Dave Selmo, Densie's dive buddy who was by her side. Thought I would share just a couple thoughts I had after reading the whole thread. I'm an "Old school EMT" trained from 1986. I watch my dive buddy swim her butt off from the breakdown to the sandy floor of the mouth of the cave. I knew I was dealing with a "panicked diver" but one at least fully in control of her faculties and heading in the right direction. So I kept up right on her heals, never guessing that a life threating medical condition was unfolding. I didn't know why she stopped swimming and began crawling at the very mouth of the cave. But knowing Denise like I do...it wouldnt surprise me to think she would gain composure at the last minute and do her 3 minute safety stop!
(I did not know she had reach complete muscle fatigue and inability to swim or kick at that point. I only knew to get up in her mask, establish eyecontact and reassure her that she's gonna be ok...we "made it.")
As I got up alongside her and into her mask to make eye contact, she shot to the surface. When Denise did an emergency accent from the floor of the mouth of the cave
(17 feet straight up) I watched her purge and I kept my fingers crossed thinking to myself "I hope she is exhaling as well as purching...but dang it looks like she did that textbook".
I did a "quick controlled accent" and met her on the surface about 15 seconds later. We physically swam to the ledge together
(i had a hand on her and was verbally reassuring her at that point. I truly believed the "emergency is over now...we are on the surface.") But when we got to waist deep water and I pulled her hood off in the opening moments of the situation...I was absolutely shocked. When I say "blue as a smurf" I am not lieing.
(Add to it aspiration all over her mouth region..it was frightfully awakening.) What is the FIRST thing they teach you in Rescue course? "shout Somebody dial 911!" Well when we all saw her face...nobody needed to be told...somebody did so immediately and announced it to the group.
In my mind I had NO IDEA that she was within minutes of death due to the almost COMPLETE failure of gas exchange going on her in lungs
(I.e. acidonic levels tell them this from buildup of CO2 in her tissue due to the failure of gas exchange...she was within a coin toss of living...or crashing and dieing at that moment.) Rather I actually thought to myself "The damn neck seal on her drysuit is CHOKING HER!" She looked like a choking victem! My very first response was to leap forward and get my fingers under her seal and pull it entire away from her neck "so she can breath."
As she indicates, she remained alert enough to communicate with me for a couple of minutes or so as I was getting her out of her gear. But about the time her tanks and nomad were off her (all mine was still on) was the moment that she began to loose consciousness.
(She doesnt recall this...her eyes rolled back and she began to waver and I said to myself "oh crap...she's about to drop in my arms and this is not good.") That is when I realized it was time to get bystanders involved
(just like your PADI Rescue Diver training teaches you.)
I shouted up on shore to bystanders and they pulled her from the water at my direction.
(You have to TELL them exactly what and how to do it..but they WILL respond... "You..grab her right under the shoulder there...you...grab the the other one... now DRAG her right up...there you go!") Next, we worked as a team to get her drysuit off. I leaned up on shore and unzipped and they pulled...and they pulled...and they pulled! I shouted to them... "You need to PULL HARD! Dont be shy..pull on that damn thing!" and they responded wonderfully. As I watched the neck seal go up over her nose and mouth and I watched her WHOLE BODY jerk in reaction.
(if I was a drysuit owner, I'd have anticipated this! But Im not...and it caught me off guard.) I leaned forward over her body
(lifting the weight of all four tanks still attached to me to do so) and got my right hand under the seal by her chin and pulled up
(but i think her hand beat me to it as well...but babygirl..i was right there on that neck seal with you!)
Somebody asked later "why didn't you just cut her out of her drysuit?" Answer...Even if we DID carry that kind of implimentation in cave diving
(which we dont) you don't "extricate" a conscious dive buddy from her $1600.00 suit without risk of being killed yourself later when she is able! And Denise remained conscious to give request and direction...right down to "Dave...my pee valve...ya gotta disconnect it..."
(Im just glad she has the latest and greatest "quick release" cause I would have been in a world of hurt if it was the old style
After getting her completely out of all her gear...minutes into the topside response...her color was NOT getting much better...and I realized something was still very wrong. I had no idea what...but that color should have been flushing back in and it was not. That is when I scanned the entire JB park looking for an O2 bottle. We ALWAYS put a 100% 02 bottle down by the water's edge...ALWAYS...just as a response tool. But everybody in the cave family had gone on a "big dive" shortly before we left for our dive. My 02 was being used by somebody else and so was everybody elses. All the O2 bottles were down at the mouth of the cave and there wasn't a damn bottle lying around that whole park.
(All i could think to myself in that moment was "all these tec divers comin and goin on the fourth of July...and the moment Denise and I are up here in trouble...there isnt a single diver to be seen nor a bottle of O2 anywhere! are you kidding me??!!")
I had a 40% "travel mix" bottle in the truck and realized it was all that was available. Figuring there is no way to direct the bystanders for THIS, I tried to get out of my gear
(two LP112'S and two AL80 stage bottles) by "dumping" it at the waist and shoulder straps. Bad idea. I turtled and couldn't get out. Bystanders said "can we help?" I said Yes..jump in the water and grab these shoulder straps and lift! they did and I slid right out.
(New skill to practice? maybe?!) I got out of the water and sprinted up the hill to the truck, grabbed the bottle, sprinted back, put my stage reg on it...and leaned over Denise and said "Baby girl, I got fourty mix here...can you take a reg in your mouth and breath from this?" She noded yes and took it and began breathing. Within 5 minutes of that, the ambulance arrived.
We always have O2 on hand and no, we dont carry non-rebreather type demand valve medical supplies. That's like asking roofers if they carry "backboards and C collers" in their truck for spine immobiliztion when one of them slips off the roof! NOBODY does. But we ALWAYS have 100% 02 around for this diving.
(I take it with me on open water dive boats too) It was just "horse**** bad luck"
(as my father would say) that not a dang bottle was topside. Somebody asked later "Why didn't you swim down back into the cave and grab one?" Well... the immediate and honest answer is...it never occured to me! The "hindsight" answer, however, is 1: removing somebody's O2 from a technical dive location in the State of FL is a felony. and 2: I really don't know how practical attempting such with all my gear on would have been, knowing I had 40% top side. Denise was conscious, out of her gear and did not appear to be worsening in those minutes. In my mind, at that moment, getting the 40 mix just seemed like the "right thing to do."
I truly believe the following: That had she been another 100 feet in the cave...had she been another five minutes bottom time...had she lost consciousness at the mouth of the cave before attempting an emergency accent...she would NOT be with us today. In "Rescue Diving" there is a "tiny window" where "doing everything RIGHT"...actually matters because the truth is..in the vast majority of scenario's.... the endangered diver either would have made it anyway...or they WEREN'T gonna make it no matter WHAT you do. That is just the reality of it all. In my heart of hearts... I believe God gave Denise that little warning saying.. "Not your time today, babygirl...you need to turn NOW." She listened and HAULED _SS out of that cave.
(Nobody was gonna help her move faster...only keep up with her...which is what I did.)
Top side, there is no way to know the answer to the question "At what moment did gas exchange in her lungs cease to continue it's downward spiral towards death and stablize, and then slowly begin life sustaining exchange?" The ER doctor told Keven and me "she was within 1-3 minutes of complete failure and certain death. The PH level in her lung tissues tell us this." If that's true...then all i can say is... Denise is one of those "one in a million scenarios" where everything went "right" and she get's to retell the story. And THAT only happens because God's just not done with her yet.
And amen to that, sister, neither are we.