20 months ago I couldn't spell pneumothorax, now I have had one

[COMABOY]

yes Zaber I feel I did consider the risks.
a) dive planning - was set up by the people on the dive boat, All we really had to do is to be disiplined with our dive profiles. I also did 5@5m as a safety stop and cause I was the only one doing it, was the next to last one out of the water each time. (I didnt thing the operator put enough empasis on the need to do safety stops, particularly as many of us were doing multiple dives).
b) Gear setup - also done by the crew. I did check my gear before I put it on.
c) Gear check - probably stuffed up on this one a little procedure is being reviewed
d) Buddy support - While I didnt go into my medical condition with my buddy, I did say that it had been a while and I might have problems equalizing, so might leave the dive early. We then arranged for an alternate buddy for him should I leave the dive early.
e) Contingency planning - as above
f) Ingress - Easy one, inflate vest, one hand in the 'oh doh' position on the mask, the other on the reg and big step into the big blue.
g) Egress - Again an easy one - nice set of handrailed steps either side of the boat - decky there to help you as required.
h) Pressure complications - Spent a bit of time thinking about this one one. Thought it possible that the opioid might be potentiated by pressure. Called my bro in law (pharmacist), who said that it COULD be possible, but he didnt think so. My plan was to get in, get down, see how I felt, and if I did start getting narc'd at 15 meters (and I had to get out a shovel and start digging to get that deep), then I would make the 'sorry bloke I cant equalize' signal and head back to the surface to snorkle with the bovine herd for the rest of the day.

I have been diving since 1993 and a look at my dive log reveals that on average across that time I dive twice a month (I had 20 months off with this accident and further 12 months off with a ruptured ear drum. not a lot I know, but certainly better than a lot of people I know. I have an OW licence, but have been with an instructor friend of mine down to 40m when we did the nord off the se coast of tassie, so I know what being narc'd feels like. As it turned out all was fine so I continued with the dive.

Yes it was outside of the rules, and I am truly sorry that I did it. It just didn't occur to me how bad it was until I saw the deckhands reaction when I said I had a bit of a sore back. I saw his reaction and I immediately knew he thought I was bent so I said I had a bit of arthritis (short odds it will happen to me sooner than later anyways).

I was thinking about getting a dive clearance up here in cairns so I can go diving once more, but as has been pointed out to me so vehemently by so many here, mine is a special case, so a doc who sees only fit young backpackers is likely to give me a 'no way jose'.

I guess the whole problem is I have been been lucky until recently to live a life fit and free of limitations and I am having problems adjusting to the idea that I just cant do anything I want to do any more. I Haven't brought this up before because refuse to see myself as disabled. Its a pretty heavy tag to have applied to you. I have a recreational specialist (I didnt know there was such a thing) who is going to put me in touch with this bloke.

My Voice: Disabled Divers Association founder Mick Letch - Local News - News - General - Melbourne Weekly Bayside

Mick Letch is a paraplegic and Im going diving with him (easy guys, in a POOL) on the 13th of august, and I will have some discussion with him about how to go diving and still stay within the rules.

If mick can do it, then fug it, so can I.


CB

 

[TSandM]

Comaboy, I hope it all works for you. And I want to emphasize that I didn't say you couldn't dive; in fact, I did say that your traumatic pneumothorax bothered me very little. What did bother me was your head injury, and I think you should stop and think hard about whether the actions you took are actions you would have taken before your accident, or whether your approach to risk and judgment has changed. One of the things I have seen repeatedly in post-head-injury patients is problems with impulse control and lack of patience. Your story is uncomfortably reminiscent of those issues. Perhaps you have always been someone who is relatively risk-tolerant, but maybe things are different now. Perhaps family or friends who were close to you before your accident can give you some feedback as to whether they see you behaving differently, or making different kinds of decisions from the ones you did before.

 

[COMABOY]

Comaboy, I hope it all works for you. And I want to emphasize that I didn't say you couldn't dive; in fact, I did say that your traumatic pneumothorax bothered me very little. What did bother me was your head injury, and I think you should stop and think hard about whether the actions you took are actions you would have taken before your accident, or whether your approach to risk and judgment has changed. One of the things I have seen repeatedly in post-head-injury patients is problems with impulse control and lack of patience. Your story is uncomfortably reminiscent of those issues. Perhaps you have always been someone who is relatively risk-tolerant, but maybe things are different now. Perhaps family or friends who were close to you before your accident can give you some feedback as to whether they see you behaving differently, or making different kinds of decisions from the ones you did before.

Yeah, well funny you should say that, I just got off the phone to one of my instructor mates and he was telling me about a guy who came to his dive centre who had a head trauma in a car accident. He said he was ok and had a dive cert so he took him out. There were only 3 wanting to dive so my mate only took out the dingy instead of the shark cat. Anyway this bloke (for the sake of this story I will call him bozo) was had only started the dive when he passed out!!.

Lucky for bozo had just enough sense to hit the inflator button before he passed out and he came to the surface. Again Bozo was also lucky in that he surfaced next to the dingy and my mate just had time to think WTF! and grab him before he rolled over and went face down. Gaza then tried to lift him into the dingy but bozo had a history of eating lots of pies (bozo was a big bastard) so he wound up lashing him to the side of the dingy and commenced CPR. Somehow amongst all this, Gaza was able to call the dive centre and Mick showed up with the shark cat just before everyone else returned from their dive.

Bozo's family then wanted to sue Gaza, so being the plucky little mongrel he was, Gaza told him for counter-sue them for making a nuisance of himself and the quack who signed off on his dive cert.

No suits were layed, Gaza kept his business and the name 'bozo' was put on a list of people the dive centre didn't want to do business with.

I guess this is the sort of story/situation eveyone on here has been talking about.......