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| Amy Shissler My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery |
I had A LOT of imaging when this happened and for about a year after. Imaging is the term used for all the internal pictures they do. So, an x-ray, MRI, CT scan – all that stuff is collectively called imaging. I’ve learned a few things since my stroke. A CT scan is like a plain film (x-ray) but it takes cross-sectional images, so the doctors can look at ‘slices’ of the body. Plain film is what x-rays are called. Like a plain film meaning it makes it much easier to see “hard” structures in the body, mainly bones. Problems with organs show up on a CT scan as well as tumors, etc. A CT scan is the first thing I had to try to figure out why I collapsed. The doctors said it looked fine. I learned a few months later at a support group for stroke survivors that an ischemic stroke(stroke caused by a blood clot) WILL NOT show up on a CT scan in the first few hours. For that, you need an MRI. An MRI takes pictures of the ‘soft tissues’ of the body. It took them about 30 hours to give me an MRI. Why? I’ll never know. They messed up. I understand that when a 30-year old woman presents to the hospital the last thing anyone would think of would be a stroke but clearly there was something wrong with my brain. And every time I had a follow-up appointment I would have a CT scan. Not sure about this either. I know MRIs are way more expensive but if you have a young woman who had an ischemic stroke wouldn’t the doctors have wanted to see an MRI? I don’t know, I’m not an all-knowing doctor. Imaging - CT Scan vs MRI.
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