Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Life has been busy and even the weekends are usually filled, although I can’t say we’ve had much opportunity to explore the area.  Our first weekend once treatment started was rainy and so we went to West Edmonton Mall to have a look at what was there … just so we could say “been there”.  With kids that are easily exhausted and dizzy at least I didn’t have to worry about them wanting to be able to say “been there, done that” as rollercoasters and waterslides are just not their thing right now.

Weekend #2 was Marietta’s birthday and she wanted to go to a beach and just lay out in the sun and hear the water.  We advised her that beaches here are not like Ontario beaches, but she still wanted to go ahead with it.   Unfortunately it was only 15C on her birthday and rainy … change of plans.  She decided to go shopping by herself since Rebecca did not have any energy and Matthew obviously doesn’t want to go to the mall … this was to my advantage as I could finally check out the various stores in the area to try find some foods to fit our new very restrictive diet. 

Weekend #3 saw us travel to Coaldale.  On our trip up to Edmonton we had already been through Coaldale and at that time we had a look at the school and the churches.  Since arriving in Edmonton the ongoing question has been “Where are we going in September??” For weeks we talked in circles – Edmonton, Coaldale, Carman, and occasionally Ontario would reappear in the mix.  We know Alberta is dry.  Manitoba is not quite as dry, but is it dry enough?  Is it necessary to move out of Ontario and its humidity?    Would the kids not do better just by being in a different house in Ontario?  How much is mold really the factor in their illnesses and how much is everyone’s illness and the mold in our home just a coincidence? The same vicious questions over and over.

With the end of July coming we had to make a decision and stop the circle talking.  The kids have been strongly promoting Coaldale/Taber since they realized the chances of us returning to Ontario were very slim.  Or should I say mostly Marietta and Matthew were doing the promoting, Rebecca remains silent most of the time and the only thing we can get out of her is “I don’t know” when we try get her opinion.  I think one of the biggest reasons for promoting that area is the fact that they met some kids while there and they hit it off and so it feels like a warm and welcoming area … it helped that they already knew someone from the area who was able to introduce them to others. Marietta has wanted to move to Alberta since our road trip out west two summers ago, and she said this place felt like home - the country style living. In order to settle our circle talk once and for all we had to make a trip back to the school for the kids to do a building test and see how they felt inside the school for a more extended period of time.  This was done last Saturday and after a bit more circle talk we conclude that we would move to the Coaldale/Taber area.

On Monday we made the decision and knew that our next challenge would be to find a place to live.  I was not looking forward to the idea of sifting through houses to rent and making weekend trips to figure this part out (6 hours one way) … but Rob made one phone call on Tuesday morning and by Tuesday afternoon we had a house lined up in the Taber area

. God is so good. The only catch is that it is for sale and if it sells we have to move, but at least it gets us on the ground in the area and from there we can work on our next plan of action. Now hopefully it won’t sell before we get there in September.  The house has been for sale for a bit … and for Ontario people – the market does not move fast here like in our area, so here’s to hoping it works out. The LORD has opened doors continually throughout this summer and we trust He’ll continue to provide.

As for employment, Rob is flying out for a job interview on August 18 and if that doesn’t work he’s not too concerned as we hear there are plenty of jobs in the area.  With his experience as a farmer, mechanic and truck driver I’m sure he’ll be able to find something to keep himself busy until the right thing comes along.

And now we’re at Weekend #4.  Tomorrow is moving day again as we pack up from our current location and move to our next house sitting location. Matthew is a bit sad to be moving on, he made a buddy while staying here and it was always something to look forward to at the end of his day that he could go off and play with Pierce for a while.  Its surprising Matthew continued to want to move to the Coaldale area when he has made a couple pretty good friends from church while staying here. Tomorrow we move in to his other buddies house, but since Tristan is on holidays that means he won’t actually have his buddy to play with for a couple weeks.

Meanwhile back in Ontario, tomorrow brings the beginning of the roof repairs.  The monster tarp is purchased and ready to do its job, scaffolding has been put up and tomorrow they will be ripping the shingles, plywood, second layer of rotten plywood and insulation off.  And then we’ll find out what other surprises there are waiting for us.  Yesterday Rob started doing some prep work, only to find that the vented soffits were all stuffed full of insulation  😮 … not sure what the person though vents were for … is it any surprise the roof is full of mold?  The insulation guy is supposed to come on Friday, which means the roof has to be stripped and treated for the mold before then. Next Saturday the hope is to be able to redo the roof – putting down fresh plywood and reshingling … so if anyone is looking for something to do with their free time *cough, cough*  😉 on the long weekend feel free to contact Rob 😀.   Praying there are no big surprises and things will go smoothly so the our home can soon be put on the market and our family united again under one roof.

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of 

the LORD that will stand." Proverbs 19:21

Road Trip time ... off to Coaldale for the weekend

Alberta is a beautiful province with so much to see:  flat areas, rolling areas, coulees and mountains. 
Coaldale area is only a little over an hour from the mountains and since I love the mountains I'm excited about the opportunity to live so close to them.

Week #4 Completed

August is around the corner.  Another week has gone by.  As is usual during the summer, time is flying by. 

We have reached the end of Week 4 at the clinic.  Today was Rebecca’s last day of intense full day therapy and next week her schedule will adjust to more home therapy and then going to the clinic twice a day for the hyperbaric treatment.  Unfortunately the other kids aren’t timed to be done this week as well, so next week Marietta and Matthew are still on their full schedule – which is usually from about 9am – 1:30 pm.  We haven’t gotten next week’s schedule yet, so we don’t know how much back and forth driving or hanging around the clinic the new schedule will create. 

This past week we saw a bit more energy in Rebecca for a few days, although yesterday was back downhill with exhaustion and aches.  Instead of heading straight for her room and her bed when arriving home she would play the piano or go on the computer while I made supper and on Wednesday evening she even went out with us to watch a baseball game after supper.  The nice thing is that when she has more energy she often can be heard singing to herself as she does stuff and she gets more witty and humorous which is quite enjoyable as she will actually interact more.  Whether it was a temporary “burst” of energy or will come more often only time will tell.

Matthew is harder to tell if we are making progress.  Overall he is having less dizziness and headaches, but they do still come and we’re not always sure why but he finds that the brain entrainment he is doing often sets it off.  They have been working to adjust the training so that hopefully this won’t continue to happen.  Overall he has a good amount of energy and does not need as much sleep as he used to, although he almost always falls asleep while doing PEMF, so I sometimes wonder if I’m getting too relaxed on his bedtime. We still see some rollercoasters in his mental state, where he goes through stages of negativity and a bit more behavioural issues and then comes around again and we see the relaxed happy-g0-lucky Matthew that we are used to.  The reality is he is also at an age where one can see these things regardless of illness … previously we could often see it in relation to exposure to enclosed areas that would have higher mold concentration, but at this time that isn’t always so clear anymore and thankfully the aren't as severe as we were seeing before.

Marietta has had less therapy days then the other two, so we’re hoping that’s why we aren’t seeing any positive changes for her yet.  Overall she continues to be relatively the same as before treatment with regular ups and downs, although I would say we’ve probably had a bit more on the down side lately. This is possibly from the longer days as her brain and body had previously only fully functioned for around 5 hours during the school year (and the rest was more low key relaxing and recuperating) whereas now it’s 7:30-5ish each day. It’s not hard core during this time but it’s a step up from before. Since there has never been any pattern in her ups and downs it’s hard to do any evaluating of where she is at and we just pray that as we slowly chug along with this there will come some positive changes. 

Excuse to cheat on our diet again ... Matthew turned 11 on Wednesday and so the clinic provided cake again

Matthew had a few friends down for his birthday and after supper we went to watch the local baseball game

Rebecca had bit more energy that day and so she came along to watch.  She still gets quite a bit of pain in her back and sitting on bleachers is rather uncomfortable, so we took along the wheel chair.  We haven't really gotten out a huge amount, but we have the wheelchair for if we are doing a fair amount of walking so Rebecca can conserve her energy and come along, otherwise she tends to rather stay home and not tire herself out.

Matthew playing baseball with his buddies on his birthday

Lodging

Five weeks have passed since we left Ontario.  We arrived in Edmonton (technically St. Albert) on June 27^th, a few days before treatment so we could settle in before the business began, and at that time I didn’t realize how busy it would be as I was counting on Marietta to be home to help with the basic housework. 

Over the past three and a half weeks we have been housesitting at a couple places.  From June 27 to July 11^th we stayed at our first place, from there we moved a bit further north in St. Albert to our second “home”.  We “camped” in their basement for a few nights and when they left on July 14 we took over the entire house.  This will be our home until this coming Saturday, July 28 and then we will move on to our third housesitting location. 

Our first housesitting location had been in the plans for some time.  It was supposed to be our backup plan if we didn’t get into the Ronald McDonald House (RMH), but then about 10 days before we left while we were confirming details our “hostess” offered to see if she could find any other people that would be willing to offer their homes while on holidays… and this is how our next two location came to be.  We so quickly take for granted the Communion of Saints, but it just makes us stand back in awe from time to time when we see how even when we are far away from home this communion still functions so well. Complete strangers opened up their homes to us and we have been very welcomed in the church community here in the weeks since we have arrived. 

On our second day of treatment we received a call from the RMH that they had an opening for us.  We had a few hours to let them know whether we would be taking the room.  We discussed it briefly and decided that to have our own “home” was probably more ideal and felt that since we had an opportunity for lodging we would rather give up the spot and let someone who did not have a backup plan have the spot.  We have asked to be placed back on the list for August 10^th as currently we do not have a place for our last three weeks here.  It is our prayer that this was a wise decision and that a room will become available again at that time, or another opportunity will arise in the meantime.

Our first location was about 25 minutes from the Clinic, we are currently 30 minutes from the Clinic and our next location is about 20 minutes from the Clinic.  All of these locations are in St. Albert and are a nice and easy drive to the Clinic taking the Anthony Henday Highway most of the way.  The RMH is about 20 minutes from the Clinic as well, but its location would require more city driving.   Since Marietta and Matthew are done treatment earlier then Rebecca it would of course be nice to be living closer to the Clinic so they could quickly go home, but it’s not really the best neighbourhood in the city, so we’re okay with the extra driving.

And what’s a post without a few pictures:

Daily Vitamins, Minerals, Nutrition, etc.

Matthew has never like smoothies and with treatment he has to take them every morning in order to get down all the powder vitamins, greens and nutrition.  When we started it was quite the battle and we had to coax him along as he plugged his nose ...

... but now he drinks them without a problem and evens says there not so bad.

Sophie the clinic dog.  Sophie is a 10 week old Mountain Bernese/Poodle who is in training to be a therapy/clinic dog.

For Marietta's 18th birthday the Clinic bought cake (a big cheat on our very strict diet).  It took us until the end of the day to understand what the big deal was for her birthday ... being from Ontario, we didn't realize that 18 is the legal drinking age here.  

Catching some sun-rays ... relaxing behind the Clinic trying to catch a bit of the outdoors while Matthew and Rebecca were still doing treatment.

After a long day at the Clinic Rebecca usually just wants to lay down and rest or sleep when we get home.  We encourage her to do so outside so she at least gets a little bit of sun each day.

Jacuzzi tub makes for a fun way to have a detox bath ... add a nice tablet holder for a good video and it's not so hard to have to lay in the tub for about 40 minutes.

Just a little taste of Alberta ... Magpies and Hares throughout the neighbourhood make for some fun entertainment at times, especially when you combine the hare and the neighbourhood cat

I have to try remember to get a better pictures of the magpie ... for those Ontario people who have no clue what they are.  Our current house doesn't seem to have as many of them hanging around.  We were only at our first home for about half an hour and Rob was already complaining about what an annoying noise they made.  Apparently Edmonton is Canada's magpie capital.  Not only are they a large bird  (from the crow family) they are also known to be an aggressive bird.  So while there is much beauty to them they are not very well liked around here.

Day Ten

Week One - the week of testing and prepping week - is done and now we're getting into the routine of full treatment or at least trying to establish a routine ... and here we are almost done Week Two (writing this while the kids are in hyperbarics on Friday morning), time is flying. 

The HBOT Room.  They cannot take anything in the chamber and since they have to be alert to equalize their ears they also cannot really sleep during this time (maybe later when their ears adjust), so this is their downtime watching TV/Movies

Last Thursday we had some time off from the clinic.  The testing was completed and so we only had to come in for HBOT in the morning and again in the afternoon.  Because Rebecca was having such trouble with her ears they had her go for some Jade Lymphatic Drainage Therapy before we left for the afternoon.  This therapy helps to open up the lymph nodes since they do not have their own pumps and is used to reduce inflammation and pain, among many other benefits

Killing the bacteria on the skin so that it isn't driven into the body when doing the actual massaging

Massaging the lymphs

I may not understand all these natural therapies, but I will say we had one smiling Rebecca when she got off the table.   The pain was gone ... and it has not returned.  She was amazed and so happy.

On Friday we also had a bit of a shorter day for detoxing treatments but both kids had dietitian appointments to work out appropriate diets that will help keep inflammation down.  They were able to go for their second “dive” mid afternoon so that we were able to get home bit earlier this time, which was a nice change from arriving home at 6:30-7 and still having to have supper.

There have been some changes to our original plans. Over the weekend they reviewed some of the testing that they had done and we had provided and have decided to put Matthew on a Mold Treatment Protocol instead of the full out Lyme Program.  We see similarities between Matthew and Rebecca, but we have no testing that would tell us Matthew has Lyme Disease and his clinical symptoms are not strong enough for us to say it is Lyme Disease and so they rather not over treat him.  On the other hand, testing definitely shows that he is having trouble with mold toxins.  The Mold Treatment Protocol is less intense then the Lyme Program and he will only need to go in the chamber once a day for an hour.  After that he will do some detoxing by doing PEMF, Brain Entrainment and Biofeedback and rotating between infrared sauna and hyperthermia treatment.  He will also have some of the other available treatments but I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing and what he gets to skip.  This means his day will be done around 1:30, compared to Rebecca who also has Ozone/Coffee Therapy, and various other changing therapies as well as a second time in the chamber, and she's done around 5. 

Another major change comes with Marietta who was suppose to be our built in maid for the summer, trying to maintain the house and make meals for us, run errands when she felt well, do laundry etc. However upon learning that Marietta has post concussion syndrome they were quite insistent that we bring her in and they would work it out so that she could do some treatment as well as they also have a concussion program.  One of the clinicians here does BioFeedback/Neurofeedback/Brain Entrainment and suffered for five year with post concussion syndrome, so she is familiar with what Marietta is dealing with.  Previously we have read about HBOT and concussions and considered doing HBOT but there wasn't a huge amount of information on it and the cost of it made us decide to wait on that idea until after we had seen how she did over the summer and exhausted any other possible ideas.  We knew we would be at the clinic every day and that it made sense to give it a try at this time, but honestly, these things cost money and we couldn’t fathom how to put three kids through treatment.  The Clinic would like to see all of our kids feeling better and so they have very graciously and generously work out an amazing price to have all three kids treated that it would really not make sense to refuse.

So, Marietta had her first day at the Clinic on Friday where they did some scans and assessments and then began treatment on Monday.  Marietta’s treatment involves going in the chamber each morning for one hour. Due to the differences in “dosage” for Rebecca’s lyme treatment versus Marietta’s brain treatment the girls could not go together as Rebecca dives deeper and longer each day.  This means they have put Marietta and Matthew together in a chamber and they are now working out the joys of picking something off Netflix each day that is appropriate for both ages 😲  Marietta also does PEMF, brain training, biofeedback and will be starting sauna soon.

Marietta's first chamber day

All comfy and ready to go

So since Monday we have all been arriving at the Clinic just before 9am and the kids all go in the chamber at that time.  From there they go to separate therapy rooms, rotating their way through therapies until lunch time.  After lunch time Matthew still has to do his heat therapy and once he’s done that we are usually free to go for about 2-3 hours. I return to pick up Rebecca at around 5 pm.  The schedule does adjust at times, which leaves with less time between for doing things or returning “home”.  Home is also 30 minutes away, so I don’t really want to be driving back and forth every day so we will have to find ways to kill time while we wait for Rebecca.

On to the fun part … pictures of some of what's been happening at the Clinic.

Marietta having a biofeedback scan done

On Monday all three kids went for Jade Electrotherapy.  They all like this therapy

They worked mostly on Matthew's chest/upper body area.

The girls had work done on their faces

Monday was a double dose of treatment as they also had Aromatouch and Reiki done ... usually this is done on Tuesday.  Aromatouch involves the use of essential oils and light touching/massaging of them into the body.  You can google Reiki to learn more about it ... as I said, I don't totally get all these alternative treatments but here's an explanation I found:  "Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy". We're not quite sure about that one but will do what the program gives us. 

Matthew loved this treatment ... as did his sisters.

Every day each of the kids go for about half an hour of brain training.  This is a pretty simple therapy as they just have to sit there with their eyes closed and let the machine do its work.  They wear glasses and headphones and sometimes ear clips, depending on the training. The glasses will flash lights at different frequencies or colours. The earphones produce sounds at different pulses and the ear clips are vibrating at different frequencies as well.   This training is supposed to stimulate the brain into entering a specific state (beta, alpha, theta, delta) by changing the brain waves.

Matthew doing brain entrainment.  He find half an hour to be a very long time when you are just sitting there doing nothing and can't move around or talk.

Every other day Rebecca and Matthew switch between infrared sauna and hyperthermia.  Matthew prefers the sauna and Rebecca prefers hyperthermia.  The goal in both of these is to sweat and sweat lots, pushing toxins out of the body through the skin.  In hyperthermia they heat your body temperature from the core by inducing a fever.  This is done by putting you in an “oven” and monitoring your temperature until it rises high enough, after which the "oven" is turned off and they hold you at the temperature for a period of time so you keep sweating ... and sweat they do, they are soaking when they are done.  If you google Lyme and hyperthermia you will read about how this type of therapy is become quite an effective Lyme treatment, especially in Germany, one of the few countries where Lyme Disease is actually recognized by the government.

Rebecca in the "oven"

Matthew's first time in the "oven", he was not liking it very much

The days are tiring on the body, especially for Rebecca.  She was beyond exhausted by the end of last week and is still feeling that way now.  She is also having a lot of pain in her back, making it hard for her to sit, walk, climb stairs or bend very much.  It is expected that she will feel worse before she begins to feel better, this is part of herxing and detoxing.  It's not nice, but we hope it is a good sign and that it means we are making progress. By the end of Week 3 and into Week 4 she should begin to show signs of feeling a bit better.

Breakfast time and already exhausted

Arriving home and crawling into bed, too exhausted to wait for supper

Matthew doesn't get quite as tired and is able bounce back after a rest period, but he didn't started off fatigued like Rebecca either.  He does have random times where he is more tired or just feels yucky but can't clearly explain what it means to feel yucky.  He does still fall asleep during some treatments and very quickly at night, so while he tries to tell me at bedtime that he's not that tired he still definitely is needing his rest.  

Marietta is especially struggling with these earlier mornings.  This has been a major struggle ever since her concussion and she has trouble waking before 8:30am, so getting up and out the door before 8:30 every day has it's challenges, but she gets a nap during PEMF treatment each morning and hopefully she will slowly adjust. They are suspecting the nausea she feels when waking up early is from her liver still detoxing. This is normally done in everyone from 11PM-3AM... but when you add mold build up and brain injury (which research shows affects the gut as well) this process could take a lot longer, and waking up earlier when it's not complete would explain the yucky feeling. Hopefully with help detoxing here this slowly stops. 

There was much disappointment at the end of last week expressed by Matthew when he found out that he will need 8 weeks of treatment.  We had originally been told it could be anywhere from 4-8 weeks, but now it is confirmed that we will all be here for the full 8 weeks ... and since Marietta started a week later then the other two it could possibly be 9 weeks if we do her full treatment time.  Since things change from one day to the next and one week to the next, we will just keep rolling with things as they are and figure out all those details when the time arrives.  

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Day Three

Last night Rebecca woke up in the middle of the night with ear pain - like someone was stabbing her ear drum.  We gave her some decongestant and she chomped on some gum for a little bit and after a while she was able to get to sleep again.  Her ears didn't hurt while in the chamber yesterday, at the time she even wondered if they remembered that she could go higher on the pressure, since she wasn't with Matthew anymore, as she didn't even notice they had gotten it all the way up to pressure. We did not give her a decongestant at night since her ears were not bothering her, so they suggested to just stay on the decongestant around the clock for the first little bit to help with her pain.  When they go in the chamber it is like making the ear drums work overtime and it will take a few days for them to get used to this.  We will also pick up a heat pad today as that always helps ear aches feel better and we didn't have one last night.

The reason it is called a "dive" when you go in the chamber is because HBOT was initially used in the scuba diving industry for decompressing after a deep dive or when a diver has decompression sickness.  Since then it has expanded to other treatments and continues to be an area that they are exploring and learning more about.  This morning they made sure to bring Rebecca up to full pressure at a slow rate to make sure she didn't experience more pain.  She doesn't experience pain while in the chamber so she was still able to go at the full amount (14.7 psi) but the pain comes afterwards and after the afternoon session it was bothering her quite a bit again.  She tried to go to bed but was having trouble getting to sleep with the pain, which happened to be in the other ear this time and the ear that hurt last night had a ringing noise in it.  We once again dosed her with decongestant and Advil and applied heat and eventually she fell asleep.

Matthew made it up to 7.5 psi in the morning but was having more trouble in the afternoon so they kept him at 5.5 psi.  He says his ears are not hurting outside of the chamber, just when they try to go up on the pressure.  But I do see him frequently tugging on his ears and he will comment they feel stuffed up.

Lunch comes after HBOT ... relax or eat?  They feel tired after HBOT ... good thing for PEMF!

After lunch the kids went separate ways.  Matthew to PEMF and Rebecca to Ozone Therapy.  Matthew wanted me to stay with him so I did not get to check out how Ozone Therapy works, I will have to check that out next time.  All I understood was that Rebecca had to lay in a bag (not her head).

A castor oil pack is placed on the liver and a TPD infrared lamp over it to help draw out toxins

Matthew quickly fell off to sleep during his PEMF treatment and we had a hard time bringing him back to earth when his time was up and it was Rebecca's turn.  Matthew did not have Ozone Therapy (hence the reason I did not get to see what it involves), so from PEMF he headed off to the infrared sauna while Rebecca has some rest time with her PEMF treatment before her sauna time.

Before going into the sauna they have to walk on the trampoline for a few minutes

They like for them to stay in for about 40 minutes or longer, but ultimately it comes down to how much a person can tolerate.  Rebecca has been able to do 40 minutes, Matthew about 30 minutes.  For Matthew it is a bit of boredom I think as well.  He's not very good at just sitting and staring off into space for longer periods of time.  

Before going in the sauna, niacin and minerals are added to their water (much to Matthew's disgust ... he's really going to learn to stop being so picky by time this is all done).  This is often referred to as a Niacin Detox.  The combination of exercise (the tramplone walk), niacin and sauna help flush toxins through your skin.  It mobilizes and stimulates the break down of fats and as the fats breaks down the toxins stored inside the fat are released to your blood stream and then you can remove it.  Since niacin dilates your blood vessels it will make your skin become flushed and this dilation allows for better circulation and assists with detox by bringing vessels closer to the skin’s surface.  When you sweat you lose a lot of minerals and vitamins so this is why they also add minerals to the water at this time.   Side note:  this is the same detox program they used on the firefighters after the 9/11 attack.  

The day ended off with HBOT and we were free to go a bit earlier today, making it home by 6:15 pm.  Since all the testing is done and they are waiting for results we only have to do the two HBOT treatments tomorrow, and not all the oyther treatments. So we have a bit of free time from 1 pm to 4:30 pm ... not sure yet what we'll do with that time.  Matthew has been begging to go see more of West Edmonton Mall (we stopped by for a little bit last week because we needed to get a few things), so that may be on the list if time and energy allows.

Day Two

I posted on Facebook Monday, but forgot to mention Rob on here.  After driving to Edmonton and relaxing for a few days Rob was scheduled to fly home yesterday.  He stayed until then so we had time to check out the area a little bit, but mostly so he could go to the Clinic with us on the first day to get a visual of where we will be spending the next few weeks and meet some of the clinicans that we'll be working  with.

Unfortunately Monday morning Rob woke up with such a bad headache that he couldn't get out of bed without getting so dizzy he had to vomit.  And so he stayed home in bed and the lazyboy for the day.  Whether this was a stress release headache or from dehydration (he was drinking but not as much as normal and being in a dryer climate we had been warned we'd have to drink a lot more at first), or simply a flu bug we do not know.  By the end of the day the dizziness had subsided but he still had tons of pressure in his head.

 

Tuesday morning the alarm went at 4:15 so Rob could get to the airport in time for his 6:50 flight.  Thankfully he was well enough to fly home, it's just unfortunate that he didn't get a chance to go to the clinic.  Matthew's getting pretty handy at using WhatsApp and giving his buddy tours of where he's been, so I guess he's just going to have to show his dad around that way .  The flight went well and Rob spent the rest of the day settling back in at home before starting work again today.  I thought I would get a nice early start to my day but by time I got back to the house at 6:30 all I felt like doing was sleeping, so I gave in and crawled back into bed until 8 am.

For this week, (not sure about future weeks), we are at the clinic from 10:30 - 6:30. So far both days we have been done earlier, but the first week is a lighter schedule because they are still doing testing.  Each day begins and ends with HBOT.

Rebecca and Matthew each not get their own chambers so they can work on building up the pressure that they individually can handle.  They were quite happy with this arrangement as then they could each watch a show they liked instead of having to try find something they both agree on.

Matthew with his mask and blankets on, all snuggly and ready to watch his movie

They both went for a hour and a half in the morning.  I bought a decongestant and they had gum to chew this time and this seemed to help with the pressure. Rebecca was able to get up to the full amount of just under 15 psi, Matthew made it to 5.5 psi and when he came out he said his ears were pretty good and he likely could have gone higher, but they are taking it really slow with him.

Rebecca all ready to go.  They close a glass door for the front part and then place the TV in front of the window, and the speakers are in the chamber.

By time they were done in the chamber it was lunch time.  Lunch and snacks are provided as part of the program and this time they even gave me food and bone broth.  The kids informed me the broth was better this time than on the first day, even so, it wasn't exactly the most delicious thing around.

After lunch it was on to PEMF (Pulse Electomagnetic Field Therapy). This therapy is suppose to enhance the bodies functioning by sending energy waves toward pained areas of the body.   It can be done in different formats and for now they were just laying on a mat.  Normally they will each be doing this separately but because this week involves testing and less treatment they put them together until they have their schedule for next week.  

This room is actually known as the sleep room as that is usually what happens during this therapy.  They are not required to do anything, except they can watch the provided health education video, so often clients end up taking a much needed nap ... and that's just what the kids did, although it didn't last long as a sudden loud noise from another part of the clinic ended up waking them up 😧.

After PEMF/Nap time they had a snack and their dose of bone broth and then some more testing - scans and blood tests

Matthew having a scan done

From there is was on to the infrared sauna, but those pictures are on my camera so they will have to wait for another day.  The day ended with another hour in the chamber and then we headed home.

Tiring day.  Matthew had a power nap on the way home.

Matthew's power nap seemed to help because he still had energy to go biking after supper, which is good to see.

Enjoying the walking/biking trails and the skate park

First Day

We arrived at the clinic at 10 am yesterday morning to get started on forms and then Matthew and Rebecca each had a scan done to review how their bodies are functioning.  After eating the lunch that is provided they were then put in the chamber for the first time.

Before treatment they were given instructions on how to help with the pressure in their ears and some safety instructions for if the pressure became too much or something else happened that they need to exit the chamber.  There is someone sitting in the chamber room the whole time to watch them and they are to knock on the window if there are any problem.

Preparing to go in the chamber

Twice a day they go in the chamber for an hour each time, first thing in the morning and at the end of their day.   Later the morning one will increase to an hour and a half in the morning.  The first time they started the pressure they didn't get very far and two panicked kids were knocking on the window because it was hurting their ears too much.  So after that they had to increase the pressure at a much, much slower rate and were only able to bring it up to 3 psi before it was too much for Matthew.  For the last little bit they were able to bring it up to 4 psi.  The goal is to get the pressure up to around 15 psi ... so we have a long ways to go yet.

With their masks on

After their first  HBOT they then had some testing done to determine what vitamins and supplements would be best for each of them.  From there is was on to blood tests and an afternoon snack of bone broth which Matthew especially had trouble getting down 🤢.  He wasn't too keen on the ozone water that followed that either.

Their next "dive", as it is called when you go in the chamber, was done slowly but Matthew still had some problems with the pressure and they had to hold back on going any higher on the pressure and stayed at 3 psi.  Rebecca did fine at that level.

Because of the different ages/sizes of the kids they are questioning how well it is going to work to put them in the chamber together as Matthew's ears are still smaller than Rebecca's and not able to handle as much pressure.  So they decided today they will each go in separate chambers to work them up at their own pace.  Once they are both up to full pressure than they may go back together again.

I currently am without a computer and since I prefer to take pictures on my camera over my phone that means I can't really post many pictures yet, but I did remember to take some on my phone this time so I could at least post a few pictures.

We got home shortly after 6 and both kids crashed on the couch until Marietta had finished getting supper ready.