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I am incredibly happy for this kid and his family. I guess what I wonder is, because I am a nursing student who doesn't know much about this stuff, if he will have to use the HBOT for maintenance or if once he has plateaued if the treatments will cease. Either way this has a HUGE opening for other patients and illnesses. BRAVO
That recovery like all of them was amazing, I am still not convinced the HBOT had that much to do with it. I had the pleasure of working in a rehabilitation hospital for a couple years and brain injuries were amazing. Now they dont always recover but once they start waking up it is wild how fast they can recover. It was a rather common occurrence for them to come in bed bound, non verbal, have a trach and g tube but by the end of a 8-12 week period they could talk, walk and eat. They of course had some residuals, usually reasoning was the big one.
So part of the reason that I am not so impressed with the HBOT is that I have seen worse patients get better quicker. I dont know that I have ever saw someone 3 months out in that shape with that kind of improvement though. HBOT may very well have some benefits, it definitely needs studied but at the same time I dont know if we should encourage someone to spend their life savings on it when in my opinion a good rehabilitation center stay would be much more effective. (A nursing home or skilled unit in a hospital is not true rehabilitation for these patients).
Valerie Salva, BSN, RN
1,793 Posts