October MRI Clinicals

Sorry that it has been a while since my last blog, balancing everything has literally been a juggling act this month. All in all, October was a very productive month in clinicals. It is still a struggle to see a variation of anatomy since most of my clinical hours are in the evening where you tend to see an abundance of lumbar, cervical and knee scans. My goal this month is to focus on shoulders, ankles, wrist and the brain.

On the 3oth of this month, a MR tech and I scanned a patients pelvis and lumbar. The patient was complaining of lower abdominal and lower back pain since he fell down the stairs about a month ago. We scanned the pelvis first and on the coronal view I noticed something highlighting superior to the pelvic region on the patients right side. We did a few more different scans to see if what we were actually seeing was a mass form that was fluid filled. The MR tech call the Radiologist to see if they wanted extra scans done or if they want us to scan higher up on the patient. The Radiologist said to scan higher so I repositioned the coil about 8 inches higher on the patient. We did a few more scans and then pulled the patient back out to finish with the lumbar scan. Before I placed the patient back in for the lumbar, he asked if it was normal to feel flushed and nauseated with pelvis and lumbar pain. I told him that we would definitely document how he was feeling in our notes for the radiologist. We finished with his lumbar scan and informed him that the radiologist will call his doctor and that the patients doctor will contact him as soon as he knows the results.

We got a call back shortly from the radiologist informing us that indeed the patient had a huge fluid filled cyst hanging off his right kidney. She basically said good job because we kept the patient from having to go back in another day for another scan. I hope the best for this patient and that he is taken care of soon and has a full recovery.

A while back, another tech let me know that a radiologist at CDI explained that it is important to look at the whole picture because what really could be causing the patients pain, numbness, tingling or swelling may not be as obvious as you would think.

I'll try not to go so long before my next blog. I hope everyone is doing well this semester - hang in there.