Genealogy Forum UK

Those scanners are like being buried alive!! scary like being in a coffin!

Northern Lass wrote:Those scanners are like being buried alive!! scary like being in a coffin!

Not if you've got a good radiographer - I've been doing the job long enough, that I can read most patients quickly. It's important that patients know that it's them in control - we're not going to force them into anything!
I've been scanned a few times, I need the first few minutes to settle down, and then I can fall asleep. The worst is when the scan is controlled by my breathing - because I know how it works, it seems to make my breathing eractic - doesn't happen as often with real patients!

Jonathan had to have an MRI scan last week at the Children's hospital in Birmingham. He had to go to sleep to have it done, to make sure he kept still. What a brilliant hospital, they have play specialists there to put the kids at ease and an inside and outside play area. All the staff insist the children call them by their first names and they spend time with then, explaining what's going to happen and answering questions. We were there for about six hours and in all that time, the staff made sure he didn't become anxious.

Sounds like a good hospital!
I work at a general hospital, so we don't have a lot of child patients. One thing that is just as important as making sure the children aren't anxious, is making sure that the parents aren't either - the kids will pick up on it, and they too will become anxious.
We do scan children, with varying results, as we don't have the facilities to anesthetise patients. So all our scans are done with the children wide awake. Usually we can do the scans, but the children don't generally like the noise of it. I recently had a nine year old thank me for a relaxing scan - that was a new one for me!
In Denmark no-one is addressed by their surname, not even consulant doctors - it's all first names. In a department such as x-ray there is a close working environment between us and the doctors, more so than on the wards, so we can even have a joke with each other as there is not the same level of hierarchy. At the moment we're short staffed as far as radiologists (doctors) go, so there is even more collaboration, with experienced radiographers guiding the younger doctors, we also have radiographers doing the reporting on some examinations.
In our department there is a good atmosphere, and most collegues learn from each other, it is encouraged for us to ask each other why we do things in a certain way. In this way good techniques are shared, although there are a few who take it as critisim if we question what they do. There is also a national system for reporting errors which was set up so that it is possible to learn from our mistakes, rather than being castigated.

My husband as had MRI scan ,when he had a brain aneurysm . He says he cannot remember very much except a very large tunnel.

dudleytaylor wrote:My husband as had MRI scan ,when he had a brain aneurysm . He says he cannot remember very much except a very large tunnel.

Hope he's okay now.
I lot of people forget exactly what it was like, and maybe only remember a deatail or two.

i had one done on my leg & ankle and the machine caused my leg to twitch

If you are a narcoleptic you have to be careful the don't inject that contrast dye into you. You have to come off your medication for days before the scan other wise you tend to drop dead. Which would make the scan worthless in the first place

MarkCDodd wrote:If you are a narcoleptic you have to be careful the don't inject that contrast dye into you. You have to come off your medication for days before the scan other wise you tend to drop dead. Which would make the scan worthless in the first place

Not all contrast is the same. X-ray contrast has nothing at all to do with MR.
X-ray contrast is usually based on iodine (if it's for intravenous use) it's used for x-ray and CT examinations, MR contrast is mainly based on gadolinium. We don't much contrast in MR, as the image parameters can be changed so much to give lots of different types of images, we only really use contrast for cancer diagnosis/ classification, some sclerosis scans, and some forms of infection. We can visualise the blood vessels in the brain without contrast with MR, for example. CT uses contrast a lot more than MR, and the doses are also higher (which in itself is okay, as it's like comparing apples and pears).
Something like a neck scan would not involve contrast at our hospital.

snoopysue wrote:

dudleytaylor wrote:My husband as had MRI scan ,when he had a brain aneurysm . He says he cannot remember very much except a very large tunnel.

Hope he's okay now.
I lot of people forget exactly what it was like, and maybe only remember a deatail or two.

Yes he is ok now, thanks Sue. He is a bit unlucky with health problems ,but he grins ,and happily carries on.

dudleytaylor wrote:
Yes he is ok now, thanks Sue. He is a bit unlucky with health problems ,but he grins ,and happily carries on.

I'm glad that he's okay. A positive atitude always seems to help, more than you'd think.