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RICHLAND -- At 57, Kathleen Dodson was faced with the eventual possibility of losing a leg to Type 2 diabetes.
She said she was diagnosed with the disease in 1994 and has struggled to maintain her blood sugar at normal levels, eventually resulting in wounds on her legs that just wouldn't heal.
With hard work by doctors and Dodson, she managed to heal one of her legs. But the other wasn't cooperating and could have cost her the ability to walk if not for a new treatment that became available in the Tri-Cities.
Kadlec Regional Medical Center's Wound Healing Center recently acquired two hyperbaric chambers and began offering oxygen therapy to wound patients Oct. 21.
Dodson was one of the first to try the therapy, which requires her to lie inside the chamber for 90 minutes every day for 30 days while she's bathed in pure, high-pressure oxygen that helps improve her circulation and immune system and ultimately heal her leg wound.
Dr. William Kalichman said that should make a world of difference for the new grandmother of twins.
"It will help her in a number of ways," Kalichman said. "It will maintain her ability to walk. It preserves her leg. It's not now I'm worried about -- it's 20 years from now."
Hyperbaric treatment is most often used for patients with hard-to-heal wounds, most commonly caused by diabetes.
High blood sugar from diabetes affects the consistency of the blood and therefore the circulation of blood through the veins. It can lead to numerous complications including increased risk of heart and kidney disease, loss of eyesight or loss of limbs from wounds that do not heal and become infected.
"Untreated diabetes will not just kill you, it will torture you to death," Kalichman said.
Before the rise of hyperbaric treatment, little could be done for patients suffering from persistent wounds.
But now, conditions such as radiation-induced skin injuries, gas gangrene or flesh-eating bacteria can be cured using a hyperbaric chamber, he said.
"Hyperbaric treatment is life-saving," Kalichman said. "These are things that are fatal, that cause tremendous loss of quality of life."
For Dodson, the results have been worth the daily treatments. She can see her wound getting smaller. Within two weeks, it should be gone.
"The doctor said in the last week, it's been healing more than he has seen since he's been working with me," she said.
Entering the chamber -- a clear plastic tube set in a metallic blue apparatus -- feels like going up in an airplane, she said. There's no discomfort and she can watch an overhead television to pass the time.
She also can take in a bottle of juice in case her blood sugar drops too low and she needs to treat hypoglycemia.
Dena Notaras, the Wound Healing Center's executive director, said because treatments last an average of two hours and must be done daily for 20 to 30 days, the center is providing the treatment to just two patients each morning.
Once the center can have a doctor on staff more hours of the day, that will expand to six to eight patients, she said.
-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com
