Bonaire accident issues Close Call

[KathyV]

So glad to hear that your wife will be okay, thank you for sharing your experience.

Once at the end of a dive off St. Lucia, we were doing our safety stops so I was in shallow water, right by the boat and next to my husband, and I was in no danger. I was just hanging there comfortably and looking at the fish under the boat.

Suddenly without any warning my mouth filled with sea water. I scrambled frantically and grabbed my husband's octopus and stuck it in my mouth. I didn't even think to go for my own octopus or even just pop up to the surface although both would have probably worked fine in the situation.

My husband was surprised and concerned and he stayed tight next to me until we were safely back on the boat. When we looked at my regulator we saw that the mouthpiece had split wide open and it was a minor problem and easy to replace. Perhaps I was holding it rather loosely in my mouth for it to suddenly fill with water, I don't know but happily I didn't inhale any water or start choking on sea water.

But I can tell you that even in that small incident and safe environment, it was terrifying to suddenly take in sea water instead of air. Running out of air had always been the big fear but finding water instead of air in your mouth is incredibly frightening.

Ever since then I am careful to keep my regulator firmly situated in my mouth and I secure my octopus in my chest area, not far below my chin so I can get at it quickly. I also try to stay near to my husband but that doesn't always work out! But you are right, 20 feet is much too far away because bad things can happen in a moment. I will do my best to stay close in the future, thanks for the reminder.

 

[drrich2]

She had aspirated and swallowed sea water, along with being diagnosed with near drowning, decompression sickness, and bent; and spent a total of 13 hours in a hyperbaric chamber before she was relieved of symptoms.

Pooling data with another post, and another thread, and apologies if this has been covered but I missed it skimming through this thread.

1.) You stayed at the Plaza; they offered up to 3 boat dives/day. This was off Klein Bonaire & there was a guide, and it was a boat dive.

2.) So I don't imagine it was dive # 4 or 5 of a multi-dive day with a lot of accumulated bottom time.

3.) You were 10 minutes into this dive; not a lot of time for heavy nitrogen loading. Diving air or nitrox?

4.) She headed up from 60 feet.

5.) A decompression chamber wouldn't have been used for pneumothorax or AGE.

6.) I wouldn't have expected her to get bent, much less spend 13 hours in a hyperbaric chamber.

7.) I didn't see where it was told what signs or symptoms of being 'bent' she had, and what course that took. Please share this info.; would be interesting.

Richard.

 

[Thook]

Richard
1) This was on day 2 of diving and dive #6 - Emergency ascent @60'
2) She was diving Nitrox
3) PT Age 45 - Symptoms, Severe headache, Muscular aches and pain, Nausea, Lethargy, Dizyness, Neurological disfunction.
4) Diagnosis- Near drowning/DCS/Bent
5) The 13 hours in chamber was total saturation. Tour one- 7 hours with a 10 hour interval.
Follow up visit indicated Neurological disfunction primarily on the (L) side, with shoulder to foot- Numbness w/Continued HA
Tour two- 6 hours. Follow up visit day 3, non- symptomatic.

 

[fmerkel]

A chamber would be used for AGE. A BIG bubble (relatively) gets into circulation from the ruptured alveolii. Neuro symptoms strongly indicate AGE. For pneumothorax you put in a chest tube if large enough to warrant that intervention. Simple pneumo would cause difficulty breathing but not that whole host of other symptoms.

 

[wgw04024]

I would certainly want to bring the complete reg set to a reputable shop and try and determine what exactly happened to cause that situation. I'm not a regulator engineer, but from what my shops tell me, they are pretty straight forward and should not be difficult to diagnose something like this (i think). Glad she was ok after treatment.

I will admit I use to stray from my partner, especially in clear water, more than I do now. It felt ok when I started diving, but after reading lots on here, and diving with a buddy who had more conservative diving habits, it really felt like the better way to dive. Closer to buddy's at all times, diving in a particular formation as much as possible. I dive with both of my sons, maybe that's also another reason I know have more conservative approach as far as being near and keeping an eye on my buddy.

Bill

 

[drrich2]

A chamber would be used for AGE. A BIG bubble (relatively) gets into circulation from the ruptured alveolii. Neuro symptoms strongly indicate AGE. For pneumothorax you put in a chest tube if large enough to warrant that intervention. Simple pneumo would cause difficulty breathing but not that whole host of other symptoms.

Thanks for the correction; good to know!

Sorry I posted wrong about that. Given the time frame between occurrence and access to a chamber for bubble size reduction, I wonder how common this is? How often does the bubble stay intact? If that's happened, what are the odds of salvageable brain tissue in the circulation-compromised area?

Richard.

 

[fmerkel]

As was pointed out that depth and duration the accumulated N2 was short. She had neuro symptoms essentially immediately. It's highly unlikely you would show symptoms of that magnitude and immediacy from (simple) bends. It is completely consistent with AGE.
Immediate treatment with O2 improves the chances of not having permanent damage from circulation starved areas caused by the bubble(s). It also sets up the gradient to reduce bubble size., which is also beneficial. But there is really no good way to know how big, how many, or where these bubbles are located. You just try to treat as soon and as aggressively as possible-make them go away. Then you see what the results are.

The longer bubbles of any sort are anywhere in the body they cause circulation disruption and the potential for damage. How much depends on where, how many, how big, and how long the insult continues. The body also sees the bubbles as foreign objects. An inflammatory reaction is set up and the bubbles can soon be surrounded/encased by the products of inflammation. This will further hinder the ability to shrink the bubbles even when an aggressive gradient is established with O2 and hyperbarics. This is why rapid treatment is so valuable.

I personally know someone that became paralyzed on one side on the drive home from a decompression dive. This was a training dive, nothing went wrong and the decompression was staged and even finished with 50% O2. The paralysis hit 1 1/2 hours after the dive. He called himself in to 911 and was soon on O2. The O2 alone rapidly resolved all paralysis symptoms. He still needed a chamber ride but prompt treatment got prompt results. Now, this guy 'only' bubbled. AGE is a much worse scenario generally.

 

[crabbyfiddler]

Guys I just don't know at this point. She was breathing fine and all of a sudden she inhaled water. My first guess is a first stage main spring or diaphragm failure... a regulator is basic mechanics, but even when maintained, although rare, basic mechanics can fail and does have a shelf life. We put it on air at the dive shop and it was making a hideous noise on inhaling which sounds to me more like a possible diaphragm issue....but we didn't examine it further than that. I'll know more when we can have the thing dissected. Regulator is a Seaquest Mirage purchased in 1995.

Thook, I had a substantial leak, actually it was in Boniare (funny coincidence), and I was mid dive. It leaked a lot when I turned my head to the left. My db didn't understand what I was telling him after he saw me using my air2. When I got back to the dive shop at our hotel (Divi Flamingo) they opened it up and discovered that the diaphragm was severely warped. They said it looked as if the tech had put it inside a cup while servicing the reg. Stuff happens.

Needless to say, first order of operation after returning home was find a new LDS.

 

[fmerkel]

first order of operation after returning home was find a new LDS.

[off topic-for sure] That can be a good idea, but it's not a high paying job and can have a fairly high turnover. It can be a challenge to find a good tech (shop notwithstanding) and stay with them.

 

[crabbyfiddler]

[off topic-for sure] That can be a good idea, but it's not a high paying job and can have a fairly high turnover. It can be a challenge to find a good tech (shop notwithstanding) and stay with them.

Found one. He lives in another state. I ship my gear to him. LOL