gangrel441
Contributor
....through the chamber dive program at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL! 
First and hopefully only chamber ride I'll be taking. Quite an experience. We did a 130 ft dive for a total dive time of 37 minutes with a 10 minute stop at 20 ft and a 6 minute stop at 5 ft.
Remarkable how often one has to clear when under pressure in the chamber. Much more often than on a dive. Also, got narked for the first time. Kind of the feeling of "woah, if I was standing up, I think I would need to sit down now..."
Breathing turbulence is pretty cool to experence, as was the tingling in the extremeties that comes from breathing the increased PPO2. I don't recall that sensation on any of my deep dives, but the chamber operator warned us in advance that that was a sensation we could expect to feel.
Vocal changes were also pretty cool. We all sounded like we were breathing helium, but the effect wore off gradually as we ascended. Guess that one gets lost in translation when you're breathing off a gre and not using a com.
Temperature swings wer from about 70 to 90, even with AC.
All in all, a cool experience that all divers should probably do at some point, as it takes some of the fear and mystery out of it if you ever have to do a ride...don't know if "enjoyable" is a word I would use to describe it though...
Big kudos to Lutheran General for running this program. I understand they are the only multi person chamber in Illinois, and one of only three in the continental US that runs a chamber dive program. I hope more hospitals can someday get past the liability issues and realize what a great educational opportunity this is!
First and hopefully only chamber ride I'll be taking. Quite an experience. We did a 130 ft dive for a total dive time of 37 minutes with a 10 minute stop at 20 ft and a 6 minute stop at 5 ft.
Remarkable how often one has to clear when under pressure in the chamber. Much more often than on a dive. Also, got narked for the first time. Kind of the feeling of "woah, if I was standing up, I think I would need to sit down now..."
Breathing turbulence is pretty cool to experence, as was the tingling in the extremeties that comes from breathing the increased PPO2. I don't recall that sensation on any of my deep dives, but the chamber operator warned us in advance that that was a sensation we could expect to feel.
Vocal changes were also pretty cool. We all sounded like we were breathing helium, but the effect wore off gradually as we ascended. Guess that one gets lost in translation when you're breathing off a gre and not using a com.
Temperature swings wer from about 70 to 90, even with AC.
All in all, a cool experience that all divers should probably do at some point, as it takes some of the fear and mystery out of it if you ever have to do a ride...don't know if "enjoyable" is a word I would use to describe it though...
Big kudos to Lutheran General for running this program. I understand they are the only multi person chamber in Illinois, and one of only three in the continental US that runs a chamber dive program. I hope more hospitals can someday get past the liability issues and realize what a great educational opportunity this is!
