MRI Was So Painful...

rlmessy

New here and newly diagnosed. Had breast MRI scheduled today and did not make it through. I have an abnormality in my left rib cage that caused a spike of pain like a knife was stabbing me. Got to right before the contrast and had to bail. Feel like such a failure.

There has got to be a better way to do all of this. We can put probes on Mars, scour the universe for aliens, walk on the moon but cant get through diagnostic tests that will result in catastrophic surgeries without medieval torture?

Man, I can get on my soapbox about the money BC brings in and I get that we have made huge strides in survival, treatment and care. But why are these tests the same as in the 80's?

Off soapbox...sorry for the rant...feel like the kid who missed the winning game free throw right at the buzzer.

rlmessy

New here and newly diagnosed. Had breast MRI scheduled today and did not make it through. I have an abnormality in my left rib cage that caused a spike of pain like a knife was stabbing me. Got to right before the contrast and had to bail. Feel like such a failure.

There has got to be a better way to do all of this. We can put probes on Mars, scour the universe for aliens, walk on the moon but cant get through diagnostic tests that will result in catastrophic surgeries without medieval torture?

Man, I can get on my soapbox about the money BC brings in and I get that we have made huge strides in survival, treatment and care. But why are these tests the same as in the 80's?

Off soapbox...sorry for the rant...feel like the kid who missed the winning game free throw right at the buzzer.

Cat94925

Ugh. I'm so sorry that happened to you. Now, I'm having an MRI guided biopsy on Monday, both breasts. I thought I was having a stereotactic biopsy and was feeling ok, but now I'm really upset. I do have a prescription for Ativan, which I will take Monday. I've never used Ativan before. So, will I still have pain and not be able to breath BUT I just won't care? :-(

Cat94925

I've decided to cancel that MRI guided horror of a biopsy. After a lot of thought, I am going to go with a bi lateral mastectomy. With the enhancements,which appear to be DCIS, a lumpectomy would be be weirdly disfiguring. I'd rather have both breasts gone, have more peace of mind, and have time to think about whether or not I want to stay flat or have reconstruction later.

It makes me really angry that they make women go through (in my case) two hours of torture on a metal "cradle" that doesn't allow you to fully breathe! I asked the nurse about this and she said they knew it was bad, and that hopefully soon it would be upgraded. WHAT? Screw that. If I have to do it, send me to the upgraded facility.

magiclight

After my horrific guided biopsy, I decided never again and made the decision to have a double mastectomy. Choosing a double mastectomy because the pain of diagnostic testing is so dreadful is not an optimal clinical situation. Light sedation was never provided as an option, if it had been I might have gone with lumpectomies and avoided 4 years and counting of post mastectomy pain.

Cat94925

I'm not doing it just to avoid the biopsy.

The enhancements around my main tumors take up a larger area than what we had originally talked about when discussing lumpectomy. My breasts are not that large. They would be disfigured. I also have a family history of breast cancer. Almost every woman on my mother's side of the family have had it. Mother, two aunts, cousin, now me. Even if my genetic testing comes back negative, I believe that just means there is a gene that the scientists haven't discovered yet and I would rather cover my bases. Avoiding the painful biopsy is just a bonus. I'm know there will be pain with this surgery. I've had other surgeries before. I have multiple friends with extreme physical pain from various types of breast reconstructions, which is why I'd like to try going flat before I make any dicisions. I've been thinking about this from the beginning, but honestly, the test results and information have been coming back to me slowly in drips and drabs and after talking with one of the nurses on Friday and learning a bit more, I came to my final desicion.

I'm truly sorry you have so much pain post mastectomy. What is causing it?

ksusan

I'm sorry people are having such bad experiences. It's outrageous. My breast MRI was not noticeably uncomfortable, so my facility must have had adequate padding. Maybe shop around for places with better equipment within your system or insurance plan?

NoMoreKindaCCups

My breast MRI rant:

That special torture device had to have been invented by some man (sorry, gents) who never spent 30 minutes supporting his torso on a bare steel bar. If padding is available, why aren't all the hospitals using it?

I've had many MRIs of my abdomen and they always involve being told when to take a deep breathe and hold it, and when to release it. Since I guess I'm not the ideal height for the way the machine is designed, the technician put a rolled up towel in the face pad, but that made me feel like I couldn't breathe, so she gave me a tube blowing oxygen to hold near my face. I couldn't hear the tech through the ear plugs once in the machine, so I was kind of panicking because I couldn't get a good deep breath. I really wish I had known ahead of time that wasn't required for this exam.

All the said, I'm grateful to have had my MRI! I have the same type of cancer that my friend had over a decade ago, but she didn't get an MRI. Her surgeon did one lumpectomy but found the margins weren't clear, then did a second one with the same result, and finally, the had to do a unilateral mastectomy! My surgery was expected to be a simple lumpectomy on my ILC until the MRI showed how deep the tumor went towards my pectoral muscle and how much LCIS was spread throughout the breast tissue.

So yeah, it's painful but so worth it!

rlmessy

Ha! I failed my first breast MRI with flair and nearly jumped out of the machine. I have a rib the flares outward. We tried a couple of different ways to pad me and thought we had found one that was ok. I got to the part where they were going to inject the dye. The tech said "Are you ok?" I breathed in, breathed out and said "ok" and pop the rib moved. The pain was intolerable and I practically jumped out of that machine.

I know how important it is as my mom is a breast cancer survivor and the only way we found her main tumor was through MRI. So, I told them I need pain meds or an alternative.

I go back on Wednesday with a dose of Norco 10...supposed to be a strong pain med. I have never taken it so hopefully that is true otherwise I won't be able to do the test.

Fingers crossed and prayers said that I can make it through this one.

SUPer52

Follow up to my earlier posts....I had my first breast MRI two Fridays ago. I have to admit it was a strange experience and unlike any other MRI I have ever had, but I didn't find it too terribly uncomfortable. I think reading all the posts here ahead of time helped me mentally prepare for it so there were no surprises. I don't think I would have lasted much longer in that position, but I made it without any real pain or discomfort. My ribs were very red afterwards from the pressure of supporting my weight, but that faded quickly. For me, the most discomfort came from lying with my arms extended because I still have quite a bit of stiffness in my shoulder and armpit area from surgery and radiation and the arm on my breast cancer side started to get numb after awhile. Just as I was thinking I wouldn't be able to stay still any longer in that position, the test thankfully ended.

In my last post here, I mentioned that I would try not to panic if I got the dreaded call back because my surgeon had warned they often do result in false positives. Well....I did get the dreaded call back. My surgeon called last Tuesday evening to tell me something enhanced, so they wanted to schedule me for an ultrasound and biopsy, and if they couldn't find the suspicious area on ultrasound, back into the MRI tube I would go for an MRI-guided biopsy. They got me in quickly, thank goodness, and scheduled my follow up for this past Friday, exactly one week after the initial MRI. Fortunately they could find the area with ultrasound, so no more MRI. Yay! After the ultrasound, the radiologist could tell that what enhanced was a morphologically normal lymph node, so thankfully I didn't even need the biopsy. False alarm and much relief!

The things we have to go through! I laugh at myself sometimes because last year at this time I was still so overly modest as I had been my entire life. However, the BC diagnosis came soon after the holidays, and now after almost a year of having everyone poke, prod, and feel up my breasts, and then basically having to drop them into a recessed cup for the MRI, I'm totally over it lol!

Something else to note: my facility also offers a "fast" breast MRI screening. Patients still need a doctor referral for it, but the test is only about 15 minutes as opposed to the 30-45 minutes for a regular MRI. It still uses the contrast dye I believe. For anyone here who truly has too much pain or anxiety to endure the regular MRI, maybe the fast MRI is worth asking your doctor about. Not all places offer it, and it obviously isn't as thorough as the regular one, but it might be another option to explore.