Deep Vein Thrombosis Status Post DCS type I

[Cacia]

So sorry to hear you had a problem, Kev.

prescribed baby aspirin to thin my blood out in preparation for the flight back to Los Angeles.

I take two baby aspirins whenever I fly and several days before deep dives. I know it is discredited by some but I like the little rush of control it gives me, along with getting uber-hydrated.

What did you think of the ambiance at Kuakini Chamber? Did they stuff any brain dead bodies in there with you?

Never underestimate the risk of long, sedentary flights. My freediver friend just lost his brother, a triathalon athlete. He got on in Honolulu and was found dead in Denver. I think they suspected a PE.

Glad you could at least vaca a bit at the end....

 

[Kevrumbo]

No brain dead bodies, nor sharing treatment with Diabetic Wound Care Patients; my case was a Technician & Physician call-in, middle-of-the-night treatment. The Kuakini Facility is U-shaped, with two ante-lock tubes connecting to the Main Chamber (similar layout to the Facility at UCLA).

Used a hood to breath humidified Oxygen and on breaks breathed humidified ambient air inside the Main Chamber (in the Truk Chamber, ice was used to humidify the oxygen and was all gone in about 2hrs); still had a hacking cough afterwards with lung irritation due to the nearly four hour long Oxygen Exposures of two separate HBOT sessions.

I agree about the long sedentary flights: this was my first time taking the Island Hopper Route on Continental Airlines, starting from Weno (Chuuk) with four consecutive landings/take-offs from Pohnpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein, Majuro and finally the long four-and-a-half hour hop to Honolulu. Total travel time was around 11 to 12 hours. De-planed in Pohnpei and Majuro for Security Checks, but I didn't ambulate or hydrate as much as I should have in hindsight. . .

Attached are pictures of the new Truk Chamber (only five years old) on Weno Island (Chuuk FSM) where I had the initial treatment . . .maximum two patients with inside tender, a separate connecting lock chamber, and roughly ten feet long by 5 1/2 feet high inside.

 

[Cacia]

hey, no shoes....I want to work there.

Great report. Can they put you on inhaler steroids for 02 exposure irritation?

You can add this chapter to your book!

 

[TSandM]

D-dimer is one of the most irritating tests in medicine. You can't NOT do it any more, but it comes back in the indeterminate range most of the time, and I have done more chest CTs than I can count that have come back negative. The only ones that have been positive are people who I either KNOW have a PE to begin with, or who have dimers off the charts. But when they come back "elevated" or "marginal" in somebody with appropriate symptoms, the CT is a given.

I take aspirin before all long flights, and wear support stockings, too. I've seen quite a few PEs get off airplanes.

 

[ArcticDiver]

D-dimer is one of the most irritating tests in medicine. You can't NOT do it any more, but it comes back in the indeterminate range most of the time, and I have done more chest CTs than I can count that have come back negative. The only ones that have been positive are people who I either KNOW have a PE to begin with, or who have dimers off the charts. But when they come back "elevated" or "marginal" in somebody with appropriate symptoms, the CT is a given.

I take aspirin before all long flights, and wear support stockings, too. I've seen quite a few PEs get off airplanes.

Side question:

Just about all of my flights are between 3 1/2 and 7 hours; many in the 4+ hour range. Your opinion on upping the asprin from the daily 81mg to something more pre-flight?

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

Richard Moon thought this abstract may be of interest:

Spadaro, MV; Moon, RE; Fracica, PJ; Fawcett, TA; Saltzman, HA; Macik, BG; Massey, EW. LIFE THREATENING PULMONARY THROMBOEMBOLISM IN NEUROLOGICAL DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS. Abstract of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, Inc. Annual Scientific Meeting held June 23-27, 1992. Hyatt Regency Bethesda Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland. RRR ID: 6448

 

[Kevrumbo]

Richard Moon thought this abstract may be of interest:

Spadaro, MV; Moon, RE; Fracica, PJ; Fawcett, TA; Saltzman, HA; Macik, BG; Massey, EW. LIFE THREATENING PULMONARY THROMBOEMBOLISM IN NEUROLOGICAL DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS. Abstract of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, Inc. Annual Scientific Meeting held June 23-27, 1992. Hyatt Regency Bethesda Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland. RRR ID: 6448

Thank you Gene . . .the Hyperbaric Physicians were prudent to recommend not flying for three days and also to take aspirin in the interim before the last flight home. (Had time to ambulate and hydrate real good all around Waikiki Beach before coming home). . .:cool2::cool2::cool2:

 

[orange_diver]

I was treated last weekend for a type one bends hit in Truk Lagoon (write-up about that later when I get back home)

curious to hear your story about how you got bent...

 

[Wayan]

(in the Truk Chamber, ice was used to humidify the oxygen and was all gone in about 2hrs); s


Attached are pictures of the new Truk Chamber (only five years old) on Weno Island (Chuuk FSM) where I had the initial treatment . . .maximum two patients with inside tender, a separate connecting lock chamber, and roughly ten feet long by 5 1/2 feet high inside.

FYI Actually the ice is apart of their Environmental Control Unit which used to chill the air that pressurise the Hyperbaric Unit - not the Oxygen

 

[Kevrumbo]

curious to hear your story about how you got bent...

Finally re-posted here (after much bashing and ultimate mod closure on the Dive Matrix Board). . .