Friday 13th...

An ominous date, Frday 13th - but nothing ominous happened at the Centre today. At least not whilst I was there at any rate! It was a usual Friday morning and I ran two Oxygen Therapy sessions (or "dives") along with my trusted long-time assistant Carolyn. Both dives went very well and were without incident I am always happy to report :) We call the sessions Dives because clients / members who enter the chamber for treatment are pressurized to certain simulated depths. They do not actually do down under any water or anything, but it is the equivalent of this happening. To aid in this illusion the interior of the Oxygen tank / chamber is decorated with fish and other marine life :) (Actually these were put there to make the chamber friendlier for children who use the service)

Members stay pressurized at either 16.5 feet (5 meters), 24 feet (7.5m) or 33 feet (10m) for 1 hour whilst they breathe in pure Oxygen. Depending on the depth it takes around 5-12 minutes to take the dive down, and bring it up again at the end. Many clients find that breathing pure O2 under pressure helps alleviate or lessen some of the symptoms of MS. As MS is an individual condition though, people will find they have an individual response to the O2 treatment. Some do not use it at all, as they have found they get no benefit from it, and prefer to solely rely on physiotherapy. But others find they need their regular O2 top-up sessions to help them function. People usually come for one or two sessions per week, after initially doing 20 sessions in rapid succession to allow the treatment to 'build up' within their bodies...

Any way, I think I've told you enough for one day. Tomorrow is Saturday and that means it is 'doughnut day' - I am English and will not spell it 'donut' despite what numerous spell-checkers tell me - all will be explained....

I wish everyone well. Till next time -

Rod