Post-Op Monitoring
My first post-surgery MRI.
Earlier this week, I had my first post-op MRI following brain surgery in July.
The last MRI I had was the night before surgery. I think it was about 9:00 p.m. The neurosurgery team needed one final set of images before the procedure, which was scheduled to start early the next morning. A brain MRI is long — about 40 minutes — during which I needed to lie perfectly still. I lay on the table with tears streaming down my face and trying not to sob, because I was so scared of the surgery's outcome.
I was supposed to have a post-op MRI the same night of surgery. I didn't even get back to my room until about 8:00 p.m. I vaguely remember that the MRI was scheduled for 3:00 a.m. My bed was wheeled down to the radiology area, but I was in a significant amount of pain. When they tried to move me from my bed to the MRI table, I screamed because it hurt so much.
I had no idea how I would be able to lie still for 40+ minutes. Finally, the technician called the neurosurgery team and got permission to cancel the procedure. My surgeon said that instead, we would just use my 3-month post-op images as the new baseline.
Before that, my prior MRI had been the night that I found out that I had a brain tumor, in the emergency room at the local hospital. As I lay on the table for that procedure, I had no idea what to expect. I only knew that there was a mass at the base of my brain from a CT scan a few days prior.
As I was getting ready to leave the house for this week's MRI, I had a sudden panic attack. My heart was racing and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I'm certain it was residual trauma... my last two brain MRIs were under really stressful situations.
Fortunately, I have a prescription for Xanax, so I took one and felt better.
Now I just need to wait until the appointment with my neurosurgeon in a few days to see what he recommends going forward.
Anna Burgess Yang