DocWong
Contributor
Getting Bent in Monterey!
Sunday April 1st (nope, this was not a joke) after a great day of recreational diving, about 2 hours post dive I started getting symptoms of DCS and went to CHOMP (Community Hospital of the Monterey Penninsula.) Symptoms were dizziness, visual disturbances, right arm numbness and skin blotches on my back. Staggering to my van to get to my oxygen deco bottle, the arm numbness and visual disturbances disappear after a few minutes of breathing on oxygen. Getting to the hospital, I contuned on oxygen and the dizziness and skin blotches continue to reduce. After a couple of hours Dr. Hattori, one of the top DCS docs, does a thorough neurological exam and decides that I don't need a chamber ride and I'm released that evening.
That night I go to sleep breathing off an oxygen kit and wake up symptom free and remain so 6 days later as I do this writup.
This was totally unexpected as our profiles were recreational and within NDL aka Minimum Deco with nice slow ascents. The only factor out of the ordinary was that I did a lot of heavy lifting immediately after the last dive.
After the day's dive was over, Alan Studley and I decide to go to Turtle Bay for something to eat. Getting out of my van, I notice a momentary slight tinge of dizziness and a little bit of congestion of my right ear. No concern.
I ordered and ate my meal and then I started getting dizzy. My right ear felt a little congested so I thought, no problem a bit of inner ear squeeze for the congestion and this should clear in about a half an hour.
Then I noticed a slight visual disturbanve in my left field of vision. Hm.... it does go away in the next 5 minutes.
With Alans scuba experience, we were having a great time in sharing stories, but then the dizziness got worse. I moved my head quickly and almost fell over! By this time Alan was noticing that I wasn't looking so good. It's then that I lifted my right arm and it felt heavy and numb. Crap: this is not a mechanical squeeze of my inner iear and I was definitely showing signs of DCS. I took off my hat and Alan said I was pale and clammy looking. We start heading for the hospital.
I could not have walked out of the resturaunt without holding onto him. Throught this ordeal, I had no fatigue and actually felt great. Even still had good situational awareness, being dizzy, I still spotted that Alan was about to run a red light at an intersection. I told him to call the hospital and the Pacific Grove Hyperbaric Chamber ready. I knew it was a chamber run by some dedicated volunteers and would need some warning. I had Alan call Phil Sammet as I knew his wife Kim was a volunteer at the chamber too.
The day's diving was awesome, Tom got to dive in his new drysuit, he was warm and at 44 degrees, that was an accomplishment! I got to try out the Silent Submersion N-19, a 40 lb nickel metal hydride battery powered tow behind scooter. Wow, how many adjectives can one use! And then I got to dive with Phil and Alan on scooters out by the Anchor Farm. No anchors, but we found the shale beds and scootering is always fun and I'm really enjoying the Gavin scooter.
Getting back to K dock, I helped lift the 3 scooters off the boat. No big deal, I've got a very good back. I know a good chiropractor. ;-)
Lesson learned: Even though I thought I was conservative in my diving behaviour, I wasn't. I was first on the boat. I usually relax and hang out on the surface for a bit. Then I lifted 3 scooters out of the water (probably holding my breath doing it) and post dive helped get them off the boat. I was complacent and had the thought that since this was a recreational dive, that I didn't have to be as careful as when I do deco dives.
Lesson Learned: DCS is more real than I thought and my overconfidence led me to ignore what I already knew.
Special thanks to Alan Studley who stayed with me thru this ordeal and followed me home, making sure I was ok. Oh yea, he also brought 2 scooters on the dive that I got a chance to play with, that was a treat!
And thanks to Beto Nava who drove down to my house to lend me his oxygen kit so I could sleep with oxygen that night. And to Tom with his Sea Turkey (boat), ever being more conservative and safe!
After about 170 dives this last year, plenty of training and practice, there's always more to learn!
Harry (Doc) Wong
Chiropractor, Nutritionist www.docwong.com
Pres. Northern Calif Oceans Found. www.oceansfoundation.org
California Ships2Reefs www.cs2r.org
Sinking a 500' ship in Monterey is a good thing!
Sunday April 1st (nope, this was not a joke) after a great day of recreational diving, about 2 hours post dive I started getting symptoms of DCS and went to CHOMP (Community Hospital of the Monterey Penninsula.) Symptoms were dizziness, visual disturbances, right arm numbness and skin blotches on my back. Staggering to my van to get to my oxygen deco bottle, the arm numbness and visual disturbances disappear after a few minutes of breathing on oxygen. Getting to the hospital, I contuned on oxygen and the dizziness and skin blotches continue to reduce. After a couple of hours Dr. Hattori, one of the top DCS docs, does a thorough neurological exam and decides that I don't need a chamber ride and I'm released that evening.
That night I go to sleep breathing off an oxygen kit and wake up symptom free and remain so 6 days later as I do this writup.
This was totally unexpected as our profiles were recreational and within NDL aka Minimum Deco with nice slow ascents. The only factor out of the ordinary was that I did a lot of heavy lifting immediately after the last dive.
After the day's dive was over, Alan Studley and I decide to go to Turtle Bay for something to eat. Getting out of my van, I notice a momentary slight tinge of dizziness and a little bit of congestion of my right ear. No concern.
I ordered and ate my meal and then I started getting dizzy. My right ear felt a little congested so I thought, no problem a bit of inner ear squeeze for the congestion and this should clear in about a half an hour.
Then I noticed a slight visual disturbanve in my left field of vision. Hm.... it does go away in the next 5 minutes.
With Alans scuba experience, we were having a great time in sharing stories, but then the dizziness got worse. I moved my head quickly and almost fell over! By this time Alan was noticing that I wasn't looking so good. It's then that I lifted my right arm and it felt heavy and numb. Crap: this is not a mechanical squeeze of my inner iear and I was definitely showing signs of DCS. I took off my hat and Alan said I was pale and clammy looking. We start heading for the hospital.
I could not have walked out of the resturaunt without holding onto him. Throught this ordeal, I had no fatigue and actually felt great. Even still had good situational awareness, being dizzy, I still spotted that Alan was about to run a red light at an intersection. I told him to call the hospital and the Pacific Grove Hyperbaric Chamber ready. I knew it was a chamber run by some dedicated volunteers and would need some warning. I had Alan call Phil Sammet as I knew his wife Kim was a volunteer at the chamber too.
The day's diving was awesome, Tom got to dive in his new drysuit, he was warm and at 44 degrees, that was an accomplishment! I got to try out the Silent Submersion N-19, a 40 lb nickel metal hydride battery powered tow behind scooter. Wow, how many adjectives can one use! And then I got to dive with Phil and Alan on scooters out by the Anchor Farm. No anchors, but we found the shale beds and scootering is always fun and I'm really enjoying the Gavin scooter.
Getting back to K dock, I helped lift the 3 scooters off the boat. No big deal, I've got a very good back. I know a good chiropractor. ;-)
Lesson learned: Even though I thought I was conservative in my diving behaviour, I wasn't. I was first on the boat. I usually relax and hang out on the surface for a bit. Then I lifted 3 scooters out of the water (probably holding my breath doing it) and post dive helped get them off the boat. I was complacent and had the thought that since this was a recreational dive, that I didn't have to be as careful as when I do deco dives.
Lesson Learned: DCS is more real than I thought and my overconfidence led me to ignore what I already knew.
Special thanks to Alan Studley who stayed with me thru this ordeal and followed me home, making sure I was ok. Oh yea, he also brought 2 scooters on the dive that I got a chance to play with, that was a treat!
And thanks to Beto Nava who drove down to my house to lend me his oxygen kit so I could sleep with oxygen that night. And to Tom with his Sea Turkey (boat), ever being more conservative and safe!
After about 170 dives this last year, plenty of training and practice, there's always more to learn!
Harry (Doc) Wong
Chiropractor, Nutritionist www.docwong.com
Pres. Northern Calif Oceans Found. www.oceansfoundation.org
California Ships2Reefs www.cs2r.org
Sinking a 500' ship in Monterey is a good thing!