My Arrival & First Day at Avène Hydrotherapy Center

Yesterday,  I arrived at Eau Thermale Avène l’hotel in Avène, France.  After what seemed like a never-ending journey consisting of hours of delay in two airports and a drive that was supposed to be an hour but ended up being 3, I pulled up to the front of the hotel.  I was a bit frazzled and stiff because I had gotten lost.  On top of that, I had to relearn how to drive a manual car.  Due to the flight delays I was arriving 5 hours later than expected.  All I could think of was “Oh God, these people are going to hate me before they have a chance to meet me”.   As I anxiously pulled up to the front of the hotel, I saw Martine smiling while waving me in towards her. Martine is my liaison, and pretty much the person who was organizing everything here for me.  As I stumbled out of my car, she greeted  me with the warmest, most organic embrace. The kind of hug that you get from someone whose known you for years.  Within mere seconds, all the anxiety and stress I was feeling just dissipated in the fragrant air around me.

After checking into my room, I joined Martine, along with a family from Poland (here to treat they’re young daughter’s eczema) for dinner.  I then retired to my room, put 3 weeks worth of “stuff” away, and crawled into bed.  I was too tired to really take in the beauty of my surroundings when I got in last night. When I woke up, I walked out onto my balcony and my breath escaped me with a rush.  At the same time, I found that I was breathing deeper than I had in a really, really long time.

After breakfast, I saw my doctor, Dr. Petit, for the first time.  As you can imagine, I was quite nervous. But her energy was so “bright”… I felt at ease almost immediately and by the time I walked out of the office, I felt completely secure.  She prescribed my treatment, prepared me for the fatigue that I was going to experience the first week, and then sent me straight to the treatment center to get me started with my 21 day course of hydrotherapy.

I had no idea what to expect.  I purposely decided not to do too much research before my arrival.  After all, I didn’t quite understand my disease (Radiation Induced Morphea). The way I understand it, RIM is a type of Scleroderma that occurs months to years later on the area of the breast that has been treated with radiation therapy.  This in itself is rare.  Mine is extra, super rare , because other parts of my body are responding as if they have been radiated as well (shin, abdomen, and lower back).  Treatment options to manage the disease are steroids, light therapy and the most effective, methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug).  The drug route was not something I felt comfortable with.  Just as I was about to feel the despair of having a disfiguring disease, My wonderfully talented and empathetic doctor, Dr. Mario Lacouture at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, recommended I be submitted for a treatment trial in Avène. They had never treated this disease before and were looking for a patient.  Fast forward a month later, I qualified and that is how I ended up here.

I had never heard of hydrotherapy, no one I know has ever heard of hydrotherapy.  All I knew was that this place offered a natural approach to healing that could potentially prevent recurrence of skin disorders/diseases.  I decided to just dive in and not overload  myself with information that might wake up the tiny little “Skeptical Monster” in my brain.  All I needed to know was that there were no drugs involved and that it was all natural.  I will admit, it was easy to dive in because this 3 week treatment takes place in a luxurious, modern, and super “green” facility/hotel in a lush mountainous region in the SOUTH OF FRANCE!

Here is my prescription for my treatment with Avène Thermal Water.  I soak in a bath for 20 minutes, then I have an underwater massage for 20 minutes, scalp water spray and then an upright shower with multiple shower heads spraying water at me from multiple directions. I also have to drink 1-2 liters of this water every day.  This isn’t just any water though… it is a very specific thermal spring water that only exists in Avène, France.  As “spa-like” as this therapy seems, it is highly effective and medically proven to treat:

• Atopic dermatitis in children
  (from the first few months of life)
• Persistent atopic dermatitis in teenagers and adults
• Infectious eczema
• Contact eczema, especially of professional origin and evolving towards chronicity
• Eczema related to venous circulation problems affecting the lower limbs (varicose eczema)
• Burn-related scarring both during the healing process and subsequently (thick skin, bridging)
• Hypertrophic and keloid surgical scars (thickening, inflammation),
• Atonic wounds (without tendency for spontaneous healing

… and I feel very confident that Radiation Induced Morphea will be added to that list :)!

Here is some info about the water here in Avène:

“Avène thermal water comes from a spring with deep origins resulting from very old rainfall. We now know that it has remained infiltrated in the ground for more than forty or fifty years (isotopic dosage measures with tritium).” http://www.avenecenter.com/en/thermal-water

“Avène Thermal Spring Water (TSW) is a natural active component characterized by a low mineral content. In vitro experiments have demonstrated the effect of Avène TSW on membrane fluidity, its antiradical and anti-inflammatory properties, its effects on many mediators involved in the immune response and its stimulating effect on keratinocyte differentiation. The clinical efficacy of the water was demonstrated at the hydrotherapy centre in chronic and disabling diseases such as atopic dermatitis but also in various settings in medical and post dermatology procedure such as photodynamic therapy or photothermolysis. All these data support the fact that the Avène TSW is an active component.” – US National Library of MedicineNational Institutes of Health.

I think that covers the nuts and bolts

Here we go… this journey has begun!