From Janet / Alaska (04-11-01):
Never before have I experienced such attention from a medical staff and organization. Lord knows I've dealt with a few. Not only were my questions and concerns answered professionally and thoroughly, but quickly. I was never "forgotten." Our experience at Chico couldn't have been more positive and we are looking forward to reaping the benefits of hyperbaric therapy. Thank you guys!

From Julie, Teacher and Speech Language Pathologist / Nevada (3-27-01):
Marisa is a 16-year-old female with cerebral palsy, a severe orthopedic disorder, and multiple congenital abnormalities. She has recently undergone a series of hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Marisa has a history of premature birth (7 month pregnancy), polyhydramnios, with a birth weight of 4 lbs., and a stay in neonatal ICU for over 4 months on a ventilator. All developmental milestones were severely and globally delayed. Currently, Marisa has a diagnosis of static encephalopathy, macrocephaly, spastic paresis and "multiple phenotypic abnormalities." She is in a self-contained 10th grade classroom at [name deleted] High School.

Before treatment, Marisa demonstrated illegible handwriting skills, unintelligible speech, severely reduced attention span, kindergarten level spelling and reading skills, and 1st grade level math skills. Following treatment, Marisa now demonstrates partially legible handwriting skills, better grasping skills, slightly better speech articulation, and increased ability to attend to tasks. She has taken a much greater interest in spelling and reading, and is beginning to improve in those areas as well, now completing a 1st grade level spelling book and reading at the 1st grade level as well. He math skills have improved as expected. Fine motor coloring has improved significantly.

In my professional opinion, it is indeed medically possible that Marisa has made significant gains in all academic areas, as well as in expressive and receptive language skills primarily due to her hyperbaric oxygen treatments.

From Aloma / California (3-7-01):
It has been five months since our son, Conrad, completed his first set of dives with you. He completed a second set of dives four months ago. For your information and because you expressed an interest in knowing, I wanted to put in writing the changes we have observed.

To refresh your memory (since I know you see a lot of children with cerebral palsy), I will summarize Conrad's history. Conrad is a three-and-a-half-year-old boy. He has static encephalopathy and has undergone two surgeries brain surgery for a benign tumor at six and a half months old and facial plastic surgery at two years old to repair deformities left by the tumor. Conrad was diagnosed with cerebral palsy just before his second birthday. Conrad is extremely verbal and cognizant beyond his age. The cerebral palsy has mainly affected his motor skills, sense of balance and startle reflex. Conrad has spastic diplegia, triplegia with right hemiparesis, and muscle weakness.

In September 2000, Conrad completed 40 dives at Chico Hyperbaric Center. During and after the first set of dives, we observed one big change, a few small changes and many subtle changes. The greatest functional change for Conrad was the decrease in spasticity of his lower extremities. Prior to HBOT, Conrad could not separate his thighs outwards. If I manually spread his thighs (to sit on the potty or carry him on my waist), he resisted and said it hurt. As a result I did not try to potty train him, and had to carry him out in front of me rather than on my hipan awkward and difficult position since Conrad is a big boy (54 pounds). I was having back pain from all the awkward lifting. After HBOT Conrad can easily spread his thighs apart to ride on my hip and use the potty. This change it itself was worth the effort and expense of HBOT. I know that this change is directly attributable to HBOT because during that month we stopped physical therapy and occupational therapy due to Conrad being overtired. HBOT was the only thing happening to Conrad to effect any change.

Following is a chronological description of the changes we noticed. The first change I noticed came after the eighth treatment. I picked Conrad up and he bent his legs. His usual response when being picked up was to stiffen out and straighten his legsthis had the effect of making him a "dead weight." The second change I noticed was after the fourteenth treatment, Conrad voluntarily used his right hand to perform the actions to a song. I had never seen him do that before. By the twentieth treatment, Conrad's spasticity had decreased enough that he could wrap his legs around my waist when I carried him. He was much more relaxed when I picked him upno more back pain for me when lifting him! He was also showing enthusiasm and initiative for taking a few steps on his own. After his twenty-second treatment, Conrad walked down the hall barefoot on his own initiative. (I was right behind him and steadied him when he began to lose balance.) Never before had he walked that far barefoot on his ownhe usually has AFOs to support him. After the thirty-sixth treatment, we noticed that Conrad was sleeping in a normal, relaxed position: on his side, slightly curled forward, not arched back with his head thrown back and face against the headboard.

In the weeks following HBOT, we continued to see positive changes. Conrad's spasticity continued to decrease. We were able to successfully potty train him because his muscles were relaxed enough to let him sit comfortably on the toilet. It became easy and efficient to walk with Conrad by simply holding his hand. Prior to HBOT, if I tried to walk with him holding only one of his hands he would fall into me-his legs would scissor across and he would fall at my feet. Since HBOT, he can walk quite quickly beside me just holding my hand-this has greatly reduced the amount of lifting I do. It is actually easier to walk with him than to carry him, thanks to HBOT. He exhibited greater confidence in his motor abilities-enthusiastic to try new ways of movement. Conrad showed increased tolerance to motion-actually started to enjoy being pushed on a swing and, in fact, tried to make the swing go faster and higher (that had never happened before). These more subtle changes have significant effects in making Conrad's occupational and physical therapies more effective. These small changes allow for big changes through therapy.

Conrad started climbing things independently and on his own initiative after HBOT. He enjoyed straddling things-another activity difficult before HBOT. He tried "diving" off a low bench and catching himself with his armssomething he never had the reflexes or the muscle strength to do before. Another gain for Conrad from HBOT has been an increase in his ability to catch himself when he starts to lose his balance. Before the treatments, I had never seen him be able to catch himself once he started to fall. Conrad used to drool a significant amount before HBOT. He would drool whenever he was concentrating hard on any motor activity. He also had excessive drooling while eating. His drooling started decreasing directly after HBOT. Within a couple of months it got to the point where it is no longer noticeable.

We were so excited amount the changes we saw from the first set of dives, that we signed on for a second set as soon as we could. It was disappointing to come to the end of the second set of dives in December and have no specific change to which we could point. We had begun the second set with high hopes from all the changes Conrad had experienced from the first set. I was sure he would come out walking! Two changes occurred during the right time period that a tenuous connection could be made: 1) Maybe the drooling change was completed by the second set. 2) Conrad did start to pedal a tricycle during the second setsomething his physical therapist had been working on with him for a few weeks. So I couldn't say for sure if this ability was increased by HBOT or just a result of good physical therapy. We are glad we tried the second set, because we would have always wondered if we should have, given the successes of the first set. However, we think the results of the second set are a strong indicator that we should not invest time and money in any more sets. I think we have reached the peak of usefulness of this therapy for Conrad. However, I would be interested in your feedback on this decision.

We are happy that the gains we have witnessed as a direct result of HBOT are still there. Conrad continues to progress in his therapies and on his own. We are thankful to everyone at Chico Hyperbarics for the professional, efficient way they do business, and for the fun, caring atmosphere they created. We miss everyone...

From Dave / California (10-27-00):
Friendly, courteous, professional and well trained!

From Shanta / California (10-8-00):
The sense of commitment from everyone was exceptional. By commitment, I mean that of providing the best, most healing environment possible. We were in good hands.

From Amy / California (9-1-00):
Everyone was wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better staff. Thank you.

From Tanya / Ohio (9-1-00):
Not a whole lot more commenting is needed because everything really exceeded our expectations with the way we were treated. Thank you for making us feel so comfortable while being so far from home.

From Laura / California (8-2-00):
We enjoyed your whole staff and look forward to returning in October. Thank you.

From Shawn / California (8-7-00 post at cpsupport digest):
Hi all, Gosh I wish I was able to post this sooner. Maybe all the parents who get HBO done around the country could give their feedback on their experiences and rate the different clinics. Wouldn't that be great. Possibly post them to the hbo list website or something.

I would highly recommend going to Chico California for anyone interested in doing HBO. Mitch, the owner, is so wonderful. He also is very flexible about finances. His chambers are run by professionals all the way. EMTs and nursing staff that are able to look in kids' ears. The place is spotless and the staff is wonderful to be with. The dives were always on time. He has two apartments available. Both are in the town of Chico. There are plenty of restaurants, parks, great malls, etc. Both apartments are within 10 minutes of the center and they both have pools. Last summer this was so wonderful for my daughter. I wish we could have gone this summer. Both apartments are totally accessible, on the first floors and though the one we stayed in didn't have bars in the bathroom, he did have a bathchair available and the doors were really wide. It has new furniture and a great tv with Disney and a video player. Two bedrooms, all new clean linens, etc. They are available at very cut rates to even the cheapest hotels. All around I must say it was a five-star operation and would highly recommend it to anyone!

I hope others will follow suit and rate their experience at the centers they go to also. If you have further questions please feel free to contact me.

From Claudia / California (7-14-00):
We could not have asked for a cleaner facility or a more polite and knowledgeable staff. Any of our needs were addressed immediately and professionally. We did not doubt our safety in the chamber at any time. Office and treatment staff were more than helpful and informative.

From Kate / Virginia (5-26-00):
This is my third visit to Chico Hyperbaric with my son, Trent, now 3 yrs., 4 mos. old. As with our first visit, we came expecting nothing, but hoping for everything. Again, with this trip we are happily surprised that we continue to see improvements. Trent's crawling is more refinedpurposeful and speedier! His ability to "cruise" furnitureeven to the point of climbing on top of it has improved dramatically and in spite of being obnoxious toddler behavior is a joy to see and something that we did not expect! His speech and breath control are also accelerating and improving to the point where he is understandable 90% of the time by both family and strangers alike! We couldn't be any more pleased and plan to continue with HBO treatments as long as we see the benefits! As always, thank you for making us feel so at home, "treating" both of us so well and giving our son and our whole family our lives back! We love Chico Hyperbaric!

P.S. I also want to especially thank all of the treatment center staff-they are superb! They have a unique way of treating us professionally-personally-lovingly and with lots of smiles and fun!

From Stacia / Virginia (4-13-00 Two weeks post-HBO):
Hi guys. Hunter is doing wonderfully. The doctors have taken him off all of his daytime tube feedings. He is eating by mouth now. He is a little pig, too. He has become the little three-year-old little boy that I never thought I would see. He wants specific things and has likes and dislikes. Before he did whatever I wanted him to do. The other good thing is that he doesn't scream at the Dr. visits anymore. He is babbling and loving more. We are so delighted. We want to come back for more to see what other miracles you all have in store for us. We really feel like we found good friends while we were there. I cannot thank ya'll enough for all the support you gave us. We will never forget you. We miss ya'll and think about you almost every day. Love, Stacia and Hunter

From Stacia / Virginia (3-15-00):
I have been amazed at how much support I received from the staff. Being so far from home with two young children (3 yrs. & 4 yrs.) was very stressful. However, the staff made me feel at home. They always calmed my fears and made me laugh. It would not have been as fun without them. I almost wish I could stay just so I could continue to know them.

From Beth / California (6-1999):
We would like to update everyone on what we are doing. We have completed 64 treatments at Chico Hyperbarics in California. This facility is very well managed and much closer to home.

Doing the treatments was not easy but we found it to be very worthwhile indeed. We got to meet a lot of neat parents of children with cp who are doing a lot of the same things we are involved in. Being in the chamber together turned out to be a great opportunity to share experiences and information. Abbey was so brave and calm that she really helped the other kids that were either annoyed or scared. She is really mature for five and a half. When Abbey was the only child in the chamber she would fidget around and whine a little bit, but when the other children were present she would be on her best behavior to help them calm down. At the end of each session, Abbey would say "Yay!" and make the other kids laugh.

What are the effects of this treatment for Abbey? First, she grew at a faster rate than what is typical for her. This is important because she is pretty little for her age. Secondly, we are seeing obvious and rapid improvement in cognitive skills. She looks more alert and bright. She answers questions with a much faster response time and her verbal enunciation is much better. She has gained 10 new words since we started the treatments (she started with 20). One of her new words is "why." Unlike any children we have ever known, she likes to repeat that word over and over. She is also more demanding in her requests. Her body is much less spastic and more able to process the movements she wants to make. Spasticity (rigid, nearly inflexible positioning of the limbs) diminishes the impact of physical therapy and severely limits the mobility of a person. Because her spasticity has been so greatly lessened, her hand grasp is much better and it is highly probable that Abbey will one day be able to feed herself (not to mention write, draw, etc.) It is hard to fully describe the magnitude of this improvement. We have seen so many children with severe CP who are completely unable to use their arms and hands because the level of spasticity was never mitigated. It occurs so often because so few therapies actually help to slow or reverse spasticity. One of the truly exciting things we noticed during the treatments is that dramatically decreased spasticity occurred in all the children with CP who were receiving the treatments, which says a great deal about the potential for HBO to consistently be used as a common treatment for cerebral palsy. We have great hope that Abbey will continue to improve in this area over the next year and are actively pursuing an intense physical therapy regimen.

Other improvements include improved overall health and a greater desire to try all types of movements. She has learned to suck from a straw and blow a whistle! Abbey is a different kid today in terms of her willingness to build motor skills. This is extremely encouraging to us.

The following article was posted to a HBO discussion group on the Internet. Its author, Deb (the mother of a child with CP who took treatment at the Chico Hyperbaric Center), copied us with the article. It was written in response to a physician's post. We have deleted the physician's name.

Deb's words describe the courageous way that she has repeatedly taken a stand for the life of her childand continues to do so. We are pleased to be able to share the following article with you.

Dear Dr. (name deleted)

You Wrote:

I am just a parent. I do not feel that there is a medical conspiracy. I know many compassionate doctors who believe my son will progress. Some of these wonderful practitioners checked into HBOT for me. They refused to write prescriptions for this therapy. They said they felt that HBO proponents were using special needs parent's hope to get money from them.

I am an ICU RN (Intensive Care Unit, Registered Nurse, Editor). I did private duty on my own multi-handicapped, medically and surgically traumatized infant and child. (CDH, S/P ECMO via rt. carotid with multiple nosocomial and iatrogenic complications. ) I did not rush blindly into anything. But while I am waiting for PROOF that HBO works, my child is getting older and falling further behind. I watched him take 4 steps forward and 3 steps back and plateau for most of his life. After HBOT I saw him take 4 steps forward and 1 step back.

If there was no change in the pattern for 9 years and then a drastic change in the pattern, one would suspect that something occurred to change the pattern. Maybe it was just a really good summer vacation sitting in a tank watching movies - or - maybe it was the oxygen being pushed into areas of his brain that needed it. Maybe he grew some new capillaries to feed the cells.

I can't wait for approval for something that might help. If I can help him not to keep sliding further and further behind, I have to do that. I'm sorry anecdotal reports are not standardized enough for you. Most multiply challenged children I see, need adapted tests anyway to see the real picture of who they are and what they can do. I have feedback from many people who don't even know we went to hyperbarics, who see real improvement.

CP may not be a fatal disease to you. But many of the complications people get, predispose them to other problems. An insurance adjuster told me my son probably would not live past 30. We will prove him wrong as we have proven so many doctors wrong:

"You should consider terminating your pregnancy, 50-90 % of CDH die."

And in the NICU patient care conference, "She is a nurse, she must realize he is going to die" - wrong.

During his 4 month stay in NICU, when I told them I was going back to work so I could take maternity leave when he came home: "But you will feel so guilty when he dies" - wrong.

"He probably will not walk or be able to use his hands." - wrong.

"If you take him off his seizure meds, he will have massive seizures." - wrong.

"He will need to have his trach till he is 6 or 7." - wrong (from 1-2).

"He has CP and had a massive stroke going off ECMO, but PT and OT will not help him." - wrong.

"He doesn't need speech, but will never talk." -we are still working on this, but - wrong.

"You can't use HBOT to help decrease learning disabilities, improve his auditory processing, help him attend better, and improve his language." -WRONG.

Kate from Virginia writes about her 2 1/2-year-old son, Trent.

Just wanted to say Hi and let all of you know that we have an independent and objective opinion on Trent's progress!! We met with his physical therapist and her comment was, "I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. Trent has improved extension in his arms and greater rotation and mobility in them. He is strong, his hips and legs are also noticeably less spastic, his feet and ankle can now easily move into a 90 degree position and he is easily kneeling and able to sit on his calves (impossible before HBO). Trent's speech has also significantly improved due to enhanced trunk control enabling him to get more words out on each exhalation." The physical therapist went onto say that she thinks we should continue HBO therapy and she is going to refer other patients for HBO therapy!! We couldn't be more thrilled.

Also, as a result of Trent's therapy at the Chico Hyperbaric Center he has now moved into a "big boy bed," he is sleeping much better than before treatment, and his reflux seems to be much improved, if not gone. (I haven't noticed any symptoms lately, but it has not been confirmed medically, yet.)

We really appreciate you all and can't say thank you enough.

Trina from Nebraska writes about her 2-year-old daughter, Samantha.

Here is an update on what is going on with Samantha.

"Spasticity" is a problem for most children with CP. The brain/spinal-cord muscle wiring is short circuited and the muscles continually contract, making them "tight." In some children, the adductors (inner thigh muscles) pull so tight that their legs scissor-cross each other continuouslymaking movement (walking, crawling, etc.) and hygiene extremely difficult.

After 20 treatments, we noticed that Samantha's calves were much looser. She had always had "knots" for muscles. Now they are loose unless she is using them.

After 27 treatments, her adductors started relaxing (becoming less spastic)! I saw her laying on her back with her feet together and her knees out while she was awakethe first time I have ever seen her do this!! (She relaxes more while asleep.) As of this writing she has had 35 treatments and she is continuing to let her legs loose like that more often. This is a very good thing!

Last Monday she had an appointment with her physical therapist in Woodland. I didn't tell her anything that I had noticed so I could get her unbiased opinion. The PT confirmed the loosening of the adductors, saying she had never been able to stretch Samantha's legs as far apart as that before. She also noted improvements in both hearing and vision. With Samantha sitting in front of her, the PT placed musical toys in different places and turned them on one at a time. Samantha turned her head towards the noise right away each time. More good things!

I just realized today that Samantha seems to be vocalizing more. She can't make much noise with the tracheotomy tube in her throat, but she is trying a number of times each day. Increased vocalization is something that some parents have noticed as a result of HBO. However, it would be hard to tell if she is doing this just b/c she is now figuring out how to make noise around the trach tube.

We are, of course, hoping for improvements in respiratory function and swallowing/eating ability, as these two things improve her chances for living longer greatly. However, most people involved with HBO say that the biggest changes occur AFTER 40 to 60 treatments. Samantha will leave CA having received apx 43 treatments. So we may not see too much more than we have already until we do a second set of 40 treatments sometime this summer. Keep Praying!!

Deb from North Carolina writes about her 9-year-old son, John.

7-23-99 - John is a square peg. He doesn't fit one diagnosis, but is part of several. He has mild atypical CP, static encephalopathy, apraxia, auditory processing disorder, hearing impairment, seizure history and pdd, and medical trauma (CDH and 24 surgeries). The main reason we are trying HBO is to decrease learning disabilities, improve auditory processing and attending.

Our first dive, John tantrumed for 20 minutes. I thought we'd have to cancel the rest of our dives. But he settled down. He had developed a latex allergy, but the "super-techs" handled it.

After 10 treatments: Grandma says John seems calmer. Increase in functional signed language. Attempting to give me directions (sit here, turn left, etc.)

After 20 treatments: Aunt D. says John seems more "there." He is more cuddly. We are learning a new sign a day (a lot for us). He is more observant.

After 30 treatments: A long time friend say John's patience has improved. He waits well. And he seems to understand more. I've noticed he is attending to explanations now and it's easier to wait. He has also started answering yes and no questions appropriately.

Almost 40 treatments: Increasing awareness. Will pick other videos besides favorite one, and then will watch them. Will ask questions and seems to be accepting my answers. According to longtime friend, he seems to be progressing at a rapid rate. The first month home: His dad says there is more growth than he expected. At school John's teacher says she has noticed that he no longer jumps up and runs around the classroom. He is much calmer. He is able to learn three spelling words in two days instead of five. He seems to understand addition (last year we were just learning the numbers).

We will be coming back for more treatments. I don't believe that much growth is coincidental.

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