HBOT Day 4: The Galloping Goose

Here is a view of Victoria from the Galloping Goose, the bike trail similar to the Burke-Gillman. We saw a harbor seal (not pictured) while stopped to take pictures.



Today's therapy was a little more productive. Naomi did her Spelling (AVKO Sequential Spelling) while doing her first dive. We were able to do yoga and a cross-crawl pattern in-between both dives today. A routine is emerging!



Today's movies, the last part of Pride and Prejudice and A Bee Movie.



Inbetween HBOT sessions today, we took a ride on the Galloping Goose. Despite the beautiful day, it was c-c-c-cold here today at a balmy 39 degrees F.



Today in Canada:

Big news in Canada today! Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, suspended the Parliment to prevent them from voting him no confidence (and kicking him out). There was a candle vigil that had signs implying that the (freezing) protesters wanted him thrown out.

Canadian Impressions:

More people rollerblade here, and rollerblade way better than what you would typically see on the Sammamish River Trail.

More people seem more environmentally conscious. There is a VERY large contingent of Smart Cars. The city made them their own parking spots in places where there wasn't enough room for regular cars, and with reduced parking fees.

Victoria is pretty flat, (well incomparison to where I come from), therefore there is a LARGE bicycle contigent. Not as many as in Portland, but the population is quite a bit less as well. We also see way more people walking everywhere.

On Canada and dogs. It seems like almost everybody has a dog, and walks their dog(s), and their dogs are way more balanced than the dogs in my neighborhood. The Dog Whisperer has his dogs walk next to him. All of the dogs here walk next to their owners. In the States, dogs walk in front of their owners and seem more out of control and out of balance. I wonder why? People really like walking their dogs here.

What I miss: (a rant about Jon Stewart and the Daily Show)

Okay, so we all type in www. before web addresses which stand for the WORLD WIDE WEB. I am outside of the US. I SHOULD be able to go to http://www.thedailyshow.com/ and watch Jon Stewart every night. I can't! The videos don't come up and I am redirected to a Canadian TV site, that is at least 2 weeks behind shows, and the site doesn't download the episodes in a way that is condusive to being able to actually watch without stopping every second or so to download more of the show. What is this travesty of justice?

Otherwise, Canada is pretty cool.

From Naomi: I had something happen my foot can lift in my Dafo
which didn't happen before. Canada is pretty cool. I like the animals here (especially Seals).

Skinny-the-wolf-hybrid came in to the HOC today. His owner Bob let us take his picture. We love Skinny!

Day 2 of HBOT

Here we are in the larger tank with our diving masks on, just prior to our morning dive.

For this mornings movie, Speed Racer! Well Speed Racer for the kids and relaxation for the mom. Naomi was able to do a few more exercises in the tank, but really just wants to watch her movies unimpeded by the pesky mama and her exercises.

After HBOT, we went to MEC (Mountain Equipment Company). It's like a Canadian version of REI, but more like old, old REI than the REI of today. We picked up some bike riding gloves for Naomi, and then took a short ride out to the beach. It was a lovely partially sunny day.

We met another traveller to the HBOT center today. He raved about the wonders of HBOT, and its healing capabilities. Skinny is his wolf-hybrid that is TOTALLY WAY Cool. Since we neglected to get a picture of Skinny-the-wolf, here is picture of our dog that we miss very much:

Our second dive was unremarkable. We went down a little deeper, so our ears hurt for a bit. Naomi watched "a girl and her horse" movie, Moondance Alexander.

I feel like doing the therapy is healing in the sense that our normally very, very hectic lives have slowed way down. I, the mom, personally am feeling very relaxed.

No healing to report yet though.

We had a vitamin b12 shot today to enhance the effects of hbot.

On an economic note, Canada is certainly not feeling the same effects of a recession that we are in the NW. While housing prices have dropped a bit, employment seems to be high, and although the Canadian government is doing a stimulus package at the behest of the American Government, its quite small in comparison to ours ($50b versus $7trillion).

Cheers, eh!

Where are You Doing HBOT? Why Canada?

We are doing our care at HOC Hyperbaric Care Center in beautiful Victoria, B.C.

http://www.hyperbaric-care.com/hyperbaric_victoria.htm

Why Canada?

Well, we live in Western Washington and out of all of the array of options available, this option seems the most efficient and cost effective for our family. Also, we did not find out about Option 1, until we already had set the wheels in motion to do Canada. We may have chosen that first, but we also wanted to be under the care of someone who had experience, should Naomi experience side-effects.

What were your options?

1) Doing HBOT at home renting a machine.

Costs: $1495 to rent for a month

Plusses: What is more comfortable than at home? Makes an interesting conversation piece when stationed in the living room. Obviously the most economical choice.

Negatives: Soft-sided. Not sure if soft-sided is as efficacious.

http://www.hyperbaric4autism.com/

2) Doing HBOT at the ONE Naturopathic Clinic in the Seattle area that does HBOT.

Costs: $125/session, costs of 40 sessions ($125*40 =$5000), plus the cost of gas and the cost of time. A 1-1/2 hour session plus 2 hours of driving would seriously eat into our homeschooling time.

Plusses: Don't have to leave home for a month. The doctor seems VERY knowledgeable and nice. The atmosphere is nice too.

Negatives: From our house its a minimum of an hour each way through the worst traffic Seattle has to offer. There would be no way to do 2 treatments a day, and it would disrupt our life longer. Mom would be a basket case from driving through that traffic (mind you I am not afraid of traffic and drive to Seattle often--I once did therapy once/week for myself slightly closer to my house and quit because the traffic jambled my nerves so badly). Again, I am not a nervous person who is afraid to drive--this is a bad stretch.

Also, we have tried a type of hyperbaric chamber similar to this picture once before. I call it the "coffin" type. Naomi tried this last year. She refused to go in, unless I went in with her. As you can see from this picture, its not made for two people. Naomi and I were both very claustrophobic, and she flat out refused to go in again. Naomi is a fairly easy going child, so when she goes adamant, it usually means I should listen. (The coffin chamber we used wasn't clear all around, but looked more like a submarine with windows.

For people who live in S. Seattle, and wouldn't have far to travel, and may be adults without claustrophobic issues, I would recommend this avenue. Just Google "HBOT Seattle" and you will get to the actual website.

3) Go to Victoria, B.C. and use a hard-sided tank.

Costs: $85/treatment, exchange rate ~ .77CAD:$1US, 40 Treatment Cost: 40*85+.80 = $2720. Additional costs include traveling to and from Victoria with 4 people and a car via ferry: Round Trip = ~$170, plus gas. DH is coming up for only a short trip and then coming up to help us back, and Benj is going back for a weekend to attend a class. We need to add walk-on Clipper tickets $154 and gas from Seattle to Tswassen and Schwartz Bay to Victoria and back about 1-1/2 tanks of gas in the minivan so at today gas prices ($2.08/gallon) that is about $55. Total for Canada not including living expenses: $3100

Plusses: We get to stay with our friend, Kathleen, in a wonderful guest room in a wonderful part of Victoria. We can walk to almost every need we will have. Kathleen's house is a 10 minute drive from the clinic. Because we will be away from our house, we will have less encumbrances and be able to get more therapy, homeschooling and blogging accomplished while we are gone. It shouldn't be much more expensive than living at home, as we will have a kitchen to cook in. Victoria is a very nice place to be. It's a progressive city, and it will be fun to be in a different country for a while. Victoria is also in a rain shadow, so it should be less rainy there.

The tank is hard-sided and can accommodate up to 3 people sitting up, so it should be less claustrophobic for Naomi.

Negatives: We will miss DH, our animals and our friends!!

And that is my complete analysis! We are choosing the medium price option for this go around. If this round of HBOT is effective, we may try to do Option 1, the next time.

Do you have an HBOT story to share? Please comment away!

M&M