.....Well, I'll tell y'all the truth. Yesterday was the third time I was subjected to the "Hyperbaric Oxygen" procedure. I have a wound on my ankle that has not healed, and this treatment is supposed to help it to heal much quicker. What happens is that you are placed in a large tube on your back, and the tube is then filled with oxygen. You are left there for an hour and a half--which is a pretty long time. There is a television set outside of the tube, and the sound is piped in somehow. I don't usually watch TV in the afternoon--the treatment occurs at 11:30am--but I told them to put it on ESPN on the chance that there is something of interest to watch. Anyway, I fell asleep for the entire time. It's nice and peaceful inside that tube with no one to bother you, and you can do whatever you want. You must go every day for as long as the wound doctor decides.
.....The other problem is that I can't walk at all. Whenever I get into a chair or out of one, or get into a car or out of it, I have a fierce pain in the groin, and it's not pleasant. I don't use a walker because I can't put full pressure on the leg where the hip operation took place. The doctor says that it is all healed, but I still have the pain in my groin. I have pain now, 24/7, and the pain medication doesn't seem to help. The problem with my lack of mobility puts a great deal of pressure on Rhoda which I am not happy about. She has to drive me whenever we have a doctor's appointment and also drives me to the Hyperbaric treatments. Also, since it's hard for me to get to everything I need in the house, she is the one who has to get it, whether or not it's an item of clothing, or of food. I don't know how much longer I will need to suffer from these problems, and I don't know why it's happening to me in my golden years which at the moment are mostly brass.
Glad to see you post again even if the news is not good. Understand as best I can how frustrating it is to be so dependent and worse in pain 24/7. My mother, who lived to be 89 and in her own apt, said "the golden years you can have them" + the old adage "youth is wasted on the young." Know we all care about you.
ReplyDeleteDear Cuzzin Baron, so saddened to hear you are still suffering so much pain and disability. Thinking of you all the time.
ReplyDelete"Hyperbaric" seems to mean over the weight or measure - makes sense, doesn't it. "Oxygen" interestingly means "creating sourness/acid" and I'd imagine that this corresponds with some early notions of chemistry. Anyone want to disagree with this?
Much love, Cuzzin Ruth
If one doctor says everything is "healed", but you are still feeling intense pain, then I would go see another doctor, one whose ego might not be involved in whether he/she did a good job or not. It does mean more doctor visits and more xrays and the such, but if the result is better mobility, it will be worth it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your excellent son, dear Cuzzin Baron. Get a second opinion. Love, Cuzzin Ruth xx
ReplyDeleteHi dear commenters your comments are more comforting to me than what the doctors are saying. That is, if you can get to see a doctor. Yesterday I went with my wound care nurse for my daily hour and a half therapy at the hypabaric oxygen therapy clinic which is working slowly at the cure for the injury to my foot.
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