CityView Magazine

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy expedites the healing process and is used by professional and Olympic world class athletes. Edward Mercer Funeral Service & crematory 910.484.8108 610 Ramsey Street 38 | January/February • 2014 the cost of treating FDA-approved treated conditions, which make up only a handful of the ailments for which patients seek treatment. PTSD and TBI are not included in the FDA's list. Many hospitals, including Cape Fear, do offer HBOT- but only for those select conditions. For now, many families throw fundraisers in order to cover the cost of treatments. When a patient lies inside an enclosed tube called a "chamber" breathing 100% oxygen under pressure (in contrast to the only 21% oxygen air we breathe), the idea is that the oxygen is fully permeated into her brain, heart and all vital organs, allowing injured areas to heal. Treatment sessions are referred to as "dives" because the chamber's air pressure simulates atmospheres below sea level- every 33 feet marking a lower atmosphere. Typically, patients will dive for one and a half hours at a time, long enough to slowly descend and ascend two atmospheres. However, the length of time varies depending on whether the injury is neurological or muscle related. Specialists recommend patients dive twice a day, three days a week for a total of 40 dives to achieve maximum results. Two chambers stand next to each other in a large, open room, with space and piping for two more chambers for which the clinic is seeking funding. They have the capacity to serve 12 patients a day, though the schedule is rarely that packed. "Patient safety is our main concern," said John, describing how he performed a pre-dive check of all of Jamie's vital signs. "If we find anything wrong, we do not follow through with the dive." While it can take up to five dives to become comfortable adapting to the pressure change, after so many dives the staff reports that patients visibly relax when entering the chamber. In order to prevent oxygen toxicity or injury to the eardrum, clinicians perform particularly extensive ear checks after those first five dives, and make sure sessions do not exceed two and a half hours. All treatments are fully monitored by the respiratory technician, particularly during descent and ascent, as she tracks both the computer screen and the patient herself to look for signs of discomfort. "We're often asked, 'What does it

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