Dr Piccolo (and his wife, Heidi) are absolutely the best! The care I received at the hospital in Cozumel was far better than any I have received here in the States.
Trip Report Why I Won't Be Returning to Cozumel-Part 1,2&3
- Thread starter living4experiences
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Dr Piccolo (and his wife, Heidi) are absolutely the best! The care I received at the hospital in Cozumel was far better than any I have received here in the States.
I had the same experience. Can't say enough good about them. Heidi was quite the fighter for me with DAN and Travel Allianz denying some of my claims.
Unfortunately, the guy in the chamber with me (can't remember his name) picked out the movies. Apparently, he was a huge Star Trek fan. I like Sci-Fi but had already seen the movies several times, LOL!
It was hard to relax/sleep with the demand mask on. Had to concentrate on taking deep breaths.
Dan
Contributor
How did you get the full blown bends? I certainly don’t want to be in that situation ever, if it’s avoidable. Any lesson learned that you can share with us?
@living4experiences sound like unusual case, as the dive profile seemed normal (following the DM) and no other divers in the group got skin bend.
That's an overly simplistic statement, IMO. The "what if", as you put it, deserves a healthy respect and a rational assessment.
What would you like s/he to do?
There are only so many options and some may depend on the type of skin bends the diver had. Being female is a risk factor tough to change. Overweight? Sure, one can take steps to improve this risk factor. Change diving habits? Absolutely.
@living4experiences while at the hospital did anyone talk to you about your rash? Did they confirm skin bends? Did they diagnose it as Cutis marmorata?
If cutis marmorata and they have had several episodes and plan to keep diving it might well be worthwhile to get checked for a PFO since there is a chance of progression to more serious DCS. But then what? Getting closure is not as simple as SB makes it sound and testing itself is not cheap here in the US. Stop diving? Maybe. Certainly dive very conservatively.
If it was type 1 and not cutis marmorata there really is no need to be checked for a PFO since there is about a 30 percent chance it will be positive and no evidence it caused their skin bends. Instead just dive with common sense precautions. And loose weight if that is a factor.
@living4experiences if you need help setting your GF to 35/75 just ask. And you can set your SS for adaptive or just standard 5 minutes while you are at it.
The GF (gradient factor) on their computer is a way to make it dive more conservative. Think of 100 as being completely full of nitrogen. With a setting of 85 you will surface with 85 percent of full. With 75 you surface 75 percent full.
SS is short for safety stop and longer means more off gassing before you surface.
I was just curious to find out what is his/her future plan for scuba diving because of previous history of skin bend on top of the latest one.
The answer given was simply keep on diving as usual.
And there has been no mentioning on the subsequent medical advice on the matter.
Reply on #164 said it all! Do I care?
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