It had been a month since James last received radiation, and the resulting wound in his jaw still wasn’t healing. He couldn’t eat or even put a spoon in his mouth. Eventually, it was so infected that his mouth didn’t open at all and he was losing too much weight. Every day, James lived with severe pain and a mounting sense of fear that his life would never be the same.
“I was scared. I couldn’t even open my mouth,” he shared.
Knowing he couldn’t leave the wound untreated, James and his wife were searching for treatment options when they found Hillsdale Hospital’s Center for Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine. Walking into the wound center for the first time, James wasn’t sure what to expect, but the care team quickly put him at ease. He started receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy, all the while building relationships with the staff as they guided him through the process.
“The staff kept me updated on what was going on [and] answered questions when I had any,” said James.
Before the treatment, his weight had dropped to 125 pounds. By his third round of treatment, he started feeling relief from the pain that had consumed his life. Two weeks in, he was eating again. He would go on to gain 20 pounds in the next year.
When his care team asked James how he felt when his wound was healed, he answered with one word: “Ecstatic.”
From the wound center’s perspective, his experience is a success story the team will remember for years to come. But for James, the experience changed his life. Now, he’s still enjoying the relief that hyperbaric treatment provided him, living the life he thought would never be available to him a year ago. When he spoke with the wound care team months after his wound was healed, his gratitude was as clear as ever:
“My life was changed. I appreciate it so much!”
“This story (and many others) is why we love what we do,” said Bradley Hodshire, RN and the program director for Hillsdale Hospital’s wound center, “To see someone transition from barely speaking due to pain to leading a normal life is incredible. Just 30 treatments were all it took for his life to be transformed forever.”
