Finn's Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Update

Well, we are officially done with this round of treatments.  What a long 20 days!  I'm not sure I know what day it is.  Finn and I spent seven hours a day in the car or in the chamber getting the treatments done.  He did amazing with the treatments and learned how to use an IPad in the process.

The next three weeks is when Finn's bone marrow will start cascading stem cells into his blood stream.  Hopefully helping with immunity problems, language development and overall health. 

We have already starting to see positive effects from this round of treatment.  First, Finn has started another language burst.  He is putting more sentences together and responding to questions with words other than "yeah."  He is becoming more engaged and his response time to questions seems faster. 

The other big effect is that Finn has started to sweat.  This is amazing.  I think it was around the 7th day of treatments that I felt his hands and they were clammy.  This is such an important bodily process - not only to cool the body, but to remove toxins as well. 

Another bonus is that Finn's hair is soft for the first time other.  Finn has this amazing thick, coarse hair, but all of the sudden it is soft!  Definitely a nice little perk.

Yesterday, was definitely the toughest day.  Camila caught a virus a week or so ago and passed it to Finn which has led to a full blown sinus infection.  I took him to the doctor yesterday morning to get a culture and then dropped him off at school.  I then received a call from the doctor's office that they used the wrong swab to get the culture so we had to do it again.  He then threw up in between therapy sessions yesterday all over himself and the car.  We got home late and Dan and I spent the rest of the night cleaning out the car and car seats and worrying about our sick boy.  Finn then threw up again this morning so he stayed home from summer school today and hopefully we can get this culture back this week to make sure we have him on the right antibiotic.  

So, yes, the last 20 days have been exhausting and tiring for the whole family.  Camila's routine has definitely been upset.  During some of this time, Finn has been going to summer school in the mornings and then straight to therapy so he has been gone for 12 hours a day, but I think it has been worth the time and the money.

If you want to learn more about HBOT, I have attached a link to The Hyperbaric Centers of Florida where they have recent research posted.  I definitely recommend that if you are going to explore HBOT as an option for your child or yourself that you do a lot of research.  There are different arguments for different types of chambers and there are some risks associated with the treatments.  It is expensive and takes a huge time commitment.

http://www.hyperbariccentersofflorida.com/Stem_Cell.html


Here's a photo of Finn from his last day of treatment.  Such a cute little astronaut!