I had an arthrogram/MRI today on my right shoulder. It wasn't quite what I had expected.
I got to the Doctors office about 15 minutes early. Filled out the necessary paperwork and then waited in the waiting room for about 5 minutes before they called me back. I was taken to a changing room where I was given a locker for my clothes and valuables. The nurse asked me to change into scrubs. I then sat in the changing room for about 10 minutes. Next the Dr that was going to do the arthrogram came and got me and had me take off my scrub shirt and change into a gown so he could get better access to my shoulder.
After changing (again) he led me into the room where the arthrogram would be performed. The DR said something along the lines of "I'm just going to mark where I'm going to insert..." Whoa... "Uh, Insert? What are you inserting?" He explained that an arthrogram is a procedure where dye is injected into the joint (in my case my shoulder joint) to help with image contrast. I didn't realize I was going to have dye shot into my shoulder joint. I thought I was just going to go into the big MRI machine.
I laid on my back on the x-ray machine while the doctor performing the procedure began to tell me what he was going to be doing. First he cleaned surface of front of my shoulder with iodine. He then injected a numbing agent into my shoulder. He said, "Just a little prick and then a burning sensation." Although that didn't feel good, it was nothing like the next needle. While watching the x-ray monitor for guidance, he inserted what felt like a huge needle into my shoulder. This wasn't sharp pain, but was very uncomfortable. I could feel the needle moving around. It only took about a minute for him to insert the needle. Once he got it to where it should be he attached a syringe with the contrast agent and injected it into my shoulder. At this point he said he was going to pull the needle out, which didn't feel good either.
I was already feeling light headed when I sat up. The Dr asked me if I was ok a few times. Apparently, I was quite white. Although not feeling 100%, I walked down to the MRI room. As soon as I got in there, I asked to sit down.
Again, not ever having had an MRI, I wasn't sure what to expect. They laid me down moved me into position and told me to not move at all. They gave me ear plugs, as it was very noisy inside the machine.
When I was done, I asked how long I was in the MRI machine. To my surprise, I had been in there for 35 minutes. I knew I had been in there a while but didn't think it had been that long.
I went and changed back into my clothes and realized my shoulder hurt more now than it did when I went in for the MRI. Now I wait for the Dr to look at them. I hope he finds out why my shoulder hurts.
