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That experience just sucks Wylerbear. I know it can happen, but it just shouldn't, and - you would have thought that a physician from Hawaii would know something about DCS. Thanks for sharing your story so others may become better prepared for when caca hits fan. I've never been a physician so I do not know how challenging it may be to get things right, but I have been examined by a few over the decades whom I wouldn't trust with anything more complicated than a band-aid.
Your tale, in addition to some others I've heard and even seen really drives home the need to call DAN at the firs sign of problems, talk with a Dive Doc person to person, and have good patient info in mind as you then encounter the ER Doc. At the other end of the possibilities, I'm sure that at some chamber clinics - if one arrives with a DAN card and even a hint of a problem, there's going to be at least one chamber ride, needed or not.
My father received some chamber rides at a privately owned facility in Lubbock for wound treatment, and in visiting with the owner Doc, he told me of a young fellow he treated for DCS after ascending the 900 ft elevator ride at Carlsbad Caverns - at least a day after the elevator. What baloney.
I have considered carrying an Oxygen bottle with me in case of time like you described, or maybe even using is after a day's dives as a prophylactic, but I fear I might mask symptoms, enter a state of thinking I'm fine, only to learn the hard way that I complicated things. That is a part of my nature.
Having a copy of DAN's 5 minute neurological exam and having it administered by an experienced dive buddy might be good. I'll search for that can add it here later....
<edit> I just spoke with Marty the Medic at DAN. He's going to email me a copy of the exam from the course they offer, and I'll post it later today here.
Your tale, in addition to some others I've heard and even seen really drives home the need to call DAN at the firs sign of problems, talk with a Dive Doc person to person, and have good patient info in mind as you then encounter the ER Doc. At the other end of the possibilities, I'm sure that at some chamber clinics - if one arrives with a DAN card and even a hint of a problem, there's going to be at least one chamber ride, needed or not.
My father received some chamber rides at a privately owned facility in Lubbock for wound treatment, and in visiting with the owner Doc, he told me of a young fellow he treated for DCS after ascending the 900 ft elevator ride at Carlsbad Caverns - at least a day after the elevator. What baloney.
I have considered carrying an Oxygen bottle with me in case of time like you described, or maybe even using is after a day's dives as a prophylactic, but I fear I might mask symptoms, enter a state of thinking I'm fine, only to learn the hard way that I complicated things. That is a part of my nature.
I think you'd need to simply include that along with all other symptoms when you talk to a Dive Doc. I don't think you have ready access to DAN Docs in the UK, but y'all seem to have a different system over there.simonspear:
Having a copy of DAN's 5 minute neurological exam and having it administered by an experienced dive buddy might be good. I'll search for that can add it here later....
<edit> I just spoke with Marty the Medic at DAN. He's going to email me a copy of the exam from the course they offer, and I'll post it later today here.
