MRI's/gad injection

[Guest guest]

Barbara & Kim,

Fred, and all prefer to have the injection on the table. I

can't tell you how many times I have had to duke it out with the nurses & /

or technicians who wanted to slap an IV in as soon as we got there. The IV

is for the convenience of the people doing the MRIs not for the convenience

of the patient in most cases. The only exception to this I can think of is

if you have veins that are hard to get and they need to take extra time and

care so they can hit the veins without stabbing you several times. Even then

it is arguable as to whose benefit the IV is for, but MRI time is expensive,

so on that point I concede the possibility of need instead of convenience.

I don't allow IVs for the kids' MRIs and Fred doesn't let them put IVs in

him for the gadolineum because we're trying to save those veins for times

that they might need surgery. Having read enough stories on here of people

whose veins are blown to the point where they have to have IVs in their neck,

shoulder, etc. I see no reason to risk veins by having an IV sitting there

when a quick shot would do the job.

Barbara, I missed your original note about the shots being painful, but if

it is the needle as opposed to the medication, it might be worthwhile to ask

them to use a smaller needle than usual. If it's the gadolineum itself, I

don't think there's much you can do about that.

I hope this doesn't sound like a screaming note. My blood pressure

probably goes up just thinking about the IVs for MRIs because of all the

fighting I have had to do to stop them. I finally got the primary care

physician to write " NO IV " on the MRI order. That helped but I still have to

stand guard.

...Donna