117/77 masks
My first time in the chamber ...
My first session of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
It was quite snug in the chamber with four of us in there. Three patients and one nurse. The next day there were five of us.
It was quite a surreal experience. After the door was closed the chamber became quite warm as it was pressurised to 2.3 atmospheres. We were offered boiled sweets and water to help us 'pop' our ears. I was advised to hold my nose and blow to pop my ears if sucking sweets and swallowing water didn't work.
When the right pressure had been achieved the nurse handed me my mask and fastened it for me. For the next 45 minutes I breathed pure oxygen while trying to read a book. But my mind kept wandering. We'd been told that it didn't matter how we breathed, just so long as we breathed. But should I take deep breaths? Would that get even more oxygen into me? If I stopped thinking about my breathing - and I wasn't sure I could as I could hear each breath that I took and, I was sure, the breaths that the other patients were taking - if I didn't think about it might I forget to breathe? I have been known to forget to breathe but only when coming round from anaesthetic after an operation or after midazolam at the dentist. I didn't have any pains or feel strange in any way at the moment (other than my thoughts running around all over the place) but would that change as the minutes ticked away and the oxygen saturated my body? (It didn't).
Forty minutes later I heard a clang and a whooshing, sucking sound. A few minutes after that the nurse announced that it was break time and we could take our masks off. I was then given a cup of tea, two cream crackers and a slice of processed cheese. They had been delivered through a hatch in the wall and that had been the cause of the clang and the whoosh. After ten minutes the cups were collected, the nurse promised that "the second half goes a lot quicker" and I was helped to put my mask back on. At this point I realised that there was a small fancy clock on the outside ledge of the porthole to my right so I could see the time.
The nurse also told me that when the pressure is brought back to normal (known as 'going back up') she would use her own mask and at that point it would start to get cold. There was a blanket over the arm of my chair and I might want to put that on when she put her mask on.
So, one down, another 39 to go.
Monday, 9th January 2017.
For 117 pictures in 2017 - 77 masks.
117/77 masks
My first time in the chamber ...
My first session of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
It was quite snug in the chamber with four of us in there. Three patients and one nurse. The next day there were five of us.
It was quite a surreal experience. After the door was closed the chamber became quite warm as it was pressurised to 2.3 atmospheres. We were offered boiled sweets and water to help us 'pop' our ears. I was advised to hold my nose and blow to pop my ears if sucking sweets and swallowing water didn't work.
When the right pressure had been achieved the nurse handed me my mask and fastened it for me. For the next 45 minutes I breathed pure oxygen while trying to read a book. But my mind kept wandering. We'd been told that it didn't matter how we breathed, just so long as we breathed. But should I take deep breaths? Would that get even more oxygen into me? If I stopped thinking about my breathing - and I wasn't sure I could as I could hear each breath that I took and, I was sure, the breaths that the other patients were taking - if I didn't think about it might I forget to breathe? I have been known to forget to breathe but only when coming round from anaesthetic after an operation or after midazolam at the dentist. I didn't have any pains or feel strange in any way at the moment (other than my thoughts running around all over the place) but would that change as the minutes ticked away and the oxygen saturated my body? (It didn't).
Forty minutes later I heard a clang and a whooshing, sucking sound. A few minutes after that the nurse announced that it was break time and we could take our masks off. I was then given a cup of tea, two cream crackers and a slice of processed cheese. They had been delivered through a hatch in the wall and that had been the cause of the clang and the whoosh. After ten minutes the cups were collected, the nurse promised that "the second half goes a lot quicker" and I was helped to put my mask back on. At this point I realised that there was a small fancy clock on the outside ledge of the porthole to my right so I could see the time.
The nurse also told me that when the pressure is brought back to normal (known as 'going back up') she would use her own mask and at that point it would start to get cold. There was a blanket over the arm of my chair and I might want to put that on when she put her mask on.
So, one down, another 39 to go.
Monday, 9th January 2017.
For 117 pictures in 2017 - 77 masks.