Hear ye well, for it might happen to you.
A year ago I was lucky enough to survive the Indian Ocean tsunami. I had planned to go on a 7-day liveaboard to the Similan Islands but the sea had other ideas and, after a few hairy moments, was lucky to survive with only light injuries. I decided to rebook the same trip this year - another 7-day liveaboard to the Similan Islands. I would be back in Phuket exactly one year on from the tsunami and this trip was to be my final closure on the events of the previous year. As we steamed out of Ao Chalong toward the Similans I could see fire lanterns being released from shore, like spirits rising up to heaven, and was reminded of my own good fortune to have survived. I thought that things would be better this year.
Fate, however, had other plans for me.
It was day two of the trip, and I had some nice dives in already. Nothing too difficult or strenuous, just regular vanilla diving with nothing deeper than 28 metres. I surfaced from my fourth and final dive of the day and went to shower off when I began to feel dizzy and nauseous, I also noticed that I had a skin rash across my stomach which was beginning to become quite painful to touch. Pains in my joints convinced me - I was bent! Me, bent, surely not - the diving so far had been easy and I had done much more arduous diving on other trips without incident, certainly without getting bent. It was no use denying it to myself, whatever the reason was I was bent and had better get treatment quickly.
I reported my symptoms to the boat crew who had me lay down and breathe 100% oxygen (which resulted in immediate improvement - so long as I stayed on the oxygen, as soon as I came off the gas I started to feel ill again). The tour leader took one look at me and pointed the boat toward the nearest port. Five hours later I was being bundled into an ambulance and being driven to the nearest hyperbaric chamber at Phuket Bangkok Hospital.
One neurological exam and a chest x-ray later and I was in the chamber for the first of my treatments, a five and a half hour session, after which I managed a couple of pieces of toast before sleeping the entire day. I would require another two chamber treatments (albeit shorter ones) before discharge though I am pleased to report a 100% recovery.
So, why did I get bent? The short answer is that I don't know and neither did the chmaber staff and the doctors. I had four dives that day, none deeper than 28 metres and none with decompression and all with a controlled ascent and proper safety stop (as recorded by my computer), I am reasonably fit, a non-smoker and had not been drinking for three days prior to the trip. I was well hydrated and have no medical history which might predispose me to DCI (such as PFO). Apparently, this is not unusual. At a DAN seminar in December given by John Lipman we were told that many cases of DCI are inexplicable - the classic "undeserved hit". That said, this does nothing to stop me from re-running the dive in my head four times a day trying to figure out what went wrong. One speaker at the conference put it very well - there are only two surefire, 100% guaranteed ways to prevent DCI: never dive or never surface.
What next? Well, no diving for at least six weeks as per doctor's orders. Then, following a medical check, I will ease myself back into the saddle gradually with some simple shallow reef diving. Hopefully I will be back up to 100% in time for a liveaboard in Truk which I have booked in July.
Lesson(s) learnt? Don't be in denial! If you have the symptoms, report them and get treatment as quickly as possible. Better to treat a false alarm than leave a genuine case untreated and rapid treatment increases your chances of a full recovery.
I wish you all a happy new near and safe, happy diving.
TD
A year ago I was lucky enough to survive the Indian Ocean tsunami. I had planned to go on a 7-day liveaboard to the Similan Islands but the sea had other ideas and, after a few hairy moments, was lucky to survive with only light injuries. I decided to rebook the same trip this year - another 7-day liveaboard to the Similan Islands. I would be back in Phuket exactly one year on from the tsunami and this trip was to be my final closure on the events of the previous year. As we steamed out of Ao Chalong toward the Similans I could see fire lanterns being released from shore, like spirits rising up to heaven, and was reminded of my own good fortune to have survived. I thought that things would be better this year.
Fate, however, had other plans for me.
It was day two of the trip, and I had some nice dives in already. Nothing too difficult or strenuous, just regular vanilla diving with nothing deeper than 28 metres. I surfaced from my fourth and final dive of the day and went to shower off when I began to feel dizzy and nauseous, I also noticed that I had a skin rash across my stomach which was beginning to become quite painful to touch. Pains in my joints convinced me - I was bent! Me, bent, surely not - the diving so far had been easy and I had done much more arduous diving on other trips without incident, certainly without getting bent. It was no use denying it to myself, whatever the reason was I was bent and had better get treatment quickly.
I reported my symptoms to the boat crew who had me lay down and breathe 100% oxygen (which resulted in immediate improvement - so long as I stayed on the oxygen, as soon as I came off the gas I started to feel ill again). The tour leader took one look at me and pointed the boat toward the nearest port. Five hours later I was being bundled into an ambulance and being driven to the nearest hyperbaric chamber at Phuket Bangkok Hospital.
One neurological exam and a chest x-ray later and I was in the chamber for the first of my treatments, a five and a half hour session, after which I managed a couple of pieces of toast before sleeping the entire day. I would require another two chamber treatments (albeit shorter ones) before discharge though I am pleased to report a 100% recovery.
So, why did I get bent? The short answer is that I don't know and neither did the chmaber staff and the doctors. I had four dives that day, none deeper than 28 metres and none with decompression and all with a controlled ascent and proper safety stop (as recorded by my computer), I am reasonably fit, a non-smoker and had not been drinking for three days prior to the trip. I was well hydrated and have no medical history which might predispose me to DCI (such as PFO). Apparently, this is not unusual. At a DAN seminar in December given by John Lipman we were told that many cases of DCI are inexplicable - the classic "undeserved hit". That said, this does nothing to stop me from re-running the dive in my head four times a day trying to figure out what went wrong. One speaker at the conference put it very well - there are only two surefire, 100% guaranteed ways to prevent DCI: never dive or never surface.
What next? Well, no diving for at least six weeks as per doctor's orders. Then, following a medical check, I will ease myself back into the saddle gradually with some simple shallow reef diving. Hopefully I will be back up to 100% in time for a liveaboard in Truk which I have booked in July.
Lesson(s) learnt? Don't be in denial! If you have the symptoms, report them and get treatment as quickly as possible. Better to treat a false alarm than leave a genuine case untreated and rapid treatment increases your chances of a full recovery.
I wish you all a happy new near and safe, happy diving.
TD
