Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatement - Day One

**This post was transferred from the now defunct "The Long Ease" blog.**

Treatment Day:  1

Arrival Time at Lutheran Hospital Wound Healing Center:  7:50am

Appointment Time:  8:00am

Doctor Arrived and I got to go back to where the tubes are:  8:12am

Noteable things about self as I prepare to enter the tube:  Not terribly nervous.  Bangs are out of control, as no hair products (or makeup or deodorant or anything, really) are allowed.  Commando is not a state I feel at all comfortable in - but underpants are also forbidden.

Blood Pressure Before:  100 over 60-something

Treatment length:  2.5 hours

Physical things noted during treatment:  Ears pop a LOT as they brought me up to pressure level in the beginning and then back down at the end.  Mouth is dry (they gave me a tiny squirt bottle of water and I tried very hard not to waste it).  Coughing hurts my chest.  Feet and shoulders got cold about an hour before it ended - must remember to unfold blanket better tomorrow.  I'm fucking blind (can't wear glasses/contacts in so the TV may as well have had dancing blobs on it).

TV station the nurse put on for me:  CNN

Things happening in our world as far as CNN is concerned, in order of stories most often repeated:  Countless bad things happening with Gaza/Hamas/Isreal/Palestine.  Plane crash and subsequent atrocities in Ukraine.  Ebola outbreak in Africa.  Republicans hate Obama a lot (currently because of something to do with immigration).  Another smaller and less interesting plane crashed somewhere beachy.  A white guy shot a black girl on his porch in Detroit.

Last time I voluntarily watched the news:  The week of September 11, 2001.

Things I thought about not relating to the news blaring into my tube:  I should really figure out how to use this time to work on getting better at the whole meditating thing.  I wish I could bring in a book - I have so much I want to read.  I need to cancel all sorts of plans I made for these next eight weeks since I'll probably have to work late to make up for the missed hours and I also am not supposed to drink alcohol.  I wish I could wear my underpants.  And my contacts.  That nurse looks like my old boss, Katie.

Most difficult moment:  Breathing through the mask thing during my two "air breaks".  (Because the radiation injury treatments are so long, I am at risk for "Oxygen Toxicity" and must, therefore, breathe normal air through a weird mask two times for five minutes each.)

Blood Pressure After:  110 over 60-something slightly higher than before.  I will pay closer attention tomorrow.

Time Left Lutheran Hospital: 10:55am

Arrival Time at Work:  11:15am

Reason for Delay:  Stopped for a coffee at a McDonald's in the ghetto.  Took 10 minutes.  Will not make same mistake again.

Noteworthy After-Effects:  Ears still feel poppy.  Voice is very hoarse.  Nose is very stuffy - not sure if last one has to do with the cold I thought I was over or the treatment.

Treatments Left:  39

What the tubes look like (taken from the internet):



See you tomorrow.  Xxo,
Phoebe

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