Treatment Resumed

Got the chamber back on 12/24 and since then we have gotten in 24 dives. We decided to restart the treatments although we got in 7 before. Sixteen dives to go to the 40 total treatment. 40 dives then a 3 to 4 month break and restart.

Still Waiting

Our hyperbaric chamber has not yet returned from the factory for repair. It has been over a week now, so I guess we will have to start over with a new series of 40 dives. My son and I got in 7 dives before the machine broke. We will see how he reacts when we get the chamber back.

Fourth Day and Problems

Well only one dive, the leak from Day 3 got so bad the chamber will only hold 3 PSI. Had to hold my hand over the leaking fitting to get up to 4 . Sent the chamber back UPS to California to be repaired. Hopefully will get it back quickly.

Third Day of Hyperbaric Therapy

Well yesterday my son and I made two trips into the hyperbaric chamber. The first was pretty uneventful, but the second was a different event altogether. My son was afraid of going into the Vitaeris 320 last night, in fact he shivered and made himself throw up twice before getting into the chamber, thankfully he got it out of his system before going in under pressure. A few minutes into the dive he cheered up and did not even cry or whimper as the pressure built up. He loves to chew ice cubes, and I fed them to him as fast as I could during the compression stage to keep his jaw going. Chewing or sipping (swallowing) allows people to equalize light amounts of pressure. Sometimes I am not sure if my wife and I are doing the right thing since our son is having difficultly in dealing with the hyperbaric therapy for his cerebral palsy, maybe the cure is worse than the disease. But in my opinion, ANYONE who has CP or cares for a person with CP knows better. I think most people would do virtually anything to get better or even see an improvement in their condition. Anyway by the end of the dive my son is crying again for a different reason, and complaining about having to get out of the 'blue thing' as he calls it. He must love the completely undivided attention his mother and I lavish on him while we are in there.
Also yesterdays second dive (#6) I noticed a leak in the chamber, around the pressure guage from the inside. Oh well, will notify the owners of the chamber and ask what they want to do about further treatments or getting it repaired. Hopefully it will be an easy fix, or we will get in our forty dives before the leak gets too big for the pressure pumps to overcome.

2nd Day of Treatment

Well, a lot of crying while his ears equalized, some puking (but that is pretty normal for my son while he is upset) and we got two dives in. I have been doing the dives with my son for his cerebral palsy to treat his spasticity, since my wifes first dive she can't get her ears to equalize yet. She has a sinus infection, so a bit of advice don't do a hyperbaric treatment with a head cold of any kind. My son is doing the dives fine in the loaner Vitaeris 320, I have read it will take 30 dives at least to see any results if any. We were curious about the oxygen content in the chamber with the room air and the oxygen concentrator running in the chamber, so we tested the escaping air from the pressure regulator valves and got a maximum of about 23.0 %. The meter I was using read about 20.5% in just ambient conditions. The oxygen concentrator has a nasal cannula that a child could breathe straight out of into their nose, but my son would have no part of that, so I had to just hold it near his mouth and hope for the best.
The last dive of the day my son would not sip a drink while the pressure was building, so he cried and cried until he puked. Luckily we packed a dish towel in the chamber with us, and pto ack the drinks we bring them in a Baggie, so we cleaned up, put everything in the Baggie and continued the dive. My son fell asleep pretty much immeadiately after. I fell asleep too while my wife was decompressing the chamber. Probably not a good idea, but I feel great during and after the dives, I just hope it is worth it for my son's health.
In an interesting note, an aquaintance of my wife and son is also treating their child in the hyperbaric chamber. I think this family's willingness to treat their child also reflects the desire to get some sort of 'cure' for CP. We made sure the family wanted to do the treatment on their own, and we did not change their desire to do the hyperbaric on their own thoughts and wishes. I felt it was important to not sway their opinion one way or another, and after I asked clearly a few times that it was their own decision to do the treatment, they did their first treatment successfully. Good luck to them.

First day of hyperbaric treatment

Yesterday was the first day my son received hyperbaric treatment (HBT) for cerebral palsy. My son is a 3 1/2 years old, and has been diagnosed with epilepsy and CP. He is a bright and joyous kid that has yet to walk on his own, and has some difficulty with speech. Some things in his life can be probably be attributed to his very low birth weight and prematurity, and the epilepsy drugs, but CP is probably the biggest medical challenge he faces. And faces it, he does. Every day he attacks life like no one I have ever known. His high spasticity is the main thing we would like to see the HBT help.
The chamber we are using is a Vitaeris 320. It is on loan to us from a local community service group and how we got it was nothing short of a miracle. More on that later. The chamber only gets up to 4 psi, about 1.3 ATA, and uses room air to inflate. There is a SeQual Integra oxygen concentrator putting in a few liters a minute into the chamber, but I do not know how much oxygen that works out to be. I will be testing to see how much is in there eventually.
Well my son got in 45 minutes with his mother after we got it yesterday, and he and I got 50 minutes later. The chamber was not very hard to get our son to accept, but it will be a challenge to get all forty dives in.

Hyperbaric Therapy for Cerebral Palsy

Keywords: hyperbaric therapy cerebral palsy epilepsy spasticity