Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[beertiki]

Returning back to the water to attempt to decompress only made this worse. Unless you are breathing 100% O2, you are still loading nitrogen that will have to be off gassed later. With 100% O2 you reach 1.6 pp at about 20 feet, after 45 minutes you will have reach 100% O2 exposure. It is always better to breathe O2 on the boat on the way to the chamber than to attempt "in water recompression".

In more simple words -

Once you reach the surface, you are bent. Getting back in the water is really just another dive. The result is time wasted in getting to a chamber, and possibly even more bent than if you had just gone to the chamber right away.

 

[Mossman]

Hopefully someone can do a better job at translating than Google.

No problema

Friday, September 9, 2011

Hi!!!

To all those who know me and that have not called me or spoken with me, I Gabyloco, am here in a bed at the hyperbaric chamber without being able to move half my body, without being able to defecate and/or urinate by myself, but happy that I am able to relate this to you, that I'm alive and I'm with my family after a very strong decompression. If you are a diver you will understand that deeper than 300 feet what we breathe isn't nitrogen nor even less is it oxygen, it is just pure poison. I give many thanks to God that he gave me the strength to be able to rescue a person that is much beloved on this island of Cozumel, and her name is or she's called, or rather she's known as "Opal", who was recovered at 400 feet because she was in narcosis and didn't know what she was doing, and I took the risk of going to her rescue and we are fortunate we both had escaped with our lives.

God gave us another chance and I find myself paralyzed, but "Opal" continues fighting for her life and Mr. Heath, who was also with us in the accident, is with her, supporting her in all. I know that already I'll possibly never be able to dive again, but I give thanks to God that at least we are alive so I can tell you this. And I know that any one of you would have done the same for Opal. Now I want to thank all the people that are helping us financially and with your blessings. I want you to know that I am very appreciative, the same goes for my family and may God fill you with blessings, all my true friends that you are because in a situation like this, one knows who are truly friends. I am here in the best hands that God could have offered, I am surrounded by pure angels (many thanks Julio Torres, may God bless you) which are the team of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and all those that work in the hyperbaric chamber that didn't let me die, and they are part of my family. Here I am with my family in the photo for those who don't know me, and whatever day you want to chat with me, I'm waiting here because my therapies will be going on a long time. It's sad, but with help and much faith in God, we will recover. For those that don't already know this, I can only tell you that I am so for saving a life and I am sad because diving was the best thing God had given me and I won't be able to do it anymore. Now let's all pray that Opal recuperates where she is because everyone loved her much. Many thanks all, love Gabyloco and family... My e-mail address is gabyloco1974@hotmail.com and my cell phone number is 9871198691 .

 

[DandyDon]

DD I fail to see how anything that can result in a safer dive experience for all can be off topic. Even though it did not cause the accident it has been brought up here several times as something that can be a real issue for all of us and to suggest that just bcs it doesnt relate directly to the EXACT GOING ONs it should be ignored doesnt make sense. Nonetheless I am relatively new to posting on the boards and so will consider myself chastised

Please do not take my remarks as chastising. I'm just not good with suggestions as I often am overly blunt in my thoughts.

And yes, some helpful discussion on the possible down currents would be great. Hope to see them on that lady's thread in the Coz forum. I guess I could quote some of these posts there, but would rather the authors did that.

 

[Jax]

Returning back to the water to attempt to decompress only made this worse. Unless you are breathing 100% O2, you are still loading nitrogen that will have to be off gassed later. With 100% O2 you reach 1.6 pp at about 20 feet, after 45 minutes you will have reach 100% O2 exposure. It is always better to breathe O2 on the boat on the way to the chamber than to attempt "in water recompression".

In more simple words -

Once you reach the surface, you are bent. Getting back in the water is really just another dive. The result is time wasted in getting to a chamber, and possibly even more bent than if you had just gone to the chamber right away.

Thanks - that puts it into perspective.

 

[Mossman]

Everyone who hasn't already should read Pyle's account of deep bounce dives and in-water recompression after getting bent. It can be found here:
Confessions of a Mortal Diver

"I wore only a single aluminum 80 cu. ft. cylinder, and in those days of overconfident stupidity, I had no qualms about dropping down to 250 feet for a quick look around with such meager equipment."

 

[Jax]

No problema
.

Mossman, thanks. What a tremendously brave and faithful friend Gabi is.

 

[mselenaous]

Hopefully someone can do a better job at translating than Google.

Hope this translation with punctuation helps:

Friday, September 9, 2011

Hello,
For those that know me and those that don’t, my name is Gaby and they call me Gabyloco.

I am here in the Hyperbaric Chamber unable to move half my body. I can not urinate or defecate on my own. But am happy to tell you I lived and am with my family,
after intensive decompression. If you are a diver, you will understand that after a depth of 300 feet, what you breath is not nitrogen with less oxygen but pure poison.

I give God many thanks that he gave me the strength and ability to rescue a person who is very much loved here on the Island of Cozumel. Her name is or they caller, better know as, Opal, she found herself at 400 ft because she entered narcosis and did not know what she was doing. I took the risk to go help rescue her and we are fortunate to have come out alive. God gave us another opportunity. I found myself paralyzed but Opal continues to fight for her life. Mr. Heath was also with us in this accident. He is with her supporting her in everything, I know that I will not be able to dive, possibly never again but I give God thanks that we alive to talk about it.

I know that anyone one of you would have done the same for Opal. Now I want to thank all the people who are supporting us economically and with your blessings. I want you to know I am very grateful and equally, my family is grateful. May God bless all of you, my true friends. In a case like this, you learn who your true friends are. Here I am in the best hands God could have given me surrounded by pure angles. “Thank you Julio Torres" May God bless you and those who are the medical team of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and those who work at the Hyperbaric Chamber of Cozumel who did not let me die and are now a part of my family. I am here with my family in this photo in case you don’t know me. Any day you want to talk with me, I await you because my therapies will be long. It is sad but with support and much faith in God, we will recuperate. For the people who do not know of this, I can only say that I am this way for saving a life and am sad because diving was the best God had given me and I will not be able to do it again. May we all pray to God that “Opal” recuperates where she is at, because we all love her.
Many many thanks for every thing. We love you,
Gabyloco and family.

My email is :gabyloco1974@hotmail.com
My cell phone number is :9871198691

Footnote: Sorry, but while I was translating (sans programs), someone else was posting a similar translation.
The essential meaning is the same.

The DIR way, not the computer way...a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Once you reach the surface, you are bent. Getting back in the water is really just another dive. The result is time wasted in getting to a chamber, and possibly even more bent than if you had just gone to the chamber right away.

Which is one of the reasons why I asked what all of their actual qualifications are. It looks like Gabi is willing to talk and maybe he will answer these questions next week.

 

[filox]

Mossman, thanks. What a tremendously brave and faithful friend Gabi is.

I agree... regardless of how or why you find yourself at 270 - 300', I wonder how many of us will disregard their own safety and go down to 400ft trying to save a friend.

My hat is off to you Gabyloco... hope you will have a full recovery soon.

 

[boulderjohn]

Returning back to the water to attempt to decompress only made this worse. Unless you are breathing 100% O2, you are still loading nitrogen that will have to be off gassed later. With 100% O2 you reach 1.6 pp at about 20 feet, after 45 minutes you will have reach 100% O2 exposure. It is always better to breathe O2 on the boat on the way to the chamber than to attempt "in water recompression".

the reason for going back in the water has nothing to do with the nitrogen gradient. The purpose is the same as going into the chamber--to use the increased pressure to reduce the size of the bubbles that are already there or are forming.

The established in-water recompression procedures I know--and I have three friends who recovered when using them in remote areas where rapid medical evacuation was not available--include breathing pure O2 during the dive so that both problems can be addressed. My friends used O2 and full face masks as a safety factor in addition to the divers who were monitoring them.

Dr. Richard Pyle, the author of one of the accepted protocols, has himself been saved via the process twice. He has written eloquently about both experiences, and a Google search will lead to some interesting reading.

In-water recompression is indeed controversial, and even its most ardent advocates, I believe, would agree that in this case breathing O2 on the surface while going as fast as possible to the chamber would have been a much better decision.