Steady On!

After a break over the weekend, Peg resumed her HBOT sessions on Monday. As you know, last week’s treatments were difficult, but her two treatments this week have been much easier. The Herx reactions have been quite a bit more manageable. Today, for example, Peg felt a little tired, but she reported no severe Herx reactions (so far), and she said she felt pretty good during and after the HBOT. She said that it was reassuring to know that she was making headway against her Lyme disease.

Just a quick review about the HBOT process (in layman’s terms)…under increased pressure (2.4 atmospheres, in Peg’s case), the blood absorbs much more of the gasses you breathe than at normal pressure. For divers breathing air, this can lead to problems when too much nitrogen is absorbed and then decompression comes too quickly (the “Bends”, or decompression sickness). This process and the reason why the gasses are absorbed is described in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness . In the case of HBOT, however, the patient is breathing pure oxygen rather than air, so that it is oxygen that is getting absorbed into the blood and tissues. With oxygen, there is no danger of decompression sickness, as oxygen is beneficial and harmless to the body.

Oxygen is not harmless to Lyme disease, though. Studies suggest that the organisms responsible for Lyme are sensitive to high concentrations of oxygen at the cellular level. In other words, the Lyme bacteria don’t do well in the high-oxygen environment created in the body during HBOT. The result is that the bacteria die off, wherever they are in the body. The dead bacteria are toxic and need to be removed by the body’s normal clean-up process. Unfortunately, when more bacteria die off than the body’s normal process can deal with, there are some negative physical reactions (the Herxheimer reactions we have talked about). This is a mixed blessing…the Herx’s are sometimes difficult to deal with, but they are a sign that Lyme bacteria are dying off in large quantities.

So, in Peg’s case, we’re hoping that there are some Herx’s (to show that the HBOT is working), but that they are not too severe. She’s resting well, despite some mild flu-like symptoms.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

- Ps 107: 19-21

One quarter of the way through!

Well, today Peg completed her 10th dive in the HBOT. All this week she has been at 2.4 atmospheres. Monday thru Wednesday were pretty uneventful…just more of the same: some discomfort and pretty mild reactions that come and go in the afternoon and evening.

Thursday, however, was different from all of the other dives. Towards the end of her dive, Peg began to feel worse. She became warm inside the hood, and she seemed to “zone out”. When her hood fogged up, Molly, the technician monitoring the HBOT process, tried to get Peg’s attention to make sure she was OK. Peg felt slow in everything she did, and had trouble understanding Molly over the phone. She also felt a tingling in her arms. At Molly’s instructions, Peg turned off the oxygen and removed her hood, whereupon she did feel better. Peg “sat out” the rest of the dive, but she was not herself when she left the chamber.

Outside the chamber, Peg rested on the couch, but her head felt like nothing she has ever experienced. It wasn’t really pain, and it wasn’t pressure – it was more like writhing, stress, or being out of control, but it was focused in the top of her head. She was emotional and cried quite a bit, and then it passed. She described it as feeling like she was coming apart, and she began to feel more “connected” with the real world as I stroked her head.

Eventually we walked to the car and headed home. About half-way home, Peg began to feel more normal. She had a few more episodes in her head and neck, and then she had a long nap at home. Later, she had that same strange feeling in her shoulders (also accompanied with crying), and still later she had more of the feelings down her arms and wrists, and also down her legs.

When there are symptoms like this in the chamber, there is always a question of whether or not oxygen toxicity is a factor (each patient’s threshold is different), but since the symptoms continued after Peg exited the chamber, it seems like these are just more intense Herx reactions. My personal theory is that the Lyme bacteria are dying off because of the oxygen levels, but once dead, they are just toxic “dross” that the body must then deal with. Another possibility is that the spiral-shaped Lyme bacteria are “boring in” deeper to try to escape the hostile oxygen-laden environment. Either way, the Lyme’s days are numbered, as it can’t survive in the environment that the HBOT creates.


B. burgdorferi, a spiral bacteria that causes Lyme Disease, seen through a microscope


At the end of the evening, Peg felt much better. We stood in the backyard for about 45 minutes and watch the lightening storm as it worked its way across the sky. It was awesome, and it was awesome that Peg was feeling better.
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This morning (Friday), Peg felt exhausted and foggy-headed, and her eyes were swollen from crying. Overall, though, she has been feeling better…swelling is down, here moles and scars are smoother, and she feels more flexible. She decided to go into the HBOT again today. She arranged for a 10-minute break in the middle of the dive, and that seemed to help. Even so, Peg felt overcome and emotional, and had to really fight to cope with feeling sick. Afterwards, Peg had some of the same symptoms as yesterday, but they were less intense. She experiences random pains, and her legs and feet hurt more today, but the head “symptoms” were milder.

So, at this “one-quarter of the way” milestone, Peg can still use your prayers to be able to cope with the reactions and effects of the treatments as the Lyme disease is being defeated. In the mean time, I am proud of Peg’s hard work and her pressing on toward her goal.

All hard work brings a profit…
- Prov. 14:23a (NIV)

Now at 2.4 atmospheres

Today Peg began week 2 of HBOT! This dive was at the goal "depth" of 2.4 atmospheres, and we expect future dives to be at this pressure. Peg began feeling sick about mid-way through the dive, and she was very tired when the dive was complete.

So far, her Herx reactions have been consistent, but not overwhelming. Peg's symptoms have been exhaustion, nausea, headaches, emotional upset, soreness in her hips, legs and heels, and some brain fog. Fortunately, the symptoms come for a while and then go away, so she feels almost OK much of the time. She's being really strong, so sometimes it's hard to know that she's in pain or struggling.

We don't really know how long the reactions will continue, but we pray they won't get much worse. We that know soon, there will be a time for dancing:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance...

- Eccl. 3:1-4 (NIV)

Week One Complete!

Today Peg completed her 5th "dive"...one week down, about 7 more to go! In the middle of today's treatment, she began to feel some of the Herx reactions coming on. For about 20 minutes, it was an endurance test for her, and when she completed the dive, she was feeling very weak and drained.

I drove Peg into Ventura today, so it was good that she could just rest on the way home. By the time we got home, she was feeling a bit better. She just rested, and is feeling pretty good this evening. We expect the Herx reactions to come on fairly strong, reaching a peak in the next week or two, and then they should begin to subside. Peg was in good spirits today, recognizing that the Herx's are an indication that the Lyme bacteria is being killed off. It reminds us of a Marines T-shirt that says, "Pain is weakness leaving the body." In this case, that saying is literally true.

Today's dive was to 2.2 atmospheres...we should reach our goal of 2.4 atmospheres on the next dive, and then we will continue at that level. Peg will rest up this weekend and resume her HBOT sessions on Monday.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. If you have any questions that you would like me to address, you can add a comment to this blog.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

- 2 Cor 12:9,10 (NIV)

Day 4

Peg went in for her 4th HBOT treatment today (at 2.0 atmospheres), and she is feeling a little better than she has the past few days. She says she is happy and grateful… grateful and humbled that this is finally “her turn” and that loved ones are praying for her every day. Last night, Peg was kind of “weepy”, crying easily, but so far tonight, she is more peaceful.

It is still a mental struggle for Peg to go into the HBOT every day. When we first toured the facility, her initial reaction was, “there’s no way I’m going in there.” Over time, she has grown more accustomed to the idea of sitting in a sealed chamber with a hood over your face, but it still runs “cross grain” to her normal thinking. It is also disruptive to our family’s schedule for Peg to drive to Ventura every day…she isn’t used to commuting, just being a taxi service for the kids.

There have been some immediate results from the HBOT sessions. From the first treatment on Monday, Peg said she felt thinner and her body and joints felt more flexible. Even her wedding ring fit a little looser than it did before. She has noticed that there is less pain in her joints, and more “popping” when the joints move more freely. I have previously mentioned some of the negative effects – the Herxheimer reactions that Lyme patients experience with healing. She has had some headaches and muscle aches, and has felt irritated and panicky. Today, though, those symptoms have been a little less, for some reason. Yesterday evening, she was feeling overwhelmed and achy, but this evening she is feeling better physically, with just one bout of tears.

Success...days 1, 2 and 3!

In our last post, we said we were just waiting for Peg's blood pressure to get down low enough for her to use the HBOT. Well, it turns out that just sitting back and waiting was what was needed. Peg went in for her first "dive" in the hyperbaric chamber on Monday, and went again on Tuesday and today.

Here's how it happened...over the weekend, Peg felt like she was ready, but there were no dives scheduled until Monday. In the mean time, David and I left on Sunday for a 3-day father-son
camping trip to Yosemite that we had been planning for a while. When Peg and I spoke on Monday, she told me the good news...she was able to get in for her first HBOT session! (Maybe it worked out better because I wasn't around. ;) Anyhow, Peg had gone early to the center in Ventura and spent time relaxing and getting ready, and then her BP was in range, so she was cleared for the treatment. Mike Bittner, the director of the center, accompanied Peg for her dive, and there was another person in for a treatment, as well.

Things went well for Peg's first dive, which was to 1.5 atmospheres. It was, of course, a new experience to be inside the chamber, especially for someone who tends to be claustrophobic, but she came through with flying colors. She repeated the process Tuesday, again without incident, though there was a leak in the new oxygen hood that Peg used (Mike repaired it with a sticky label from the oxygen valve). David and I were on our way home when we heard the news of the second successful HBOT dive.

Today, I drove Peg out to Ventura for her third dive. This time, she went down to 1.75 atmospheres...the goal is to take Lyme patients to 2.4 atmospheres for an hour at a time, but it is good to approach the goal at a good pace, in case there is any reaction. Again, things went smoothly, and Peg was glad to complete day 3.

You may be wondering about the dive experience. First, you get "suited up" in scrubs or other all-cotton clothes, and then you get fitted with a collar that the oxygen hood connects to. Then, you enter the chamber (along with any others who may also be taking or assisting with treatments). Once everyone is in, the hatch is closed the the pressurization process begins. It takes about 15 minutes to pressurize the chamber to the full "depth".
The hatch opens inward and is held shut by the pressure. (In an emergency, the chamber can be depressurized and then the hatch will open by itself.) The entire process is monitored by a technician who watches carefully that everything proceeds according to plan and records the progress in a "dive log".

When the pressure is at the right level, Peg connects the oxygen hood and and turns the valves for oxygen and and exhaust. With this type of multi-place (multi-person) chamber, the entire chamber is pressurized with compressed air, and then each person has their own oxygen hood (sealed around the neck by the latex collar), which they breathe through once the pressure is achieved (usually for an hour). The goal is to dramatically raise the oxygen level in the body, in order for it to have its healing effects.

After the scheduled time "at depth", the oxygen is turned off and the chamber is slowly decompressed (again, it takes about 15 minutes). When the pressure drops to 1 atmosphere, the hatch is opened, and the dive is complete.

So, this is finally good news, but there are still the Herxheimer reactions to deal with (I describe Herx's in an earlier post). Peg has already experienced some Herx reactions, which are reminiscent of her days when Lyme was running rampant in her. So far, the Herx's are not too bad, but we expect them to get worse until they get better.

So, thank God that we made it this far, and please pray that God will walk with Peg as she experiences the Herx reactions, and that they won't be too much to bear.

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.