Actually 5/325s would be better than what I have, because you can take 3 of them at a time. I have 5/500s and 2 is the limit per dose.

Another bump in the road today ... I found little blisters in the surgical area today after showering, and the color there didn't look right (on the weekend, the house staff were worried about necrosis, although they didn't pump up the fluids when my pressure dropped into the 80s systolic). I called in and they saw me in clinic within an hour; I was figuring wound infection, which would suck because it'd ruin the reconstruction. But reality sucks more. I'm going to lose a big area of skin to necrosis unless they can turn it around with hyperbaric therapy.

If it responds (which isn't likely), good. If not, I'll need a full-thickness skin graft (more, painful ++ surgery). I'll have a nasty patchwork series of scars and a delay in my chemo schedule.

So I went for 'intake' at the hyperbaric clinic. I really didn't know anything about the practicalities of it. Wow. There's a major risk of fire and explosion so I can take nothing in, have to wear only an all-cotton gown (no synthetics or plastics), no creams, makeup, hair product, deodorant, nada; I can only watch TV or sleep during the 2.5 hour treatment. I can't drink any carbonated beverages (and beans, I assume, are forbidden! :eek:). No alcohol, inside or out. I get a bracelet that grounds me to the chamber, then the chamber is grounded outside. If I wear/do something that breaks the rules, I kill both myself and the tech. Nice. :yelsick: Possible side effects include seizures, vision changes that last 2 months, hemorrhagic blisters on my eardrums with possible rupture, and GI reflux. I get to do this twice daily with a 3-hour break between sessions for five days straight.

New experiences, hooray! But this one wasn't on my bucket list. :eyebrow:

Oh, one sort of cool thing - the hyperbaric chamber is exactly like the chamber in The Fifth Element that they used to 'reconstruct' Leeloo. Guess I'll just lie there and pretend I'm the female supreme being. ;)

you don't have to pretend with us, ortho.

Why isn't it likely to respond? I ggogled people's experiences and they seem very happy and positive about the ffects of the chamber with no more surgeries. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? Or is yours worse than average, or are you just going for worst case scenarios so as not to get your hopes up?

Hoping for the no more surgery option...... have fun ibn the chamber. Can you wear a single white cotton glove and pretend tobe MJ when you get bored of leeloo?

I'm not optimistic because the skin is already breaking down and the color is bad - it's progressed very very quickly over the day. However - if the dermis (lower layer) can be kept alive until some new blood vessels form, if this will pink up and heal, I'll be ecstatic, don't get me wrong! I hope for the best but, the way it looks and feels now, I'm preparing for the worst.

I'll see what fun I can have in a 'Leeloo' chamber, heh heh ... but options are limited, I can only wear the all-cotton gown the tech gives me. She's very focused on safety (which is good). Guess I'll check through the DVDs tonight and see what I can bring in - she'll play a DVD for me if I want. Anything has to be better than daytime TV. :rolleyes:

ask her about the glove.....

Ok fun you can have in a chamber with DVDs.

Some Torpedo movie? What about Honey I shrunk the Kids? maybe you could have her put red dots on the windows.....
Are you allowed to move in there? Can you do a little pilates? (with the areas that don't hurt, natch)
Will she play porn?
Can she transmit interwebs and you can dictate cellar posts to her?

Surely you can bring a book in there, too? That's what most of the kids I know do.

Taking a break between treatments - the first one wasn't too bad, actually. Almost pleasant! Doing lots of visualizing. I hope SO much that this will fix the problem. I'm visualizing healthy tissue supported by all that O2, and everything healing up.

No books allowed, unfortunately. That was the first thing I asked and the first thing she said. Think of all the studying I could get done! Watching a DVD was fine, though - I have to go ransack some $5 DVD bins at WalMart later. I could just listen to music and doze, but she has me breathe room air by mask for ten minutes at a time, twice during the session (to lessen the risk of O2 toxicity). It'd have to be a very light doze. Still, it's restful. Crossing my fingers and toes that this will work.

Glad the treatment wasn't so bad, Ortho. *hugs*

Positive visualisations from me to add to yours!


Sent by thought transference

Ortho, tell them you want the shit w/o the acetominophen. that's what limits your dose; they add that shit so junkies won't take enough to get high--it destroys the liver. It's fucked up ten ways to Sunday. Tell them to take their crappy acetominophen and stick it where the sun never shines.

I was liking my oxycodone 5mg after my surgery. I told them no you-know-what.

Tell them.

Tell them you need a fentanyl lollipop.

You have never been so sexy to me as you are right now!

Do it, ortho! tell 'em to FUCK their acetominophen or give you a PCA or goddman something!!!!!

You're right- this necrosis thing IS sucking hard; but the visualization stuff really DOES help so keep doing that. And get some freaking ativan ffs. What's wrong with these people?

Sending healing thoughts your way, sweetie. And get a freakin' pain team put together. I know it's a bitch, but go ahead and do it. MAKE them see you.

:blush:

You guys are BOTH just too sexy! ;)

I'm doing pretty well on the Vic along with some Flexeril, actually - it only takes a sniff of whatever and I'm out like a light. Morphine po would be excellent but I'd never wake up. And I'll keep the fentanyl lollipops in mind ... but I'm only scoring 1 for 3 with synthetic opioids. Sigh. Anyhoo ... doing not badly. I do have some Ativan and you bet I used it last night. Still didn't sleep, but I didn't care as much. :rolleyes:

Second session went well and I can swear there's some positive change. The tech said they do see positive changes very quickly so maybe it's not just wishful thinking. Guess I'd better hit the books tonight before my high O2 levels wear off. Really - she said the high O2 lasts several hours. And I noticed today that I wasn't lightheaded, which I have been ever since surgery and that big drop in Hb level. Time to hit the books! :)

My Mum was given tramal when she was sick. She really hated it. I think oral morphine is probably great for some people, but the constipation can be a real bitch too. When Dad amputated the tops of a couple of fingers, he was given endone. He hated that.

If you're able to cope with the pain it's good though. Sometimes just having something to take the edge off is better than totally wiping yourself out.

Glad you're feeling better today Ortho. Just stay positive. You'll get there in the end.

xxx

ortho, can you get anything study-related on DVD? like audio textbooks or something?