Number 30!

Today Peg completed her 30th HBOT session. That's three-quarters of the way thru the 40 treatments that were prescribed.

Peg has been particularly tired the last few days, but she is generally feeling pretty good, with some bursts of energy at times during the day. There are definitely some Herx reactions, but they are not too strong at this point. Peg also has noticed that her vision has improved somewhat.

The actual HBOT sessions have been going really well. Peg's blood pressure is consistently good during the day, and it is only slightly elevated when she is getting ready for the HBOT. She comes out of the treatments in good spirits, though a little tired.

We are looking forward to wrapping up the treatments in just two more weeks! (Caveat: as we mentioned in an earlier post, we will make an assessment in about a week to see if more than 40 treatments are needed in Peg's case.) It seemed like such a long journey at the start, but now we are on the home stretch.

As in the days of Nehemiah, we realize "that this work had been done with the help of our God." (Neh. 6:16b, NIV)

...and bump, bump, bump

Today was another "no-go" for Peg's HBOT because her blood pressure was somewhat elevated again. Peg was in good spirits in spite of the disappointment of driving out and getting ready for the dive, just to have to turn around and go home.

At this point, we're not exactly sure what may be causing the elevated levels, as Peg's BP has been holding pretty steady for the last several weeks. We will be monitoring her BP over the weekend and try again on Monday.

A speedbump along the way...

Today, Peg was not able to go into the chamber because her blood pressure was elevated. We're not quite sure why this issue came up now, after 23 treatments, but we're hoping and praying that it is just a temporary glitch in the plan.

We also discussed with Mike, the Hyperbaric Center director, about how to know when Peg will be done with treatments. As every person is different, we will be watching closely for the next few weeks (watching if the Herx reactions diminish, how Peg is feeling, etc.), and we will also need to consult Peg's doctors to see if 40 treatments will suffice, or if any more are needed.

3 Weeks Down...5 More to Go

Yesterday Peg completed her 15th HBOT session! The process continues to be difficult for her, but we do believe that the treatments are working. Each time she goes into the HBOT, she experiences a feeling of dread that she has to fight to overcome. Then, during the treatment, it is difficult once the hood is in place over her head, and she usually feels like she just can’t go on any longer at about the half-way point. For the last few dives, she has taken a short break midway through the dive, where she turns off the oxygen, removes the hood, and just breathes the air in the chamber for a few minutes. She is still at 2.4 atmospheres pressure, but she can wipe her face and adjust her hair, etc., then she replaces the hood and turns on the oxygen again to resume her dive. She doesn’t go off oxygen long enough to reduce the saturation level in her body, and the break really helps her cope with the dive.

After each dive, Peg’s reaction is somewhat unpredictable. Sometimes she is immediately drained and has a hard time even walking to the car. Other times she has more energy and appears to have little negative reaction. She will usually feel nauseated and weak for a while, and then she will feel better later in the afternoon, and then be extremely tired in the evening. When weekends come, it is a good respite for her, as she can recover from the daily ups and downs somewhat. It is too soon to tell if the Herx reactions are peaking or if they are still increasing. We do expect them to peak at some point, and then begin to diminish somewhere midway through the HBOT sessions.

So far, Peg's blood pressure has been under control. They take her blood pressure before each HBOT session, and she still experiences "white coat" syndrome a bit, but she has been able to get her BP down enough to begin each session. Once she goes into the chamber, she does not appear to have any BP issues.

Please continue to pray for daily strength and endurance to complete her HBOT sessions to the end. This includes financial endurance, as we have paid only for the first 21 sessions, so we need to come up with more funds to finish the full treatment.

Soon...

We are still in "stand-by" mode, but we expect that soon Peg will be able to try the HBOT again...maybe early next week. We have been monitoring Peg's blood pressure at home, and the results so far have been pretty good.

I will be unable to add another post until at least Wednesday, 8/6, so check back then to see what good news we have to report.

Time keeps on spinnin'...into the future

We are still in a holding pattern, waiting for Peg's blood pressure medication to take effect. Her BP numbers have been down, but not enough (at least consistently enough) to start the HBOT, so we will probably wait out this week.

In the mean time, Peg visited her naturopathic doctor, Dr. Pomroy, again on Monday. He is based in Calabasas (New Horizon Naturopathic Clinic), and he has been instrumental in Peg's health improvement over the last two years. Peg has recently undergone IV treatments, including chelation (to help the body rid itself of toxins) and vitamin and mineral boosts. These IV treatments have had a pretty dramatic effect in rebuilding Peg's weakened immune system and have been helpful in preparing her for the HBOT treatments. Under Dr. Pomroy's care, Peg experienced a steady improvement in her BP, without the use of prescription medication.

Please do pray for us during this time of watching and waiting. It has been discouraging to be at the point where Peg is "ready" for HBOT, and yet we have been unable to proceed because her BP is not consistently down. And, in fact, Peg has long suffered from a case of "white coat hypertension", where her BP rises in clinical settings, even in the relatively comfortable and non-threatening setting of the Hyperbaric Center we are using.

Starting with 'Plan B'

We are waiting for a while before trying to begin the HBOT again...today Peg was checked out by a doctor and received a prescription for Benicar, which she will start taking right away. We don't really know how long it will take for the Benicar to have a positive effect on Peg's blood pressure. Of course, we are hoping and praying that Peg will have a quick response to the medication and that her BP will fall into a good range soon, but everyone's experience with BP medication is a little bit different.

Peg does have HBOT appointments for next week, so if the Benicar works fast, maybe she can keep those appointments.

Peg is in good spirits, and she is tired, but generally feeling well.

Still Waiting...

Well, today we tried again to start the HBOT. In the morning when we checked, Peg's blood pressure was absolutely normal, so we thought that this one would go through. We took our time, got there early, and Peg relaxed and chatted with some young girls that were waiting for their mom to finish her HBOT.

But, when it came time to take Peg's BP, it was well above normal and even higher than Monday! It doesn't seem like stress was a factor today, just some fluctuation brought about by her condition.

There was an opening in the "mono chamber" (Peg calls it the "Sleeping Beauty" chamber, because it is a horizontal chamber with an acrylic cover, a lot like the casket the 7 dwarfs put Sleeping Beauty into), so we decided to take a walk along the beach to see if Peg's BP would drop. We enjoyed the beautiful day and the crashing surf, and Peg's BP did drop a bit, but not low enough for the HBOT.

So, we will continue with 'plan B' - we have a doctor's appointment tomorrow with the goal of getting some blood pressure medication that will be effective and have few side effects.

If you ignore the failed attempt at the HBOT, we actually had a pretty nice day. The weather was beautiful, the drive was pleasant, the beach was refreshing, and the company was great (Peg and I always like to spend our time together). Even though she couldn't play Sleeping Beauty, Peg still got her kiss from her prince charming ;)

PS - many thanks to Matt S. at FeedBurner...he repaired the problem with email subscriptions, so everything should be working fine now.

Regrouping...

Yesterday was a difficult day...Peg was pretty discouraged that the most promising thing to help her was "out of reach" because of her blood pressure. And today, when she checked her blood pressure, it was down 20 points...go figure.

Our plan is this: we will try again tomorrow to do the HBOT. We will try to eliminate sources of stress, and we will pray that Peg's BP will not peak again. If her BP is within range, she can proceed with the HBOT treatment tomorrow. Even so, we are anticipating that there is a good chance she will not be within range, so we are prepared for that disappointment.

In the mean time, Peg has a doctor's appointment on Thursday to check into getting some medication for high blood pressure. She has resisted using prescription medications in the past (opting for alternative, natural solutions), but her naturopath said that limited and temporary use of a prescription medication may be the best thing in order to help her get into the HBOT. Several Lyme patients have had good results with Benicar, and it has relatively minor side effects compared to other BP medications.

Either way (if Peg's BP drops naturally, or if she needs to use a BP medication for a while), we hope to resume regular HBOT visits next week. Again, we appreciate your prayers regarding these steps of our journey.

On your mark, get set, whoa - wait a minute!

So today was to be Peg's first HBOT treatment. We got ready and made the trek to Ventura, and she began the preliminaries. Unfortunately, since HBOT tends to raise your blood pressure, you can't go into the chamber when your blood pressure is too high. Peg's was too high today, so it was a no-go for the HBOT today.

Fluctuating high blood pressure is one of the symptoms of Lyme disease, so we are disappointed, but not too surprised. Peg will be seeing her Naturopath doctor today to see what the best recommendation is. She could try prescription blood pressure medication (and deal with the side effects), or she could try something homeopathic, which tends to work better for her than prescription medication.

Once we figure out how to best deal with her high blood pressure, we'll try the HBOT again.