Diver recovers from 10/2004 accident

[pacificgal]

I owe my life to my two dive buddies, and hope to dive with them both again someday. They both said that it wasn't my fault, and that they would be willing to dive with me again, but I won't be doing it at Monastery. I had another incident with my reg. last October when I was in Cabo, I was at 50 ft. and my reg. quit giving me just air, I was getting a mixture of air and water. I switched to my secondary and it was the same thing. I flagged my buddy who then got the DM, and the DM assessed my attitude about it, didn't see any fear in my eyes so gave me his primary and used his secondary. We didn't immediately surface, we finished the dive, to which I ended up getting applause from the rest of the divers for not freaking out. I have survived much worse, faulty reg. at 50 ft. was nothing. At least the water was warm and he had enough air for the both of us.
I was happy to come across this board, I really didn't know what happened that day, and hearing these reports helps fill in some holes. All I know is that the water was really cold, about 46 degrees, my Henderson Hyperstretch wetsuit probably was what stood between having brain damage and not (which is a miracle I didn't sustain brain damage) the cold water probably helped too, and the fact that my dive buddies knew their CPR/mouth-to-mouth.
Some people may consider what I went through to be something unfortunate that happened, I see it as a blessing. I never would have appreciated life as much as I do now had I not almost lost it.
The moral of my story: know your limitations, have dive buddies you can trust, and go out and live your life, don't let it slip through your fingers without doing the things that you want to do.

 

[TSandM]

It's wonderful to read this. I worked for years in our local trauma hospital, and I took care of patients like you (not diving accidents, but others). We worked incredibly hard to keep people alive, but we almost never got to hear the end of the story. It's great to hear that you have recovered enough to go back to what gives you joy. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pacificgal]

Yeah, those were my other heroes. The EMT's, most especially my first doctor, an Internal Medicine or Cardiologist (also a diver) who climbed into the back of the ambulance to revive me again when they lost me on the way to the hospital, I pretty much skipped the ER and went straight to ICU. They never gave up on me there, even when it looked like the end, they still found specialist after specialist to try and help me.
I finally get to go back and see my first doctor in a couple weeks. I have since been back to thank and hug my ICU nurses, wonderful people to whom I owe everything.
Oh, speaking of owing everything, you should see what my insurance company has paid out on my behalf. Well over 1.5 million dollars now. Thank God for insurance.
I'm worth more alive now than dead

 

[riguerin]

Kristina,

What an amazing and inspirational story. Thanks for sharing. Hope your recovery continues to go well.

 

[Floridawannabe]

Like Penny said WOW Thank you so much for the good news. Welcome to the ScubaBoard. I am your age and it makes me think twice now about solo diving, especially with my high stress job. I am glad you are continuing with diving I pray you have a long and great life and great scuba diving.

Rick

 

[JustDiveIt]

Kristina,
Dittos on the "WOW"!!! Glad your back. The power of prayer is so awesome! Thanks for sharing your story. It touched my heart and renewed my faith. God has great plans for you!!

 

[Firediver]

Welcome Back.. Glad to hear you pulled throught <God's not Finished with you yet > All the best to you in your future of diving. Hope your diving is safe from here on in. Will pray you find a kidney transplant soon. All the best.

 

[liberato]

Here is the original mention of your accident.

 

[DandyDon]

I am very happy for you and wish you the very best in your continued recovery and diving.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I think that everyone who reads it will be enriched by it. I had a close call with a clogged vein while diving in Oct, and my new dive buddy had to cancel her first dive trip because of a Leukemia diagnosis, but these seem like minor nuisances compared to what you have survived so very well.

 

[ItsBruce]

The only thing I can add to what everyone else has said is that you have my belated prayers. I had not previously heard of the incident.