16Sep13 off-day. Down day. 9 on the pain scale. Slept entire day. :0( with tears.

17Sep13 100 degrees and sunny. Still supper sore and grumpy after the day before being so torturous. In the morning I fell while getting in the car and landed with my left hip hitting the edge of the seat. I was in an awkward position getting off my scooter. A truck was hogging space so the space between cars was skinny. My right foot slipped. Two treatments today. First movie was 'Secretariat.' Good movie. Saw most of it but I woke up a few times so I know I slept through parts. Same treatment protocol: 2 atmospheres/33 feet; total time 90 minutes with 60 minutes at full depth. Pain level going in was a solid 9 but improved to an 8 after treatment. I kept an Ativan in my pocket. I didn't need it. Second treatment was same protocol. Will most likely remain so here on out. Movie was 'Life of Pi.' Excellent. Pain level dropped to a 7.

I met a young woman today, Caitlin, who had RSD when she was just 16. She is currently 22 and in remission. She is in college in the LA area. She is getting followup treatments at Rapid Recovery to keep her RSD at bay. She brought me hope that these treatments will work and be worth the cost.

Darrell and I saw a coyote this morning. It was very thin and tattered, one ear down the other piqued to hear. Its tongue was hanging out with lather dripping off. It swaggered as it crossed a field in town headed towards a nearby neighborhood. We were on a busy street with lots of busy cars with people headed to work. I am guessing the yote was desperately looking for food. There was an officer stopped in the middle of the road. Watching. We drove past. I want to know what happened. Good or bad.

18Sep13 92 degrees for the high but the morning was cool, breezy and beautiful. I am up to 18 hours after today's treatments. I was at about a 7 before getting in the tank for the first time. The color of my leg and foot was almost normal, and my walking was much improved (in my opinion). I am still using the scooter and a wheelchair because we don't want to push to hard too fast. The first movie was 'The Prince and Me,' (2004). I didn't even see the opening credits. Darrell and Susan had to holler a few times to wake me to pull my oxygen hood off as I was coming back up from the deep. My pain level was a 6. The pain did increase slightly when I was in route back for my second treatment. The second movie was 'The Prince and Me.' This time I watched most of it. Ugh. It's a teenybopper movie with poor acting and predictable script. This time I was in the middle white chamber (tank). I guess I graduated from the blue one. This tank was the same except for a few minor details. I located the emergency exit knob before being locked in. It had an extra port hole, which I liked a lot.

I had an awesome party ,,, in my head. In my dream I was following from house to house by foot. It was a block party. Each house had a different band: Breaking Benjamin, Foo Fighters, REM, Metallica, etc. !t rocked! I danced. I met the band members. I danced. I had a blast. I danced. Is it too early to celebrate? I am still dancing ... in my head.

By bedtime the pain and bright red and purple had returned.