Spectre
Contributor
Posted on behalf of a friend of mine:
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One Day @ a Time
Hello everyone, I have a dive experience Id like to share with fellow divers, the result of which has changed diving for me. As many of you know I purchased my very first rebreather, the Inspiration, this year. I was fortunate enough to have both the time and $ to get out and get my certification in April. Along with several other divers, I took off to Hal Watts Forty Fathom Grotto and did 3 days, 8+ hours underwater, learning, training, and practicing rebreather skills.
As many of you know, I was the Production Manager @ Cis-Lunar, a fully Closed Circuit Rebreather (CCR), made for the Wakulla II Project a few years ago. (http://www.usdct.org/index.htm, see link if youre interested). At Cis-Lunar I learned that rebreathers were going to be the future for all of us underwater. As a result, I kept a watchful eye on several of the rebreather manufacturers.
After returning from Florida, I took a weekend off and proceeded to wait several weeks for the New England weather to cooperate. I also had trouble with the unit fitting me. I installed a new hole on my custom McGrath harness and was able to solve the problem. Yes its fits now J.
Finally, another rebreather diver Steve, and I, did our first New England rebreather dive together with Cape Ann Divers, on the Poling. The dive was a learning experience as we were in the COLD northeast again, 38 degrees, 70ft., and my right DRY glove wasnt on properly. As a result, within 20 minutes, my hand was freezing; time to go up! All in all, we both had an OK dive, but could see we had a way to go with respect to practicing with our new equipment.
The following Saturday, I booked both a morning and afternoon dive with Cape Ann Divers. We headed out to Kettle Island. Upon entering the water, I realized I was probably a bit lightly weighted but felt ok to continue the dive. As instructed, I did a procedure referred to as the duck & tuck, (head first, feet up dive, to descend, according to the Rebreather Manual). After reaching the bottom of the anchor and hooking up a reel, I headed to a little deeper water. I ended up hooking up a second reel and was able to reach a maximum of 70ft. Poor visibility, cold water, and just being bored, I turned around and headed back. During my swim back I was having trouble with my buoyancy. Upon reaching 30ft. much sooner that I would have liked, I decided to dump all the gas I could from my reabreather, in hopes to remain in the water to continue back to the anchor to retrieve my reel. Despite my efforts to remain in the water, I found myself on the surface. I vented all buoyancy, and re-descended following the duck and tuck procedure. I retrieved my reel and proceeded to come up the anchor line without incident.
Once back in the boat, I noticed that my left ear was blocked. My first though was that I had water in the ear. However, that theory felt a bit strange, since I dive with a dry hood. But not a problem, it should go away, so I thought.
We headed up to Braces Cove for a second dive. I sat out the dive, as I wanted the surface time for the next dive on the Poling. After unloading and reloading new passengers, we headed back out to the Poling for the afternoon dive. As a result of my ear being blocked, I decided to forego the duck and tuck procedure. Rather, I would add a dive light for additional weight compensation, to assist in my standard decent procedure. The dive was nice and easy, with one funny thing that happened. As I swam alongside the wreck, my light fell out of the harness where it had been clipped to my body. I picked it up, swam on top of the deck of the Poling, and reattached the light to my harness. I managed a couple of laps around the outside of the wreck and had finally enjoyed a dive with out any real issues.
Come morning time, my ear still was blocked. I decided to call a doctor to have it looked at, thinking perhaps there was a chance it could be infected. Upon examination as well a hearing test, the doctors diagnosis was that Id damaged my middle ear, permanently!
The doctor and I discussed diving and equalization. He asked me several questions about pain, vertigo, and if there had been any signs of blood. I explained I had no problems whatsoever. The doctor seemed quite puzzled that Id not had any signs of vertigo. He noted that the outer ear was completely in tact, which also seemed puzzling to him. So how/why did the inner ear get damaged? Currently, the doctor just isnt sure. He scheduled me for an MRI for additional evaluation. He also prescribed several Steroid injections to help reduce swelling and possibly bring the tubal connection back. He indicated there is a very remote possibility that time could heal the inner ear.
Im hoping to get everyone I know, to stop and think a minute next time you make a decent. I had never heard of anyone loosing their hearing from diving and had I, I would have read more on the subject. Ive also been reading everything I can from DAN and others who all say to descend feet first as much as possible. This allows gas to come up to the ears naturally. I have my ideas as to what happened, but they are only my ideas. I wanted to give my fellow divers something to consider when descending and equalizing while diving.
Upon the advise of my doctor, I am taking time off from diving in hopes that my ear will recover. Ill be at the meetings when I can. Please pass this on to anyone who may benefit from it.
-Paul
-------
One Day @ a Time
Hello everyone, I have a dive experience Id like to share with fellow divers, the result of which has changed diving for me. As many of you know I purchased my very first rebreather, the Inspiration, this year. I was fortunate enough to have both the time and $ to get out and get my certification in April. Along with several other divers, I took off to Hal Watts Forty Fathom Grotto and did 3 days, 8+ hours underwater, learning, training, and practicing rebreather skills.
As many of you know, I was the Production Manager @ Cis-Lunar, a fully Closed Circuit Rebreather (CCR), made for the Wakulla II Project a few years ago. (http://www.usdct.org/index.htm, see link if youre interested). At Cis-Lunar I learned that rebreathers were going to be the future for all of us underwater. As a result, I kept a watchful eye on several of the rebreather manufacturers.
After returning from Florida, I took a weekend off and proceeded to wait several weeks for the New England weather to cooperate. I also had trouble with the unit fitting me. I installed a new hole on my custom McGrath harness and was able to solve the problem. Yes its fits now J.
Finally, another rebreather diver Steve, and I, did our first New England rebreather dive together with Cape Ann Divers, on the Poling. The dive was a learning experience as we were in the COLD northeast again, 38 degrees, 70ft., and my right DRY glove wasnt on properly. As a result, within 20 minutes, my hand was freezing; time to go up! All in all, we both had an OK dive, but could see we had a way to go with respect to practicing with our new equipment.
The following Saturday, I booked both a morning and afternoon dive with Cape Ann Divers. We headed out to Kettle Island. Upon entering the water, I realized I was probably a bit lightly weighted but felt ok to continue the dive. As instructed, I did a procedure referred to as the duck & tuck, (head first, feet up dive, to descend, according to the Rebreather Manual). After reaching the bottom of the anchor and hooking up a reel, I headed to a little deeper water. I ended up hooking up a second reel and was able to reach a maximum of 70ft. Poor visibility, cold water, and just being bored, I turned around and headed back. During my swim back I was having trouble with my buoyancy. Upon reaching 30ft. much sooner that I would have liked, I decided to dump all the gas I could from my reabreather, in hopes to remain in the water to continue back to the anchor to retrieve my reel. Despite my efforts to remain in the water, I found myself on the surface. I vented all buoyancy, and re-descended following the duck and tuck procedure. I retrieved my reel and proceeded to come up the anchor line without incident.
Once back in the boat, I noticed that my left ear was blocked. My first though was that I had water in the ear. However, that theory felt a bit strange, since I dive with a dry hood. But not a problem, it should go away, so I thought.
We headed up to Braces Cove for a second dive. I sat out the dive, as I wanted the surface time for the next dive on the Poling. After unloading and reloading new passengers, we headed back out to the Poling for the afternoon dive. As a result of my ear being blocked, I decided to forego the duck and tuck procedure. Rather, I would add a dive light for additional weight compensation, to assist in my standard decent procedure. The dive was nice and easy, with one funny thing that happened. As I swam alongside the wreck, my light fell out of the harness where it had been clipped to my body. I picked it up, swam on top of the deck of the Poling, and reattached the light to my harness. I managed a couple of laps around the outside of the wreck and had finally enjoyed a dive with out any real issues.
Come morning time, my ear still was blocked. I decided to call a doctor to have it looked at, thinking perhaps there was a chance it could be infected. Upon examination as well a hearing test, the doctors diagnosis was that Id damaged my middle ear, permanently!
The doctor and I discussed diving and equalization. He asked me several questions about pain, vertigo, and if there had been any signs of blood. I explained I had no problems whatsoever. The doctor seemed quite puzzled that Id not had any signs of vertigo. He noted that the outer ear was completely in tact, which also seemed puzzling to him. So how/why did the inner ear get damaged? Currently, the doctor just isnt sure. He scheduled me for an MRI for additional evaluation. He also prescribed several Steroid injections to help reduce swelling and possibly bring the tubal connection back. He indicated there is a very remote possibility that time could heal the inner ear.
Im hoping to get everyone I know, to stop and think a minute next time you make a decent. I had never heard of anyone loosing their hearing from diving and had I, I would have read more on the subject. Ive also been reading everything I can from DAN and others who all say to descend feet first as much as possible. This allows gas to come up to the ears naturally. I have my ideas as to what happened, but they are only my ideas. I wanted to give my fellow divers something to consider when descending and equalizing while diving.
Upon the advise of my doctor, I am taking time off from diving in hopes that my ear will recover. Ill be at the meetings when I can. Please pass this on to anyone who may benefit from it.
-Paul
