Anne's Story

“After receiving chemo and radiation to treat her bladder cancer, Anne Walz of Sauk Centre was diagnosed with radiation cystitis, which prevented her bladder from healing.”

Wound care helps patient get back to enjoying life

After receiving chemo and radiation to treat her bladder cancer, Anne Walz of Sauk Centre was diagnosed with radiation cystitis, which prevented her bladder from healing.

Instead of surgery to remove her bladder, Anne’s doctor recommended she receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a simple but effective treatment in which a patient breathes pure oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. The therapy quickly and safely delivers high concentrations of oxygen to the bloodstream, increasing the body’s ability to heal.

Anne was apprehensive. “I’m claustrophobic,” she said. “So the thought of being inside a chamber scared me. But the chamber has clear sides that I could see through and I was able to watch game shows on TV while I received my treatments. If I needed anything, staff was always in the room with me. I could just tap on the window and they could talk to me by phone.”

Anne underwent 40 HBOT treatments from February to April 2016 at the CentraCare Wound Center in St. Cloud. “The staff there was terrific,” she said. “They took such great care of me.”