By Sean Pendergast By Sean Pendergast By Sean Pendergast By Jeff
Balke By Richard Connelly By Jeff Balke By Casey Michel By Craig
Hlavaty Out of 277 children, ten were picked for the project.
Caroline was one of them. There was no charge to the children
involved because this was a research study. Now Dr. Barrett's
waiting list is too long to count. The cream-colored chamber at
UTMB-Galveston is daunting. Patients enter a claustrophobic
submarinelike tube and have clear plastic hoods clamped over
their heads. Oxygen is delivered through hoses attached to the
hoods during the dive. Kids' ears hurt because of the
depressurization, and most end up having tiny holes put in their
eardrums or tubes inserted. Because of the fear of fire from the
oxygen, patients can wear only certain types of clothing (no
synthetics) and cannot wear makeup or use hair spray or carry
newspapers into the chamber with them. As many as 12 patients
can be treated at a time. A "tender," who is certified to handle
hyperbaric conditions, goe