St. Joseph Medical Center
Select Specialty Hospital
Phoenix, Arizona
It will be a year, February 23, 2006, that Lisa was relaxing in her living room in Oro Valley-just 13-days after giving birth to Michael--shown on the right in a picture I took yesterday, that her tragic saga began. We could look back in Lisa’s BLOG Site Journal (http://www.lisalatest.com/) to get the date when first the idea of hyperbaric therapy was mentioned, but frankly, it doesn’t matter because it is water under the bridge, what does matter is the answer to a question, “… what have you done for me lately.”
This morning at 8:00 A.M., Lisa was transferred from her hospital bed to a narrow, but comfortable gurney. This particular gurney more narrow than most, is to permit it to easily slide into the hyperbaric chamber (tube) that was waiting for her a couple of floors beneath her hospital room. It wasn’t a long trip in the sense of distance… just a few floors and corridors away, and it was easily reached by the sure, steady hands that guided her chariot through the hospital labyrinth. I asked Richard, who left for Phoenix before 6:00 AM this morning to be there with her, “How did she take the ride?” “Lisa appeared comfortable,” he said, “… dozing in fact” – as she waited for all the medical players to arrive. Today, of all days, the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation was at St. Joseph’s on a surprise inspection. The inspectors never give a hospital an exact date—it’s mo
re like a range. I compare the Joint Commission to the military’s inspector general (no stress there J). Anyway after a tolerable delay, Lisa was rolled into the chamber, which turned out to be a perfectly-clear Plexiglas tube. She was dozing at the time, but awoke to the sound of Richard’s voice. He, Richard, explained to Lisa what was about to happen, and for Lisa’s listening pleasure country & western music was being sent to her during the oxygen therapy she was about to receive. One of her doctors arrived then to turn off the Baclofen pump during the time she receives the oxygen therapy. The doctor said she will arrange to teach the technicians who operate the hyperbaric chamber how to “turn the pump off and on,” as it will facilitate Lisa’s care. Every precaution was taken during the 1-hour therapy session as the necessary life support equipment was on hand for Lisa should there become a need. The chamber’s therapeutic level was calculated to 1.75 atmospheres that would be like descending 41.25 feet in the ocean. Let me ask you to recall what happens when one’s inner ear when a person submerges in a swimming pool and reaches the bottom at the deep end. Well, to protect Lisa’s ear drums, tiny tubes were inserted painlessly into her ears. I mention this to express the thoughtful care she continues to receive from the staff at Select Specialty Hospital and St. Joseph’s Medical. Here is a factoid that might interest you, Lisa’s trach is held into place with a Velcro strap, Velcro can generate a spark, and a spark inside of a pure oxygen tube is not a good thing, so it had to be taken into account as was Lisa’s cigarette lighter and flint. (Just kidding!)
Blue Cross/Blue Shield is very supportive of the new therapy for Lisa. In fact, they have been beside her every step of the way.
The rest of Lisa’s day was quite busy. She was with Marty (speech therapist) and Connie (physical therapist) at 1:00 p.m. In fact for the next few weeks, her regular PT, OT and SP therapy will continue as well as the hyperbaric. Lisa’s hands, wrists, and ankles are significantly under the control of her Spasticity. And, recently finding a splint to countermeasure its progress has been difficult.
Michael (mlwintory@msn.com)
Select Specialty Hospital
Phoenix, Arizona
It will be a year, February 23, 2006, that Lisa was relaxing in her living room in Oro Valley-just 13-days after giving birth to Michael--shown on the right in a picture I took yesterday, that her tragic saga began. We could look back in Lisa’s BLOG Site Journal (http://www.lisalatest.com/) to get the date when first the idea of hyperbaric therapy was mentioned, but frankly, it doesn’t matter because it is water under the bridge, what does matter is the answer to a question, “… what have you done for me lately.”
This morning at 8:00 A.M., Lisa was transferred from her hospital bed to a narrow, but comfortable gurney. This particular gurney more narrow than most, is to permit it to easily slide into the hyperbaric chamber (tube) that was waiting for her a couple of floors beneath her hospital room. It wasn’t a long trip in the sense of distance… just a few floors and corridors away, and it was easily reached by the sure, steady hands that guided her chariot through the hospital labyrinth. I asked Richard, who left for Phoenix before 6:00 AM this morning to be there with her, “How did she take the ride?” “Lisa appeared comfortable,” he said, “… dozing in fact” – as she waited for all the medical players to arrive. Today, of all days, the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation was at St. Joseph’s on a surprise inspection. The inspectors never give a hospital an exact date—it’s mo
re like a range. I compare the Joint Commission to the military’s inspector general (no stress there J). Anyway after a tolerable delay, Lisa was rolled into the chamber, which turned out to be a perfectly-clear Plexiglas tube. She was dozing at the time, but awoke to the sound of Richard’s voice. He, Richard, explained to Lisa what was about to happen, and for Lisa’s listening pleasure country & western music was being sent to her during the oxygen therapy she was about to receive. One of her doctors arrived then to turn off the Baclofen pump during the time she receives the oxygen therapy. The doctor said she will arrange to teach the technicians who operate the hyperbaric chamber how to “turn the pump off and on,” as it will facilitate Lisa’s care. Every precaution was taken during the 1-hour therapy session as the necessary life support equipment was on hand for Lisa should there become a need. The chamber’s therapeutic level was calculated to 1.75 atmospheres that would be like descending 41.25 feet in the ocean. Let me ask you to recall what happens when one’s inner ear when a person submerges in a swimming pool and reaches the bottom at the deep end. Well, to protect Lisa’s ear drums, tiny tubes were inserted painlessly into her ears. I mention this to express the thoughtful care she continues to receive from the staff at Select Specialty Hospital and St. Joseph’s Medical. Here is a factoid that might interest you, Lisa’s trach is held into place with a Velcro strap, Velcro can generate a spark, and a spark inside of a pure oxygen tube is not a good thing, so it had to be taken into account as was Lisa’s cigarette lighter and flint. (Just kidding!)Blue Cross/Blue Shield is very supportive of the new therapy for Lisa. In fact, they have been beside her every step of the way.
The rest of Lisa’s day was quite busy. She was with Marty (speech therapist) and Connie (physical therapist) at 1:00 p.m. In fact for the next few weeks, her regular PT, OT and SP therapy will continue as well as the hyperbaric. Lisa’s hands, wrists, and ankles are significantly under the control of her Spasticity. And, recently finding a splint to countermeasure its progress has been difficult.
Michael (mlwintory@msn.com)
