The Breast MRI Test

As I write this, I am sitting in the radiology waiting room at the hospital. My wife, Dawn Ann is here for a breast MRI.

The whole family is here. Dawn Ann brought the kids here, after
school. I took off early from work to be there for our 4:00 PM appointment. The kids brought our laptop, and are watching the DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean on the computer.

I got here in time to visit with Dawn Ann a few minutes before she went back into the radiology department.

As I arrived, she was filling out the obligatory forms you always have to fill out for an MRI or a CT scan. One of the forms was a cancer questionnaire. That kind of freaked her out a little bit. It was the first time she has filled out such a form since her diagnosis.

She joked, “I guess I will be considered a cancer survivor from now on.” I
put my arm around her and held her close. I told her, “We wouldn't
want it any other way!”

Then she said – “Well then it must be so, because daddy said!”

Today Dawn Ann is receiving an MRI of her breasts. This will be an MRI with contrast. That means that that she will have to be injected with a dye through an IV prior to receiving the MRI.

The objective if this test is mainly to check for any indications of breast cancer in the left breast - the breast that so far is thought to be cancer free. The MRI can detect the presence of DCIS at a much earlier stage than is possible with a traditional mammogram.

One potential drawback of the MRI is that it is so sensitive that it can pick up 'False Positives' - that is it may pick up spots that may not actually be cancer, but would require further analysis. This could potentially could mean biopsies on the left side.

The MRI is also intended to shed further light on the conditions found in right breast, which has already been diagnosed with DCIS in two places. This information may better help inform the surgeon as she prepares for the mastectomy of the right breast.

Ultimately, this MRI will help us determine if we need a single - or a double mastectomy.

UPDATE: The MRI is over now. Dawn Ann said that it was relatively painless. She said that when they injected the contrast dye into her IV, that she started sneezing, and her sinuses filled up. She also had a few moments of nausea, which she was told was normal.

The sneezing was enough that they had to repeat a part of the test. Each time she would sneeze, she would bounce off the roof of the MRI tube. There was a 6 minute span that they had to re-do.


The MRI test had her lying face-down in the MRI tube, on top of a specially built platform for breast MRI’s. Her arms were outstretched in front of her “superman style”. There was a space in the platform that held her head, with a mirror so she could look forward, instead of having to stare at the bottom of the MRI tube.

Dawn Ann said that the staff was really nice, and they made every effort to keep her modest for this procedure.

We were told that we should get results back this Friday, September 7th.