Imprints of "Scanxiety".

The days leading up to and waiting for the results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sessions are anxiety inducing, and this anxiety has earned the moniker . MRI images of the author's son's brain are used to track the progression and formation of tumors related to his neurofibromatosis (NF), a genetic disorder that occurs in 1 in 3000 births. NF can cause tumors to grow anywhere in or on the body. Analogous to pulling a print in art, the results of an MRI scan often have unexpected results. The author is an artist-researcher and mother who has painted, drawn, and pulled prints over the years about living with this disorder from a mother's perspective. Throughout her son's NF journey, she has found that life seems to happen "between the scans."