Wondering what happened?

[Trever]

I hope that helps explain the situation that I was in.

I think that you explained it quite well.

What kinda bothers me right now is that during our class time we are taught that the first aid is to administer Oxygen for most all types of incidents.

Yes, administer O2 and Call EMS, That instructor should never be alowed to instruct again. Good grief what was he thinking.

My wife said that I was still very discolored and that my speech was very slurred while I was standing there trying to tell her I was OK. To her I was not OK and pretty disconnected..

She was right.

To her credit though I think she was in a state of shock. That is why I think that we were not in a good state of mind to make sure that we got the proper medical treatment right there on the spot...

Your are correct no one in your positions would have been in a state of mind to make a desision about proper medical treatment, that's why the instructor should have had an ounce of profesionalism and made sure that you went to the ER. WOW if I was your instructors boss he wouldn't be working for me anymore.

 

[Tollie]

I'm not familiar with the standards of all scuba-training agencies. If you are being taught by an Instructor from one of the major agencies you may wish to contact that agency. OOA training experiences are taught but not in this manner to my knowledge.

 

[DandyDon]

Glad you opened this thread for better coverage and as aid to others. We seem to agree that CO2 retention was involved, altho the cause seems different than Shallow Water Blackout. I need to go study that link. I can understand where swimming in a pool as a newbie, with training gear perhaps not the best, burning calories and O2 but increasingly shallow breathing could lead to CO2 retention and blackout, but the mechanism for free divers who incur SHBO is different, or so I thought. More study indicated.

You certainly should have left in an ambulance. No, neither of you were in good shape for that decision, but the Inst should have called Ems. Good for him/her for bringing you back from death (near death? nah, you were dead) but I'd like for you two to find a better Inst.

 

[Trever]

Good for him/her for bringing you back from death (near death? nah, you were dead)

Yeah that was a good save.

 

[TSandM]

This is almost certainly a shallow water blackout type of situation . . . I know you said you had simply been diving before the valve was shut, but as a brand new diver, you may be overventilating anyway, and therefore, when the valve was shut, your arterial pCO2 was lower than normal. The other possibility is that you have an abnormally dull response to elevated CO2 (this apparently is possible) and you just didn't get anxious enough to breathe before your pO2 fell to levels that caused unconsciousness. You can also get very lethargic and sedated from elevated CO2 levels, but I've not seen anyone lose consciousness just from CO2 -- it's always associated with low oxygen levels as well.

I think if someone is hauled out of a pool and requires resuscitation, they should at least be evaluated by paramedics. If the medics got there and you were awake and talking, with normal oxygen saturation, and the situation was explained, and you did not want to go to the ER at that point, it would have been reasonable not to. If the medics called me and explained that situation and said you were asymptomatic, with normal sats and a normal heart rhythm, I would not have insisted on transport. But I think that's a gutsy call for the instructor to make.

 

[mrjimboalaska]

Time for new instructor and to turn in the old one.................While there are MANY great ones, just a FEW bad ones can kill people......my 2 cents....

 

[wreckchick]

The exercise that you were supposed to be doing is NOT conducted that way. We do a shut down drill to show you what it feels like, but it's done stationary with the instructor's hand on the valve to turn it back on once the student has gone OOA. It is not to be done swimming around a pool.

I am personally FURIOUS at the instructor for not administering O2, not calling EMS and insisting that you were transported to the hospital for evaluation. Yes, you were in shock. Yes, your wife was in shock. That's why the "responsible" party should have taken the most conservative course of action which is NOT to send you home with a pat on the back.

In addition, there is a little piece of paper that your instructor should have filled out called an "Incident Report" and I would bet you large sums of money that it hasn't been done. You need to contact the LDS manager/owner and the training agency the instructor is associated with at the very least.

Very negligent behavior on his part.

Rachel

 

[TheRedHead]

We did the same exercise exactly the same way in our SSI OW class. We were told to stand up when we could no longer take a breath on the reg. We were told NOT to hold our breath. An instructor swam next to every student doing the exercise. Sounds like the instructor didn't take the same precautions as mine.

 

[douglasville diver]

We held the instructors wrist with one hand, while he stopped the flow of air once I felt the last gulp and there was no air to breath I squeezed his wrist and the valve was opened now we know what ooa feels like.
I can't imagine what the instructor was thinking by doing ooa this way much less not administering 02 and calling emt.
I'm so happy your here to talk about it , please don't let this end diving adventure,
I would suggest along with the others , that you find a better instructor!

 

[finley]

you were cyanotic?????that means you were without 02 for a awhile...and your instructor classmates,etc were where??????