actually helped make them and have done engineering scans as a guinea pig for new designs: all levels of magnet strength from .5-3 Tesla.
Ask for an open MRI - likely what the doc is thinking of. They are like two pancakes with side structures instead of the cylinder.
Due to the way the magnetic field is impacted the strength is lower so the images aren’t as ‘precise’...no wrong word... refined maybe.. well they have lower resolution.
Did they at least give you a choice of music to listen to? If you pick something that relaxes you I’ve heard it helps. I tend to fall asleep in them unless they are asking me to perform certain tasks.
Can you help invent virtual Freeping goggles for patients who could make good use of that time?!