Some photos contained in this post are graphic and may be disturbing for some viewers
Today is the day you have been waiting for. The end of my chronic non-healing wound story!! I know, you are thrilled not to have to look at these terrible wound photos anymore after today! š
As you have read, I have had a long history of my incision line breaking down and refusing to heal. My doctors tried everything including changing my diet in case it was something systemic that was causing the problem. With nothing working, Dr. Cross in conjunction with my holistic nutritionist thought that maybe trying Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) was the next step.
HBOT involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. It’s most commonly known for treating decompression sickness from scuba diving but it is also used for treating serious infections and wounds that won’t heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury. Based on my tests results and scans my doctors were convinced that all traces from my bone infection were gone and I am not a diabetic but I thought, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.
My sister-in-law researched it for me and we came across the Ontario Wound Care Centre which operates a HBOT chamber. I checked out their website and noticed that they use the chamber for Osteomyelitis which is the bone infection that I had and for chronic wounds which I definitely had. While the centre mainly focuses on treating diabetic wounds, I reached out to them and explained that I wasn’t a diabetic but that I had a chronic wound that wouldn’t heal. The centre operates out of Branson Hospital in the Greater Toronto Area and because they had a cancellation they called me right away to meet with me and discuss my wound.
I literally emailed them on a Wednesday night, they called me on Thursday and I was meeting with Dr. Linden and Dr. Goldenberg the next day!! I couldn’t believe it! During that first appointment they told me that they couldn’t guarantee that the treatment would work but that as long as I was willing to fully commit and give it a shot they would take me on. Of course I said yes. The next week I went in for an assessment to make sure I was medically fit and the week after that I started my first round of HBOT treatment.
My HBOT Treatment Begins
I started receiving the HBOT treatments in February 2015. I needed to commit to attending my treatment appointments for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks. It’s a big commitment but I was at a point where I would have done anything to heal this wound. Besides, it’s not like I had anything better to do! Where was I going with a big old wound on the back of my head??
Almost immediately, we could see signs that the treatment was working. At first it was just that the wound stopped growing, but after about a week we could see that it was starting to slowly heal in parts.
As you can see in the last photo, the HBOT treatments healed whatever was preventing the skin from growing over the wound. Even though my wound at this stage was “healed” my Doctors advised me to continue to be extremely careful and vigilant around the site for the next year.
I had to keep it away from the sun, so it’s a good thing I like hats! I also needed to make sure that it was clean and that I didn’t use any products that were not organic on my scalp. I couldn’t dye my hair, go in a pool, the ocean or a lake. I will always need to make sure that my incision line doesn’t get punctured as it will take me a lot longer to heal then most.
It is just over a year since I finished my HBOT treatments and my incision line is still healed!! š Over the course of the year, scabs formed and opened a little but it never opened to the extent that it had before starting the treatment.
I am so grateful to my team of Doctors for all of their patience and for not giving up on me and my wound. We tried everything before finally finding the one treatment that was needed. I will never really know why the skin kept breaking down and wouldn’t heal but frankly I don’t care why. I’m just glad that I discovered HBOT treatment and that it worked for me! š
Charlene xoxo