Hello. My DS who is 23 months has an MRI today. It was on his heart and lungs. He had it done at Great Ormond Street. I can tell you about our experience today, I hope it helps.
DS had a general anaesthetic. His consultant said that they can do it unde sedation too but DS has reflux and he told us that the GA is safer in his case at least because it is easier to control so less risk of vomiting.
DS was not allowed to eat after 6am and could not have water after 8am. We got to GOSH at 9am. He was weighed and checked over by a doctor. They told us he was due to go down at 1.30.
They put magic cream on his hands to anaethsetise (sp!) them to put in a canula for ivs. They tried to put in a canula but couldn't. He got upset at that so they decided they would put him to sleep using gas and they would insert the canula afterwards.
When it was time, he walked down to the theatre. I sat him on my lap and they held the mask to his face so he could breathe in the gas. He cried for alittle while, perhaps 30 seconds, then he was asleep. I was warned it is upsetting for parents and I did find it hard. They told us to kiss him goodbye and that made me cry! They told us that the procedure would take about 30 minutes. The MRI is like a large donut type machine. We left the room and were taken up to his ward to wait. It was a very long 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, they came for us. DS was barely awake when we got back to him and was crying. I cuddled him and he went to sleep on my shoulder. The nurse said it is like waking up with a terrible hangover and that's just what he was like. He took about an hour to come round properly, and was grumpy, hungry. He wanted chocolate and water but wailed and stropped when I broke the biscuit in half. After that, he was pretty much back to himself. We left the hospital 2 hours after we came back from theatre. By the time we were home, he was running around like nothing happened.
Overall, it was traumatic for me, but not too bad for ds. He already hates doctors so all the procedures were upsetting for him and I think he felt pretty crap for the hour afterwards. But that really was the worst of it, so try not to worry.