Mastering the MRI  Getting MRI’s can be scary and uncomfortable,
especially if you’re claustrophobic.  While sedation is an
option, there’s growing concern about the effects of general
anesthesia on the developing brains of children.  But a new
program eliminates those risks by training kids to have drug-
free MRI’s.  "I walk in the room, I go on the table, the table
rises, I go in the machine, and I stay very still," said MRI
patient Christian Welch.  Welch knows that there is no wiggle
room, but he is a spontaneous roller – a reason why children go
under anesthesia about six million times a year.  "There are
always risks with anesthesia and I'm a nurse and I know that
very well," said Welch’s mother Melody.  The most feared risks
are brain damage and death. While rare, sedation-free scanning
wipes them out.  That is why Melody Welch signed Christian up
for Wolfson Children’s Hospital’s new MR-I Am Ready program.
"Our strategy was just to help kids feel prepared and so in that
way they feel in control,” said