I did my best to relax inside what had looked, essentially, like a giant duffle bag, the dark blue canvas surface more like the home of someone's stinky hockey gear than a life-saving hyperbaric chamber.
"We use it for cancer treatments," Dr. Aberstock told me, holding my hand as he encouraged me to step into what I tried not to think of as the means to dispose easily of my body if this didn't work, my silly brain imagining being tossed into the trunk of a car and taken somewhere to be disposed of forever. His sweet, cherub smile wasn't helping. If anything, it only made my nerves worse and my claustrophobia wasn't helping. "Might not be perfect, but it will do the job."