Wheeled In. Walked Out.
How many times have you been told not to take your health for granted? We all do though. When you’re a healthy 25 year old mother of three small children you rarely have time to stop and worry about how your life would be different if your health was suddenly taken from you. Yet that’s exactly what happened to Aubree.
On November 17, 2012, Aubree was a passenger in a car that was struck by a pickup truck that had run a red light. The impact from the accident took place on her side of the vehicle. Aubree suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and spent five weeks in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit (STICU). Doctors in the STICU were very guarded about giving the family too much hope for a promising outcome.
While in STICU, Aubree was kept sedated for approximately two and a half weeks. The most intensive part of her recovery involved an ICP drain/probe that saved her from needing a craniotomy in order to relieve the mounting pressure and swelling that had occurred on her brain. At the conclusion of the five weeks in the STICU, Aubree was transferred to a skilled nursing facility in order to prepare her for the intensive therapy she would need to undergo at an acute rehab center. Although Aubree had made great progress to this point, she still had a very long road ahead of her.
Upon arriving at the skilled nursing facility, Aubree was still in a minimally-conscious state. She was only able to move her body involuntarily, often rolling from side to side. She was not able to access her physical motor skills on command and could only sit up with assistance from an aide or family member. She was still on a feeding tube and was not yet able to speak or communicate. Other than family and a few close friends, no one appeared to hold out much hope for Aubree’s improvement.
Aubree’s family knew that they had to try every avenue available that could even remotely give her a greater chance at a full recovery. While they felt blessed that Aubree was still with them, they wanted to give her every opportunity they could for a bright and independent future and to help her return to her role as wife and mother. She had been a happy, fun-loving, and vibrant young woman who had many dreams and aspirations for her future. They wanted to provide that hope for her yet again.
As her family began researching alternative treatment options, they discovered Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and learned how it had been successful in treating TBI. Research showed that many military troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning home with TBI and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In the past few years there have been numerous Defense Department-led studies looking at the effects of HBOT on troops with TBI. HBOT is an effective and economical treatment for TBI and PTSD, without the very dangerous and negative side effects of antipsychotic medication.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has been shown to improve client’s fine and gross motor skills, speech, thinking (cognition), memory and physical healing. First Lady, Michelle Obama has even become involved in the White House’s Joining Forces Initiative. The program could play a significant role in recognizing HBOT as a premier therapy for brain injuries and PTSD. With the White House spearheading this initiative, it could mean that the tide is turning, and FDA’s non-approval of HBOT for the treatment of TBI or PTSD may be crumbling, as well as its refusal to use HBOT for TBI and PTSD because it’s considered “off-label,” while at the same time using antipsychotic drugs completely off-label for treatment of TBI and PTSD.
Aubree started Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at Sara’s Garden on January 9, 2013, nearly two months after the accident that changed her life so drastically. One week later, on January 15, Aubree started talking, bringing most of the staff to tears. As the month went on she began moving around more. She started getting out of the stretcher between treatments and walking up and down the hall with assistance. By January 30, Aubree was walking with no assistance at all. She was an inspiration to everyone around her and was actively encouraging other clients in their recovery.
Several of the EMTs who had been transporting Aubree to Sara’s Garden the first week did not see her again until her fourth and final week of treatments. They were shocked and elated at the progress she had made in that short time. The young woman that arrived for her first day of treatments on a stretcher walked out the door on her own 40 treatments later.
Thanks to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at Sara’s Garden, Aubree once again has dreams and aspirations for a vibrant future. Most importantly, her family has their wife and mother back! Aubree plans on going back to school and finishing her nursing degree so that she can give back by taking care of others in need.
No matter what you’ve been told, there is hope… for this and many other conditions. HBOT is treatment without drugs… without surgery… without pain.
