What’s in an MRA

I had my MRA today. An MRA is a Angiography performed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In my case it was to scan for any possible aneurysms I might have. At least two of my male ancestors suffered cerebral aneurysms. In somewhat of a fitting nature, today was the 8th anniversary of my father’s passing from a cerebral aneurysm.

I had read a lot of the information online about the MRA and what I read led me to greater fear of the procedure. Fear of the enclosed space, fear of the needle for the IV, fear of laying there up to one hour. The IV would be needed to provide the contrast medium that is often used with an MRA. And the hour would be needed to take a scan both before and after the contrast medium was provided and included time for multiple scans if I moved too much. But then the Insurance Company to my rescue (?) - they only authorized one scan without contrast media - so no needle, no IV, no hour. Of course, I can only hope that the one scan was good enough without the contrast media. I certainly don’t want to do it again.

I got to the imaging room and went through a couple questions. I didn’t have to change into a gown even though I wore regular clothing, with a metal zipper and button fly. I did have to give up my glasses. They motioned me onto a platform with a head rest. They went through a quick warning about how loud the test is and then pushed earplugs into my ears. Then they put a plastic rig over my head - it didn’t hold or even touch my head, so I assume it was meant just to keep my head from moving too far if I should jump or something. They gave me this ball I could squeeze if I wanted attention. The staff really seemed to have lost any real desire to comfort their patients - it was more of a get them in and out mentality. The last thing I heard from them was ‘close your eyes’. I asked why, but the answer was somewhat garbled by the earplugs - something about not moving to get the most accurate scan. Well there was really no way that I was going to be able to keep my eyes or eyelids from moving or from breathing and swallowing for 10 minutes, so I didn’t worry about it too much.

The test starts with them moving the table such that my head is now in the imaging unit. At first there was a couple loud pops and some electric motor sounds. My guess was they were moving me into position for the scan and also aligning to my pulse - but that is just a guess. Then the real test started. It was loud. I tried counting the seconds, but I just kept loosing my place with the noise. Also, your neck starts to hurt trying to hold still. Lastly, there is this real tingling sensation in your head and chest. It feels like a warmth or an electro-static build-up that doesn’t belong there. Even an hour later my brain still felt warm. The tingling builds up to the point where I started to twitch and with the pounding sound and stiff neck I was about to squeeze that ball. Then it all stopped. The technician came and moved the bed out. I got up and she said, ‘you know the way out’ and she moved on to reset the room for the next patient. It seemed almost unreal - the test was over.

With no radiologist there, I have no idea what the test results are. I find out in ‘a couple of business days’. I was shaky after the test and I felt somewhat violated for an unknown reason. I really hope that I don’t ever have to get another MRI.