come back?"
I thought to myself they must see SOMETHING and want to make it clearer. Sure enough, I get the contrast and they diagnose it within 1 hr.
No news might be good news >)
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Now that's funny (well, not really), anab. It's like the car wash. I paid for deluxe, but I didn't get the tri-coloured foam.
So, guess what? We have a cell phone and the only people who have the number are my wife & my respective parents. I did give the cell phone # to the MRI lab when I was waiting for a cancellation. I looked at the phone tonight and there's a missed call on it - don't recognize the number. Figures. I wonder if it was the MRI lab? More likely than not it was just a wrong number, but what a coincidence - the only time we'd get a wrong number is today.
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I can imagine how frightened you are, I have had 5 MRI's and two Cat scans in 11 months, each time they injected me with the contrast, after the first time they knew for sure that I had an AN, so I'm pretty sure it is to clarify what they are actually see. You are very funny, I had quite a laugh reading your post, your sense of humor will see you through this, remember you are not alone, we are all here for you and each other. Take care Deb
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JW,
Why does it take so long for them to give you the results of your MRI? I can get my results next day or sooner sometimes. I always take my films with me when I leave - you always end up having to go back to get them anyway to take with to the Dr. Also, I usually call to ask if they have completed my report and ask them to fax it to my Dr. and mail me a copy. Unfortunately, they will not fax it to me.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!! Good luck!
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Well, I guess it's just the current state of affairs here in Canada. After the MRI, I dropped by my family dr. and the nurse made an appt. for me to review the results: Nov 4th. She said that the way the MRI lab has been recently, she'll really have to push them to get the results by then. She'll have to call them every day to get them to have the report done. >:( Unfortunately, here they do things differently. My MRI took 3 weeks to get done, but the avg. waiting time here right now is 9 weeks. They send the report and the films to the dr. For some reason, with x-rays, ct and MRI, they don't want the patients to see them. ???
Incidentally, I did manage to sneak a set of them out of the lab! I believe this was the first image that they scanned, in order to get a baseline by taking an overall look at my brain. I don't see anything there.
(http://www.icsgaming.com/mri-1.JPG)
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Ok jw, how did you get hold of my MRI????
It really does sum up the way I feel most of the time, or at least how my kids perceive me.
I love your sense of humor jw
matti
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Great scan JW! I have been watching my remaining AN for nearly 4 years now. Here are some things I have learned. First, you can ask to have the radiologist's report sent to multiple doctors. When I get a scan, I always have a copy of the report faxed to my family practice doctor, who calls me when it comes in and gives me a copy. More recently, I have gotten my scans burned to CD. I walk out of the office with them, go home, pop them into my computer, and see how the "big guy" is doing (3.5 cm at last scan) >:(. This really can take away that terrible stress of wondering.
Jeff
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John,
Your humour is so refreshing and welcome relief. I do hope you don't have an AN, though.
My very first MRI, the techie afterwards said oh, it's looking good, but you'll have to have the doctor confirm that, ok? Later the doc did say i had no tumour.....Now with the second mri which did find my AN, i was waiting for the techie to say the same thing. (i didn't have contrast for either by the way). Instead he said wow, you didn't move at all. So i left and went to the waiting room where a friend was waiting and we stayed a bit longer to finish watching this movie they were showing. So I looked around at one point and the techie had come out and was sitting behind me a ways looking thoughtful. That's when I got this feeling something had shown. But I didn't hear that I had a brain tumour for another three weeks from my doc.
All that was just as well as I had other things on my mind anyway.
No news can be good news though.
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Hey John,
You got spiderwebs? That's evolution! My scan showed a fading image of Alfred E. Neumann - sort of a 'Shroud of Mad Magazine'.
At least spiders have a sense of self-preservation. I just found out that once I've recovered from my AN surgery, I'm back in to have the frayed tendons in my elbow. They call it 'tennis elbow', but I got the injury laying a new brick patio in my yard. Turns out the bricks perfectly mimic the operation of my head!
Ah well, life goes on. Last night a tried a round of martinis for 'contrast'. Like gadolinium, it puts a new perspective on things!
There has to be a comedy routine in all of this - we can stand deaf ear to deaf ear and babble at the audience. Abbot and Costello meet the tumor...
Take care, all!
Josh
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John, glad to hear you have gotten your MRI completed! It's a relief and a headache all in one, because now the wait starts for the results.
I think Nov. 4th is a little lengthy to make someone wait on the results. I had my MRI done on a Monday and my doctor called me first thing Wednesday morning with the results. I wound up having cochlear hydrops (meniere's) which closely mimics an AN. Now, I can't eat any salt, which completely sucks by the way, but it's better than having an acoustic neuroma.
My MRI was done with and without contrast and mine came negative for an AN. It's likely they might have seen something that negated the need for contrast.
Good luck, and I'll keep checking back to see how your results turned out.
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Hi, you have a great sense of humor, I really enjoyed reading all of the posts today.
Just to share with you some information I have learned in my AN journey. I had my first MRI done in Feb. of 2004 and it was an open MRI with and without contrast, which in fact diagnosed my AN. I found out after the fact that it is a big "no no" to have an open MRI when an AN is suspected, it makes the appearance of the AN blurry and therefore does not give an accurate size of the AN. Closed MRIs are always the way to go. In addition, I was told by all of the doctors that I have seen in regard to my AN (trust me I have seen tons), that when an AN is suspected the MRI requested should always be with and without contrast. ANs (especially small ANs) need the contrast so they show up highlighted on the MRI image. The contrast gives an exact clear picture of the AN whereabouts and the exact size. I have an approximate 6mm AN (which is considered small) and have been told that without using contrast on me, my AN probably would not appear on an MRI.
So if your doctor ordered an MRI to rule out an acoustic neuroma, and the MRI ordered was with contrast and you didn't get contrast, I would call your doctors ofice and tell them that the MRI done today was given to you without contrast. He might just say you need to have another one done with contrast, I am not sure, or he might say not to worry about, let's see what the report says.
But honestly, it makes no sense to me why they wouldn't have just given you the contrast and knowing what I know about ANs appearing on an MRI I am not sure I would feel comfortable if they come back and tell me there is no AN in believing it since they didn't use the contrast.
I hope and pray you do not have an AN (they suck) and I hope the issues you raised with your MRI get resolved. Take care.
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John, glad to hear you have gotten your MRI completed! It's a relief and a headache all in one, because now the wait starts for the results.
Hey, Cobra, good to hear from you again. I thought they had banned your IP address after finding out you didn't have an AN!
You really had the best outcome, IMHO. You didn't have AN, which is good, plus you also did get to find out what the problem is. I worry that if it's not AN, they won't be able to tell me what is going on.
Thanks for the note!
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But honestly, it makes no sense to me why they wouldn't have just given you the contrast and knowing what I know about ANs appearing on an MRI I am not sure I would feel comfortable if they come back and tell me there is no AN in believing it since they didn't use the contrast.
Thanks for your note and for sharing your experience with me. That was my feeling regarding the contrast: if it comes back negative, how do I really know it is negative?
ANs, being rare, are pretty unkown in this neck of the woods. We have 70,000 population in the city and only have had MRI for 5 years. My family Dr. had never heard of AN until a couple of months ago. He has 2 patients who have been diagnosed in the past 2 months with AN and then me. I seriously doubt there have been any other AN patients here.
The MRI was done with a couple of technicians, but there isn't a radiologist there when the do the scans. Apparently he reads them all once or twice a week and then sends his reports off. I think they didn't use the contrast because they don't have proper protocol to follow for AN, or else they saw something that was clear enough without contrast. (Thinking worst case scenario, I suppose.) I think if was in Toronto where I had the AN done, they would likely have done things a bit better.
I'm not really having a great deal of confidence in the MRI lab. Even booking it was a bit of a problem. I went in to talk to them (the receptionist was quite pleasant and seemed helpful) and she put me on the cancellation list. They never did call me to say when the appt. was (I went in to talk to them and they had booked the date). They also said they would call me with a time (I only had the date). I called them on Friday to get the time and they had misplaced my form. Guess they wouldn't have been able to call me with a cancellation, either?
I keep flip-flopping with my thoughts. One minute, I think it through and realize that they didn't use the contrast because they didn't see anything, and there's nothing there. The next I think that they didn't use the contrast because it was visible without. I've spoken with some people who had it done in Toronto and theirs was without contrast as well. Then I think that if they did see something they would have called me by now. But then I realize that the radiologist might not even have seen the films yet. And, they likely won't call, they would send the report to the doctor. I asked if I could pick the report up at the hospital and they said that they can't give me any information without a release from my doctor. Hey, you're talking about ME, why do I need a doctor to tell you it's ok to tell ME what you've found about ME?
The health care system in Canada is quite a bit different from the health care system in the US.
Well, I'll wait and see. I'll also call the MRI lab and see if they have looked at the films and have any information. And, I'll hound my doctor to call them and get the report as well.
Incidentally, this forum is a lot like eBay! You get 'feedback' rating by the # of posts plus you get cool gold stars. I'm already up to 2 stars! Woo hoo. If I do have AN, can I get a blue star? I think you should give a star for every cm size for the AN. 3.4 cm? 3 blue stars for you! If they find out you don't have an AN then you lose all of your yellow stars. I'm sure the rules would read like those insurance policies your parents could buy for you when I was in grade school. "Loss of thumb and index finger on opposite hand. $15.00" "AN measuring more than 5cm, add one additional star."
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Hi
Must say I've never heard of MRI w/o contrast to image an AN. The contrast is only about $50 and allergic reactions to gadolinium are rare.
I can see my ANs w/o contrast but must admit that with contrast, they are shining brightly and much more defined.
I hope you are being seen at a facility which does a lot of AN removals.
Best wishes for your long awaited results. If no AN shows, will you be comfortable and still with symptoms?
Russ
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I hope you are being seen at a facility which does a lot of AN removals.
Best wishes for your long awaited results. If no AN shows, will you be comfortable and still with symptoms?
Russ
Hi, Russ.
The MRI lab is at the local hospital. There aren't any private MRI labs here, and MRI machines are few & far between. (Ontario, Canada). Actually, I doubt they've ever seen too many ANs here. My doctor has seen 2 (and those in the past 2 months alone!), but in the 20+ years previous, he had never heard of AN. I would doubt that the MRI lab here has had any ANs (or suspected ANs) apart from me and the other 2 people. And, I don't know for sure if they had theirs done here.
If it shows no AN, and was done without a contrast, would you feel comfortable (and still with symptoms)? If it comes back negative, I'm going to ask for a referral to a neurologist in Toronto (there are a couple of reportedly good ones in Toronto who do quite a few AN removals from people across Canada) and get an AN done through him (or try to). My doctor is generally very good about referring you to whoever, wherever you want, so I don't think that will be a problem. The only problem might be having the neurologist actually accepting the referral?
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I did manage to get 2 more scans of my MRI today. They asked me how aggressively I clean my ears. I don't know why they would ask this. Is this normal? Secondly, I'm probably just hearing things (the technicians were on my right-side and I can't hear much out of that ear), but I could swear they were talking about someone with an AN the size of Texas. Wow! Wouldn't want to be that guy!
(http://www.icsgaming.com/mri-2.JPG)
(http://www.icsgaming.com/mri-3.JPG)
If you look at the second one from a distance, it almost looks like a thumb and a finger in the shape of an L. (Hmm, sounds like it would make a catchy tune!). For some strange reason, people (attractive women especially) make that VERY sign on THEIR foreheads when they look at me.
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JW,
Thanks for the laughs and giggles! :D I needed it today!
Suzanne