Baby’s first MRI

Why is it that surprise needles are the worst kind of needles?

I have small veins, and all during my pregnancy the techs would tell me how hard it was to pin one down. NEVER did anyone mention that being hydrated helped with that. I have always hated needles, and am the type that gets faint from the flu shot, but pregnancy numbed me a LOT to my fear and I thought I was past it.

So when I went in to get my first breast MRI today, the instructions were, “get changed, and then we’ll put your IV in.” Uhhhh, okay, didn’t know we were getting poked today, thought I was just going into a tube, but okay. Ugh, I really hate needles.

They gave me a pink shower cap to wear (v. sexi) and earplugs so that I wouldn’t have to move my arms post-IV.

Then I warned her about my veins. She still seemed pretty confident. There were two student nurses there watching… (yaaay 😦 … I mean, educate the youths!) So then one IV went into my elbow crook, and she tested it…nope, didn’t get fully in and blood wasn’t flowing. She asked how much water I had to drink this morning. “Um, well I had a whole cup of coffee and then like a sip of water to wash it down?” Gulp. THEN she tells me about hydration. Sigh.

So the first IV comes out. One of the students (another Kayla!) grabbed me a tiny cup of water while I can start to feel the beads of sweat form on my forehead. I let her know about the whole hates-needles thing and that I was starting to feel hot. She grabbed me another cup of water and gave me a few moments to meditate quickly and take a few deep breaths.

Then, we tried my right hand. She put the needle in (you can really feel it a lot more in your hand, but my veins seem to be easier there) and goes, “well, that didn’t work, that one burst right away.” If anyone medical can tell me what “bursting” means in relation to your veins, that would help me not assume that now I have a broken explosion wound inside my hand. 😐

So then I took another few minutes and another tiny cup of water, and the nurse said she’d just look one more time and if we couldn’t get it, we’d reschedule so I could hydrate beforehand. Then it went in!

They led me to the MRI room, where there was a big tube and a massage-table looking thing where you lay face down, with a face cushion and two holes for boobs and gave me headphones over my earplugs. Basically no smashing this time, just hanging out in Superman pose and being very still. 20 minutes inside with the beeping, then nurse came in to add contrast to my IV, then 10 more minutes and done.

I’m not claustrophobic, so I didn’t have much issue with the small space or terrifically loud beeping. It was a little odd being wheeled into the tube because I couldn’t see anything. Then the beeping started. At first I thought it might be like Morse code and I could kill some time trying to decipher it. Then it just got completely irregular and reminded me of a bad electronic ‘musician’ that you hear at the sound camps at Burning Man, then I got distracted thinking about riding bikes all around Burning Man and how the next time I’m there, it’s going to be a topless week dedicated to Lefty. Maybe I’ll get a big heart tattoo around her.

So, overall a success, and I should find out results in a couple days.

This afternoon, my surgeon also called me to tell me my case went to the tumor board, and that the board agreed with our plan of chemo, lumpectomy and lift (wooo! boob lift!!), then 5yrs of estrogen-blocking meds, but recommended a PET CT scan, which I’m about to go google.

Tomorrow, I have a video appointment with a genetics counselor who will assess my family history and try to pin down risk of recurrence or if I’ll pass it down. Then June 2, I meet with my plastic surgeon. Finally, June 9th I meet my oncologist for the first time (although she’s been active in my care already with the oncology surgeon) and get the results of a mammaprint which also assesses if I’m high or low risk for recurrence.

Fingers crossed!