bent bad in Grand cayman

[Pugsly55]

Glad you were able to get through without lasting neurological damage. The only thing worse than getting sick is getting sick and there being no "reason" or "source" for it. Maybe you can be cleared by your MD and limit yourself to shallow, conservative profile dives.

Was there anything special about the dives? Strong current, long surface swim, anything? Best of luck.

LOL
Not yet, but I've got the info,and will put it in the book.
thanks for the laugh.

(BTW, in the chamber in GC there is a team member with you, on hourly shifts. One of them did a (wet) dive later in the day. I saw him during a subsequent session, and he indicated that he had to take the chamber dive into consideration in planning his afternoon dive! It makes perfect sense, but... this is some activity that we do . )

Mike

 

[mccabejc]

Wow. Thanks so much for the post. As a new diver, after reading experiences like this, one thing I'm learning is that you can never be too careful. And along with that the question keeps coming up "Why dive deep?" Less dive time, greater overall risk, less chance of recovering from a problem, etc.

Anyway, I wish you the best.

 

[Lemonade]

..."Why dive deep?" Less dive time, greater overall risk, less chance of recovering from a problem, etc.

Anyway, I wish you the best.

Often the stuff you want to see IS deep. As far as I am concerned that is the only reason.

 

[DI_Guy]

Mike :

I am glad you're OK and I thank you for sharing this with us... I am a new diver and I have done a lot of reading on DCI and DCS and I have to admit it really concerns me. I have my ascents so slow now, just to be safe. Do you know what your ascent rate was? 30 feet per minute seems to be the standard now. Were you on AIR or NITROX ?

BTW... my daughter lives in CI and I plan to visit there in Feb and dive at the same time... I plan to be extra careful after your report.

Thanks again for your comments... it's a jolt back to reality. I am so glad you're OK.

 

[Rick Inman]

I will listen to the Doctor at home, but friends and family-who are really shook up about this-are putting forth strong arguments in favor of hanging up the fins.

Time.
And time takes time.
Hanging the fins up might be good, but I wouldn't be listing them on Ebay just yet.
Give it time...

 

[northcoast_diver]

Hi to all,
Well, my number came up, and I lost.

The plan was: Fly to GC on Sat. Aug 14, fly home on Sat Aug 21 with diving in between.

The reality:
After 3 dives on the first day (Sun 8/15/04), I didn’t feel well: fatigue, “rubber legs” etc.
I checked my profiles/computer/etc-and said “no way I could be bent”……..
Well, the ER doctor disagreed, big time. She was a diver, and very well versed in DCI. She examined me, and gave me the bad news. She said, somewhat later, after checking profiles, computer, etc. “you did nothing wrong, but took a bad hit”, followed by “this proves, once again, that sh%$ happens”
In short, I wound up with type 2 spinal DCI, took 6 chamber rides (USN table 6) over the next 6 days, (where, thank God, I went from not being able to walk or urinate, to being able to do both) and was able to fly home on 8/24. ... Mike

This reminds me that I need to renew my DAN insurance as well, before I go to the Grand Caymans this year myself.

I am guessing that dehydration was the unknown factor triggering your DCI. Partly from your flight the previous day, partly from the beer, and partly due to 3 such dives being fairly rigorous prior to getting completely settled and acclimated at your vacation site.

But who knows? It could have been anything.

Thanks to all for the kind words.

The dive profiles:

Dive #1: max depth 96 ft,
time 31 minutes, of which only 6 minutes were deeper
than 80', and only 2 deeper than 90'
19 mins of the dive were shallower than 40'
(those specifics came from a computer download of the dive)
safety stop: 5 min at 15'
surface interval: 3.5 hours

Dive#2: max depth 50 ft
time 41 minutes
safety stop: 3 min at 15'

surface interval: 45 minutes

Dive #3: max depth 49 ft
time 42 minutes

I had done between 500-525 prior dives to this trip, and have done "dive days" with dives of similar profiles.

I was, I felt, hydrated-I had one beer the night before-and drank quite a lot of water. No coffee, no cola, etc.
I felt somewhat fatigued on the morning of the 15th-travel,etc, but no more than on past trips. (I'm a WWW who lives in NJ)

Regarding the "not diving again": that is the recommendation of the Doctor in GC. Her reasoning, as she explained it: Since you did nothing wrong, there is no "avoid doing _____,and you'll probably be okay", and "the next hit,
possibly "underserved", could be worse."
I will listen to the Doctor at home, but friends and family-who are really shook up about this-are putting forth strong arguments in favor of hanging up the fins.

again, thanks for the kind words.

Mike

I would not consider quitting diving, instead I would consider getting and using tables more conservatively (next deeper depth & next longer time) or a more conservative setting on your dive computer.

NAUI has new RGBM tables that enforce at least a 1 ATA shallower repetitive dive. In your case, your 3rd dive would have been limited to around 25 ft. DCIEM also has very conservative tables.

Thanks for sharing the account.

 

[miked]

Hi again, and thanks again to all.

To answer the questions asked since I last posted (and I don't mind answering them-maybe they will help somebody else avoid the "undeserved" hit. At the very least,they provide info):
The dives were all boat dives, with little to no current, and no surface swims involved at all.

Water temps ranged from 80-86 degrees F.

Ascent rates were "ok" according to the computer, which is set for 60fpm below 60', 30fpm from 30' to the surface.On the "download(?) I saw, the rates below 60' (deep) were also slow.

On dive #1 I was breathing air, on dives #2 and 3, I was breathing EAN32.

take care,
Mike

 

[redacted]

arguments in favor of hanging up the fins.

Mike

I went thru most of my life with just mask, fins, & snorkel. And it really was a lot of fun. While it is probably too soon the give up on scuba, it may be hard to work around a serious undeserved hit. A friend of mine took one a year ago and he decided there is a lot more to life than scuba.

The problem with an undeserved hit is you are no longer a member of the diving population to whom the tables and various tissue loading algorithims are expected to apply. Your vulnerability to future incidents may now be unknown.

Good Luck

 

[northcoast_diver]

Hi again, and thanks again to all.

To answer the questions asked since I last posted (and I don't mind answering them-maybe they will help somebody else avoid the "undeserved" hit. At the very least,they provide info):
The dives were all boat dives, with little to no current, and no surface swims involved at all.

Water temps ranged from 80-86 degrees F.

Ascent rates were "ok" according to the computer, which is set for 60fpm below 60', 30fpm from 30' to the surface.

On dive #1 I was breathing air, on dives #2 and 3, I was breathing EAN32.

take care,
Mike

OK so you did indeed think of the nitrox. Good job.

So far, possible dehydration, and lack of acclimation, seem like the most likely culprits.

 

[northcoast_diver]

...
The problem with an undeserved hit is you are no longer a member of the diving population to whom the tables and various tissue loading algorithims are expected to apply. Your vulnerability to future incidents may now be unknown.

Good Luck

Exactly right.

The Suunto dive computers let you add additional conservative settings, called P1 and P2 for "personal." You may consider that in the future, if you are diving with a computer.

There is also the possibility that you may have a PFO (patent foramen ovale) that you do not know about, yet. And if so, that could/should/would spell an end to your scuba diving (there is heart surgery that can "fix" it, but then you are left with heart scar tissue, which could cause DCI problems of its own). Although, since you have been diving successfully for a long time, a PFO seems unlikely.