Diving again after an incident

[hopashore]

I'm not sure if that really addresses your question but I hope it does... and now a question for you: How do you think *you* will respond and/or what do you think you'll need in order to cope the way you want?

R..

R.,
No that is definitely helpful. Very much so

And a very good question, one that I only partially know the answer too.

I'm not prone to panicking in general. Even right after she died, I was the one making phone calls and figuring out what to do next. Sort of those mind is a numb but body still functions kind of scenarios. Which obviously still isn't good while diving or doing anything potentially dangerous, but I also am good at recognizing being in that state and at that point would call off the dive if I felt too out of it.

That being said, the first time I went swimming in the ocean afterwards I was just swimming underwater, came up, and couldn't find my well, now ex-boyfriend and did start to panic. Just the disorientation of Something Not Right. Not total panic, but that feeling that something really bad just happened was the same as when mom died (I was dive buddies with some family friends who had come on vacation with us...we still had plenty of air but decided to go back to the boat and saw a dropped weight belt (which turned out to be my mom's) and then surfacing and seeing them doing CPR on the boat. Actually, that's what I think would be the biggest trigger...surfacing, which in the grand scheme of things is probably the safest place to have a flashback.

 

[ItsBruce]

I wanted to add something about "panic."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in diving, "panic" is different from being frightened or concerned. Panic comes from overloading the conscious mind, often by piling too many tasks on top of each other, and results in a shutdown of rational thought. Sometimes, it results in paralysis; sometimes in "tunnel vision;" and sometimes in irrational behavior.

When you can't find your dive buddy, you may be concerned or frightened or both, but so long as you are able to operate rationally, e.g. perform the proper functions, it is not "panic."

The net result of the foregoing is that you should thing about whether something may concern or frighten you or whether it may result in true "panic." Once you have thought that through, you may be in a better position to assess whether to dive.

 

[Diver0001]

Actually, all in all, your emotional state of mind comes across as pretty normal to me considering what happened to you.

I don't know if I can advise you on what to do because I don't know you very well but from the sounds of it I would think you could ease back into diving without too much trouble if you had a buddy who was good enough at diving that you didn't need to 'take care' of them and someone who was able to take it slow and stick with you through this process.

Nothing you've said so far makes me think you need diving lessons per se.

R..

R.,
No that is definitely helpful. Very much so

And a very good question, one that I only partially know the answer too.

I'm not prone to panicking in general. Even right after she died, I was the one making phone calls and figuring out what to do next. Sort of those mind is a numb but body still functions kind of scenarios. Which obviously still isn't good while diving or doing anything potentially dangerous, but I also am good at recognizing being in that state and at that point would call off the dive if I felt too out of it.

That being said, the first time I went swimming in the ocean afterwards I was just swimming underwater, came up, and couldn't find my well, now ex-boyfriend and did start to panic. Just the disorientation of Something Not Right. Not total panic, but that feeling that something really bad just happened was the same as when mom died (I was dive buddies with some family friends who had come on vacation with us...we still had plenty of air but decided to go back to the boat and saw a dropped weight belt (which turned out to be my mom's) and then surfacing and seeing them doing CPR on the boat. Actually, that's what I think would be the biggest trigger...surfacing, which in the grand scheme of things is probably the safest place to have a flashback.

 

[hopashore]

Well...success!!!!!!!!!

I'm outing her because she's awesome...katepnatl went with me down at Lake Jocassee in SC. It was absolutely incredible. It was so different from where I had been before (lake vs ocean, fresh water vs salt, entering off the dock vs off a boat) so I think that was really helpful...even if the visibility wasn't as good! We went slowly and did lots of safety check stuff first above water, made sure I was comfortable, and it went fabulously. Everything came back really quickly...we stayed pretty shallow so there wasn't a ton to see but we went down to some platforms so she could do some drills and she showed me a couple different kinds of kicks (which was probably pretty amusing to watch me imitate considering we didn't discuss them at all above water). It took me a little bit to get decent buoyancy control again, particularly when trying to stay still but it got better until the very end when my tank started getting light so I think I just need some more practice. Which I definitely plan on getting

Aaaahhh, I'm so excited!!!!!!! I can't wait to go again...except now it's starting to get cold!

 

[buddhasummer]

I too am sorry for your loss. Others have given some awesome advice. I do hope you find some peace and can again enjoy diving, take it slow. Good luck.

 

[buddhasummer]

Well...success!!!!!!!!!

I'm outing her because she's awesome...katepnatl went with me down at Lake Jocassee in SC. It was absolutely incredible. It was so different from where I had been before (lake vs ocean, fresh water vs salt, entering off the dock vs off a boat) so I think that was really helpful...even if the visibility wasn't as good! We went slowly and did lots of safety check stuff first above water, made sure I was comfortable, and it went fabulously. Everything came back really quickly...we stayed pretty shallow so there wasn't a ton to see but we went down to some platforms so she could do some drills and she showed me a couple different kinds of kicks (which was probably pretty amusing to watch me imitate considering we didn't discuss them at all above water). It took me a little bit to get decent buoyancy control again, particularly when trying to stay still but it got better until the very end when my tank started getting light so I think I just need some more practice. Which I definitely plan on getting

Aaaahhh, I'm so excited!!!!!!! I can't wait to go again...except now it's starting to get cold!

Awesome thats great to hear.

 

[Guba]

Well done! Welcome back to the diving community!

 

[lv2dive]

Well...success!!!!!!!!! ...katepnatl went with me down at Lake Jocassee in SC. It was absolutely incredible. It was so different from where I had been before (lake vs ocean, fresh water vs salt, entering off the dock vs off a boat) so I think that was really helpful...even if the visibility wasn't as good! We went slowly and did lots of safety check stuff first above water, made sure I was comfortable, and it went fabulously. Everything came back really quickly...we stayed pretty shallow so there wasn't a ton to see but we went down to some platforms so she could do some drills and she showed me a couple different kinds of kicks (which was probably pretty amusing to watch me imitate considering we didn't discuss them at all above water). It took me a little bit to get decent buoyancy control again, particularly when trying to stay still but it got better until the very end when my tank started getting light so I think I just need some more practice. Which I definitely plan on getting

Aaaahhh, I'm so excited!!!!!!! I can't wait to go again...except now it's starting to get cold!

Totally missed this post until today! Kara, it was a lot of fun to dive with you... you had a huge grin on your face the whole time, even though we really weren't doing much but swimming around looking at rocks! It did not, in any way, shape, or form, look like you had been out of the water for three + years (or that you were in a BP/W for the first time, either)! As I said, someone did a good job teaching you some basics of buoyancy and trim for you to have retained them after all this time.

I was really glad to be a part of your re-introduction to the joys of breathing compressed air. Looking forward to doing it again sometime soon! Off the Wall has heated boats so maybe we can make one more trip this fall before the water turns too cold!

Welcome back!