Teenager with DCS, mother in denial, treatment delayed

[pauldw]

I didn't think it was all that clear that--assuming this story is true--she was trying to get him to go back in the water so as to do IWR. The story is sketchy up through the dive part, until it goes into all the detail on the miraculous and dedicated work the mother did bringing the world's medical community together to help her son well after everything had hit the fan. Seems like all we really know is that bad things happen, sometimes because of the ascent, and sometime because of inexplicable bad luck, with one or the other happening to this kid, and that what's really dangerous is an oblivious parent.

IWR is nuts, for 99% of divers.

Chiropractors get degrees, but they do not get PhD degrees.

Boulderjohn should not leave us hanging like that.

 

[Esprise Me]

I didn't think it was all that clear that--assuming this story is true--she was trying to get him to go back in the water so as to do IWR.

Any idea what else she might have been thinking when she sent him back down to 25 feet to "simmer down?" Genuinely curious, no snark intended. I got nothin'.

 

[pauldw]

I don't have any idea what "simmer down" means in this context. It usually means to calm down if one is overly excited. She said that he said that the only concern he had was about losing his spear. She said she had no concern at all about DCS. So why would she send him back down for IWR if neither he nor she thought there was a DCS problem? I don't know. Maybe he was hyper. She doesn't seem like a rocket scientist, so I'm having a hard time visualizing her thinking up sending him down for IWR at all, especially given that signs of trouble apparently didn't show up until later. Seems ambiguous to me.

 

[Dan]

“….He had a very typical 1st drop in 90 ft. of water, with a dive buddy and did his safety stop….”

No comment from his dive buddy?

 

[jeffsky29]

This can’t be for real. If it is and her kid is under age, someone needs to call child welfare to investigate this cluster f—k

 

[Russjstewart]

In past conversations with people who learned to dive many decades ago, I have gotten the impression that back in the day going back in the water like that when DCS symptoms appeared was common practice. In fact, I got the idea that she took a step up in terms of safety from that practice by having someone else go with him.

Bring a diver of a certain age Mike Nelson and Sea Hunt was certainly a source of (dis?) information. I am pretty sure IWR featured in a couple of episodes. Note edited as the first post was blank

 

[Kay Dee]

I don't know about that link but I've got a bit of a bad story about chiropractors. In 2009 I started noticing significant numbness in my hands and fingers. I assumed carpal tunnel as I've been a software engineer since 1997. Forget why I thought a chiropractor was a good idea but I went. They diagnosed carpal tunnel and hooked me up (improperly, I now know) to a TENS unit for a bit of a torture session. After three sessions, no change.

It ended up being a herniated disk combined with a genetic defect that nearly severed my spine between c2-c3 and also c4-c5. Was pretty obvious on an x-ray and even more so on the MRI and ct myelogram.

Had that chiro even bothered to do an x-ray (and they DID have one in the office) I probably could have caught it early before most of the cord damage was done.

Here's the deal, Chiropractors are PhD's. So a chirpractor can be called "dr. whatever" just like someone with a PhD in scuba diving is Dr. Whatever. What chiropractors are not are Medical Doctors or Doctctors of Osteopathic Medicine. Those two are typcally what a person thinks of when they go to the "doctor" for medical treatment. Chiropractars are legally prohibited from practicing medicine or writing a prescription for medication.

Have used chropracters on and off through my life and in general had good results. However, numerous visits a couple of years ago to try to alliavate shoulder pain and 'cure' the root cause actally made it worse. Why? Well, after finaly going for an x-ray and finding out what was wrong, the exercise the chiro did and had me do at home turns out was the worst thing to do for the actual complaint.

Now I am not knocking chiros, and the one I went to is well recommended, but they do not have x-ray vision, which in many cases is not neccessary, but.............

 

[Miyaru]

I'm wondering if it may be that she was so scared about her son having severe DCS, and she went into denial because she didn't want to face it. The brain is a weird thing.

This!

Ending up in a recompression chamber is still a taboo in many diving communities. One of the tell-tale signs is divers talking about deserved and undeserved DCS. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case in the local dive club, as all posts about the DCS incident have been removed by both the Sarasota Scuba Club and the mother.

Being open about it provides learning opportunities. 4 years ago I ended up in a recompression chamber and I decided to post it on SB. Cameron was the one who pointed me in the right direction, to get answers to why I got bent. I learned. I had many similar uneventful dives since.

Any idea what else she might have been thinking when she sent him back down to 25 feet to "simmer down?" Genuinely curious, no snark intended. I got nothin'.

There are many documentaries about scuba diving. In the series BBC Oceans there's an episode about compressor divers, where one of the locals gets bent. They send him down, with another diver massaging the bubbles out of him.
In other series, there's usually quite some drama added by the voice-overs about the bends and the need to go back down and fizz off.

So I think it's reasonable to assume that television plus the DCS taboo have lead to her decision.

In the books, denial is listed as one of the symptoms of DCS. Ask yourself Why?

There are many other sports where the injury incidence is much higher. Soccer/football are ranking pretty high on that list. Yet nobody thinks in terms like deserved or undeserved in case of a twisted knee or torn ligaments. And for those sports, there isn't a simple solution like going into a recompression chamber and walking out of it a couple of hours later, free of pain.

This diving community, SB, is large enough to make a start in lifting that taboo. There are many recompression chambers around the world, with heroes working as Dive Medical Technicians and Hyperbaric Doctors. They can fix the bends most successfully if you are with them within the first six hours.

Or you spend those first six hours in the Nile.....

 

[adurso]

I don't know about that link but I've got a bit of a bad story about chiropractors. In 2009 I started noticing significant numbness in my hands and fingers. I assumed carpal tunnel as I've been a software engineer since 1997. Forget why I thought a chiropractor was a good idea but I went. They diagnosed carpal tunnel and hooked me up (improperly, I now know) to a TENS unit for a bit of a torture session. After three sessions, no change.

It ended up being a herniated disk combined with a genetic defect that nearly severed my spine between c2-c3 and also c4-c5. Was pretty obvious on an x-ray and even more so on the MRI and ct myelogram.

Had that chiro even bothered to do an x-ray (and they DID have one in the office) I probably could have caught it early before most of the cord damage was done.

Here's the deal, Chiropractors are PhD's. So a chirpractor can be called "dr. whatever" just like someone with a PhD in scuba diving is Dr. Whatever. What chiropractors are not are Medical Doctors or Doctctors of Osteopathic Medicine. Those two are typcally what a person thinks of when they go to the "doctor" for medical treatment. Chiropractars are legally prohibited from practicing medicine or writing a prescription for medication.

Not to derail, but Chiropractors do not earn PhDs, their degree is “Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine”.

There is a group who believe that chiropractors can adjust away anything.

There have been a number of people who have suffered injury while being adjusted as they had the same issue as you; a herniated disc.

People who believe chiropractic can fix everything are quick to run to one no matter the injury.

 

[kaylee_ann]

This!

Ending up in a recompression chamber is still a taboo in many diving communities. One of the tell-tale signs is divers talking about deserved and undeserved DCS. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case in the local dive club, as all posts about the DCS incident have been removed by both the Sarasota Scuba Club and the mother.

Being open about it provides learning opportunities. 4 years ago I ended up in a recompression chamber and I decided to post it on SB. Cameron was the one who pointed me in the right direction, to get answers to why I got bent. I learned. I had many similar uneventful dives since.


There are many documentaries about scuba diving. In the series BBC Oceans there's an episode about compressor divers, where one of the locals gets bent. They send him down, with another diver massaging the bubbles out of him.
In other series, there's usually quite some drama added by the voice-overs about the bends and the need to go back down and fizz off.

So I think it's reasonable to assume that television plus the DCS taboo have lead to her decision.

In the books, denial is listed as one of the symptoms of DCS. Ask yourself Why?

There are many other sports where the injury incidence is much higher. Soccer/football are ranking pretty high on that list. Yet nobody thinks in terms like deserved or undeserved in case of a twisted knee or torn ligaments. And for those sports, there isn't a simple solution like going into a recompression chamber and walking out of it a couple of hours later, free of pain.

This diving community, SB, is large enough to make a start in lifting that taboo. There are many recompression chambers around the world, with heroes working as Dive Medical Technicians and Hyperbaric Doctors. They can fix the bends most successfully if you are with them within the first six hours.

Or you spend those first six hours in the Nile.....

I feel like if I were to ever get the bends, I’d feel like an absolute failure of a diver. Because “I know the risk factors and how to avoid getting them, yet got them anyway”. Which is obviously wrong, but…people make it sound like if you get bent, it’s because you were a dumb***.