Greetings,
Would like to share a very scary story. Took the Wife and Son out to one of the local dive sites by boat. Wife and Son, who were dive buddies before, did a dive to 80ft for 29 minutes, this was her first dive of the day. Most of the time the dive was at 50-60ft as my Son was chasing fish. I watched them come up the anchor line (Guam diving very clear water 88 deg) very slowly and saw them do their safety stop at 15 for 3 minutes. On the surface I got my Son in the boat and when I saw the Wife she had large amounts of blood in her mask. After getting her onboard she sat down and told me her stomach hurt alittle and she was cleaning the blood from her nose. She didnt have any problems with her limbs and she talked to me. After my buddy and I did our dive, we got back to the boat in 20 minutes as my buddy was a new diver and he sucked down his tank fairly quickly. By this time my Son said "Mom is laid out in the boat". She was unresponsive! After getting the boat back to dock and getting to the ER she was transported to the Chamber on COMNAVMAR. By the time she got into the chamber she was complaining about shoulder pain, tooth pain, and her legs were completely paralized. They went to 60ft and the symptoms did not go away so they went to 165ft. At 165ft the tooth and shoulder pain went away almost immediately, but she still could not use her legs. After 10 hours in the chamber and receiving O2 treatments she finally started to regain the use of her legs. While in the chamber she told me she felt slight tightness in her chest at 80ft and by the time she got to 15 ft the pain was intense. After 40 hours in the chamber she walked out with no symptoms! She was taken to the hospital for overnight evaluation. In the hospital she said she cant put her thoughts together like she use to and she her balance is now alittle off. After being checked by the US Navy Undersea Medical Officer, he wants her back today to get another complete neuro exam and possibly another chamber ride. Dr's diagnosis is AGE with DCS Type 2. She cannot get in the water for a minimum of 3 months after she is checked by the Dr again to see if he will clear her for diving.
Lessons Learned:
1. If you have a diver that is even remotly acting not right get them to chamber for evaluation. The AGE started after 20 minutes when I was in the water. Dont assume someone is ok. Assume the worst first.
2. Know where the local chamber are. I as a Diver for over 10 years with hundreds of dives thinking about the chamber is one of the last things on my mind. Know where this life saving equipment is at all times! Dont rely on the ambulance to know where it is, they sometimes dont know where they are.
3. "Hooyah" US Navy Divers. They took my wife from near death or paralysis and brought her back to life.
Would like to share a very scary story. Took the Wife and Son out to one of the local dive sites by boat. Wife and Son, who were dive buddies before, did a dive to 80ft for 29 minutes, this was her first dive of the day. Most of the time the dive was at 50-60ft as my Son was chasing fish. I watched them come up the anchor line (Guam diving very clear water 88 deg) very slowly and saw them do their safety stop at 15 for 3 minutes. On the surface I got my Son in the boat and when I saw the Wife she had large amounts of blood in her mask. After getting her onboard she sat down and told me her stomach hurt alittle and she was cleaning the blood from her nose. She didnt have any problems with her limbs and she talked to me. After my buddy and I did our dive, we got back to the boat in 20 minutes as my buddy was a new diver and he sucked down his tank fairly quickly. By this time my Son said "Mom is laid out in the boat". She was unresponsive! After getting the boat back to dock and getting to the ER she was transported to the Chamber on COMNAVMAR. By the time she got into the chamber she was complaining about shoulder pain, tooth pain, and her legs were completely paralized. They went to 60ft and the symptoms did not go away so they went to 165ft. At 165ft the tooth and shoulder pain went away almost immediately, but she still could not use her legs. After 10 hours in the chamber and receiving O2 treatments she finally started to regain the use of her legs. While in the chamber she told me she felt slight tightness in her chest at 80ft and by the time she got to 15 ft the pain was intense. After 40 hours in the chamber she walked out with no symptoms! She was taken to the hospital for overnight evaluation. In the hospital she said she cant put her thoughts together like she use to and she her balance is now alittle off. After being checked by the US Navy Undersea Medical Officer, he wants her back today to get another complete neuro exam and possibly another chamber ride. Dr's diagnosis is AGE with DCS Type 2. She cannot get in the water for a minimum of 3 months after she is checked by the Dr again to see if he will clear her for diving.
Lessons Learned:
1. If you have a diver that is even remotly acting not right get them to chamber for evaluation. The AGE started after 20 minutes when I was in the water. Dont assume someone is ok. Assume the worst first.
2. Know where the local chamber are. I as a Diver for over 10 years with hundreds of dives thinking about the chamber is one of the last things on my mind. Know where this life saving equipment is at all times! Dont rely on the ambulance to know where it is, they sometimes dont know where they are.
3. "Hooyah" US Navy Divers. They took my wife from near death or paralysis and brought her back to life.
