Age, Illness, Bob Marley, and Scuba Accidents

[Kharon]

Deleted

 

[RayfromTX]

All good discussion turns to philosophy.

 

[J322Y]

I just got certified at age 59. The members of SB probably understand why I'm in such a rush to dive as much as possible; I have a lot of catching up to do! Off to Key Largo in the morning!



PS. It's my first boat dive, it's with Quiescence, and they have a 6 diver maximum. *stoked*

 

[Dan]

I just got certified at age 59. The members of SB probably understand why I'm in such a rush to dive as much as possible; I have a lot of catching up to do! Off to Key Largo in the morning!



PS. It's my first boat dive, it's with Quiescence, and they have a 6 diver maximum. *stoked*

Quiescence is a good dive operation. I've been going out diving with them. Don't miss the City of Washington dive site.

Enjoy the diving as much as possible while you still can. You'll never know when your body tells you that's enough diving.

 

[J322Y]

Thanks Dan_T, looks great! We scheduled shallow dives, so maybe we'll do C of W. Hoping for good weather...

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I have problems with this, not entirely about diving, but more generally and more encompassingly. All my life I've been asking - "When is it my turn? When can I do what I want?" So far, it's been never. From the beginning life is controlled by considerations for parents, then spouses, then children. It is never yours - unless you might be a sociopath (LOL).

I dive solo, no buddy involved. As far as recovery, it would be a simple matter - shallow, simple, no penetration, no entanglement, etc. But, I doubt I will ever die diving. Once I feel it's become dangerous I'll switch to snorkeling. Still every dive comes with risk. No one has the right to dictate that I can't take that risk.

At some point, the quality of life may be so diminished that it's no longer worth the price of admission. Can anyone honestly tell me they have the right to dictate that I must stay alive even though all joy is gone and severe misery (physical, mental, emotional. or all three) is all that is left? Seems to me that, all my life I have taken everyone else into consideration, this one decision should be mine alone.

Why do you have a problem with what I said? It is my decision, not anyone else's

 

[srhein]

I got certified at 50, retired last week. I will keep diving, and riding my motorcycle, until I become a risk to others. Hopefully my dive buddies will tell me if I don't recognize the issues myself.

 

[gypsyjim]

I got certified at 50, retired last week. I will keep diving, and riding my motorcycle, until I become a risk to others. Hopefully my dive buddies will tell me if I don't recognize the issues myself.

I am "a bit " older, and have ridden and dived, both since I was 17.

I will say that if becoming "a risk to others" had been a disqualifier, I probably should never have thrown my leg over the bike saddle at all, but we hopefully grow up, and out of that phase. Still, I do understand your point.

Live your life to it's fullest, while you can, but try not to cause others pain and injury.

While many of us may look back with some regret at things we may have done, and mistakes we might have made, at least that beats looking back at what we never had the guts to get up off the couch, and do; the things that touched our soul, and made us feel whole.

 

[drrich2]

Will there be a time when my passion for diving will drive me to ignore sound medical advice that should keep me out of the water? Will I have the sense to walk away if that moment comes?

How about you? Will you be able to stop doing something you love--whether diving or anything else--if an objective analysis of the facts tells you to let it go?

'Objective' is such a loaded word. Do any of us have a good idea of the statistical chance of dying on any one of the dives we do, or over a year due to whatever diving we average annually? How it compares to other activities we engage in?

Let's say I get diagnosed with a partial blockage of some % of some particular coronary artery. Or get diabetes. How many physicians, if any, can give me the statistical chance of dying, as previously explained, in light of the new condition? Just how assessable to the general recreational diving public are these 'cream of the crop' dive medicine experts, how reliably definitive are the risk odds they give, and how easy is it for the average diver to know who to call?

Is letting the physician dictate whether you can dive or not, instead of doing it yourself, necessarily objective?

Do you know at what risk level (say, % chance death/serious injury per dive) you should quit? If not, how do you know when you should quit?

Summing it up, if you don't know your risk to start with, or what your increased risk is in light of whatever age/fitness level/medical ailment is alleged to raise that risk, and you don't know how capable your physician is at assessing that risk (he/she may not know, either)...how 'objective' is the analysis of the facts?

Excepting severe contraindications to diving (e.g.: near total blockage of a coronary artery, inoperable, with strong recommendation to avoid exertion and make a will ASAP), I suspect there's a lot of subjective judgment driving the decision. And some people in bad physical shape may figure they've less left to lose, and don't want to give up what they love to sit in a rocking chair on the front porch waiting to die anyway, just slower.

I've got a 4-year old daughter. I'd have to factor that in.

Richard.

 

[Hatul]

I'm also one of the older divers and we're all in the same boat as it's just a matter of time. As they say there are things in life that are for sure: taxes, aging and death. There are many ways to look at this and some of the principles in my mind are:

True contraindications are obvious, such as severe asthma and other unstable conditions. The problems lie in the gray areas and with advanced age itself.

I'd rather die diving than sitting around doing nothing or worse yet in a nursing home.

I like the physical guidelines from PADI
http://www.scouting.org/filestore/HealthSafety/pdf/padi.pdf
, which include being able to do 3 minutes on treadmill up to 13 METS. And I try to test myself to that level at the gym.

As we age we can continue to dive but with less physical challanging dives and being more conservative in our dive profiles.