Hi! I'm back.
Today was my 6oth visit to the chamber, and hopefully my last. A friend told me to write about everything I learned from my experience. She had no idea I had already found a tiny little spot in cyperspace.....
Where to begin?? Let me see. I celebrated Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day with my chamber friends. I watched 57 movies and the wonderful mini-series, the Thornbirds, while I was in the chamber, the best movie being The Rabbit Proof Fence. I received dating advice that was most helpful from the cute, funny, sweet, young guy who locked that air tight door every day. I became the chamber cheerleader and showed the new divers that they COULD INDEED get in that skinny, claustrophobic tube again and and again by praying, thinking of wonderful things they would rather be doing, sleeping, trying to remember words to old songs, or whatever they could think of that was happy and positive.
What did I learn? Well, I learned to appreciate (more than ever) getting to wear deodorant and lotion and hair products again after 3 1/2 months. But, my most valuable lesson was learning to be grateful for my health, such as it is. Most patients came by ambulance from the hospital, with all kinds of ports and iv tubes connected to them everywhere. Some were too sick to come back for more than just a few times. Some had fresh amputations and were in terrible mental and physical pain, while others had to pay for every costly treatment themselves, because their insurance companies wouldn't pay. I also learned patience and acceptance in a big way.
The million dollar question???? No, my leg has still not healed. It is much, much better, though. Yesterday I started a new treatment - the Hoover. It's actually a wound vac that creates negative pressure and causes the cells to stretch and the tissue to grow super fast. It has a tube and a machine in a lovely bag and I get to wear it 24/7 for what they said would be 2-3 MONTHS. I think it'll be more like 2-3 weeks. It also makes rather gross sounds, but I'm "free to go anywhere I want".
Oh and the picture of the Snickers?? Simply a gift to myself for this very special day and what people will do when they hear my new machine. Oh well!!
