Total MRI of the Heart

As part of investigating my chest “pain/discomfort” I’m getting an MRI of my heart. I’m at the Andre Sakharov MRI Centre at St. Boniface Hospital. I’m pretty familiar with the process now as I’ve had a few of these recently. As they say this is not my first rodeo.

Andre Sakharov MRI Centre

The process is very efficient and quick. I change into the traditional hospital garb, get the IV for introducing the contrast material and only wait a couple of minutes before I’m getting into the MRI tube.

Once on the MRI bed I’m wired up with some chest leads for heart monitoring, ear plugs and a headset to block the noise of the MRI and to hear the breathing instructions from the operator. “Take a breath in, breath out, hold your breath…. breathe” about 25-35 times in a row. About 45 minutes later, we’re done.

A small twist in these COVID mask wearing days is you get a new mask, ones that don’t have any metal across the top. The strong magnetic fields in the MRI do some crazy things to metal.

Speaking of masks, I got a laugh on the way out.