"My MRI Experience"

I had a late appointment but received a phone call inviting me to go earlier which was really good. When I arrived all staff I met were fabulous. Friendly, reassuring and professional.

My scan was a fairly long one as I was having my brain and spine scanned. I think one of the nursing staff suggested it was over 40 minutes but it seemed a lot longer than that.

I was informed the procedure was noisy and was offered earplugs and headphones and asked what music I would like to listen to. However, once I was inside the MRI scanner the music was pointless as the volume was so low I couldn’t hear it. Once the whirring, banging and plethora of other noises the scanner makes started, the low volume radio was useless.

The time inside the scanner seemed to go on forever. I think someone might have spoken to me during the scan but I couldn’t hear what they said. 

The whole scanner experience was unpleasant, mainly because it was very noisy and very claustrophobic. My shoulders and elbows were hurting quite badly towards the end because there wasn’t any support for them other than the hard bed of the scanner.

However, I’m sure the whole scanning experience would have been better if 1. I could have heard the music being played and 2. Someone had spoken to me reasonably regularly just to give me an update on progress. Something like - quarter way through, half way through etc.

Unlike the calming experience at the beginning, the end was different, possibly because they had other patients waiting for the scanner but although I was a little disorientated, I felt like I was being hurried out of the room. After saying that, all staff were super polite and friendly.