Hey guys! I'm back from Table Rock...I SO appreciate the feedback I got here! Unfortunately, I only got email notification of the one from Basscat earlier and then this latest one from Boardndave but either way...all of the feedback is awesome. I have to say the weekend (for me) did not go as planned. My husband is now an open water certified diver and we have his paperwork to send in. Me, on the other hand will be making the drive once again in 2 weeks to get this...do my last 20 min leisure dive. Here's a quick synopsis:
I had a cold about 2 weeks ago. After about a week, it seemed to have cleared up for the most part other than a little sinus drainage that was no trouble at all. I took Thursday off work just to chill out, push fluids and vitamin C and rest (I felt just fine, just had a good excuse to take an extra day off). Anyway, we got to our room Friday evening, had a nice dinner, soaked in the Jacuzzi/hot tub for about 30 min. and went back to our room. Weather could not have been better...upper 80's Friday through Sunday. We could actually sit on the bank (Saturday was at Spider Beach, Sunday at Dewey Short) and not be either hot or cold! There was shade in the afternoon when it did warm up but the sun was nice in the morning. Water temperature was 68 degrees.
Dive 1: Our first dive went great...got most of the "hard" stuff out of the way right off the bat which I was thankful for. I had trouble in class in the pool with mask removal as I'm a natural nose breather so even with practice, and mastering it in the pool, I was still terrified to do it in deeper, murky water...why? No idea. I attributed my trouble breathing to just being over excited, semi-fearful, 3' visibility (even though they said it was 5', there was no way.)I found it strange that I was having a bit of a problem catching my breath once we were on top of the water...even just floating...rapid breathing as if I had been power walking or taken an easy jog. I also commented to my husband what a bad headache I had underwater.
Dive 2: Easier skills, not as frightening & I tried really hard to calm myself and consciously take things slower and not feel pressure to hurry through the skills. After the second dive though, I was having more trouble catching my breath at the surface and starting to cough a lot. I knew it wasn't a good sign & I wondered what I could possibly be doing wrong or psyching myself out about and my wheels were turning a mile a minute trying to figure it all out. I'm not one to walk away from a challenge and I knew I only had one more dive to do that day.
Between dive 2 & 3 we were to go to the marina and get our tanks filled. The shore where we dove from was down a steep hill, fresh gravel and some sand...hiking up that hill with our tanks just about did me in...I had to stop several times to rest, cough, try to catch my breath.
Dive 3: Suiting back up to dive was a challenge and I knew I had something going on...but I wanted to just get through this one and I knew I'd be able to chill out the rest of the night. I knew I could do this. We had 3 skills to do. I got through the first two somehow but I was really feeling like I needed to call it quits and suck it up. The last skill was CESA. Our instructions were to do the skill and once at surface we were to manually inflate our BC's. By the time I hit the surface, my lungs were done. I had NO lung capacity left. There was NO way, I was going to be able to inflate, the harder I tried, the worse I felt. I was about 5' from the flag and didn't have the sense to fill my BC with air from my tank, so I tried to tread water, got a mouth full of water and a cramp in my left calf simultaneously. At this point it dawned on me that I needed to use my tank air to float...did that...worked out the cramp while practically hyperventilating my way to the flag where our instructor was patiently waiting for me. I admitted defeat and he and I went back to shore. My husband finished the dive with the Divemaster and we called it a night.
(Warning: Graphic...) That night, I took the longest, hottest shower I could stand and inhaled the steam as deeply as I could, coughing with every inhalation. After about 20 minutes of this, I started coughing up stuff. Everyone knows when a cough becomes productive, you want to get that stuff out of your lungs...so, spitting the stuff out with every cough...I'm seeing not clear but icky colored stuff...then it turns pink...then red. After 30 minutes of coughing up bloody mucus, I decided I'd sit out dive 4 tomorrow and get to the doctor as soon as we got home.
Sunday, Dive 4: We arrived at the dive site & talked to our Divemaster and Instructor...luckily, my husband and another couple were there a little early and were ready to go so he was able to get in and get his dive finished first. Once all the paperwork formalities were done and goodbyes said, we headed back to Kansas City.
Are all dive sites downhill, rocky & treacherous?!
We picked up our dog from where she had been staying and by the time we got home, unpacked the car and went back out again, the Urgent Care center had closed literally as we pulled in. You've seen the scene before...you pull up...the girl is turning the key in the lock...waving at you, "sorry, we're closed." We got back in the car, looked at the clock and it was 3 minutes before closing time...OOHhhh...that burned me. Anyway, making a really long story out of this...I saw my doctor today and have what he called "Asthmatic Bronchitis." A round of Levaquin (antibiotic) & Prednisone and he thinks I should be feeling much better by Thursday (today is Monday), if not, let him know and we'll look at the possibility of Pneumonia but right now, this is my story.
@Boardndave, We are working with The Dive Shop in Merriam, KS.
P.S. They're doing another check-out dive in two weeks so we'll be making the trip back down...this time to Beaver Lake. All I need to do is the last dive and CESA.
