Scuba diving dream for MD patient on a ventilator

[cobaltbabe]

Welcome to the board Matt.

I am truly inspired by your dream to dive. I am sure that where there is a will there is a way. You said that you are on a ventilator. Although I am not by any means a medical person but I was wondering if a modified Diving hood that provides more room for you ventilator could be fashioned. The wet suit would have to be modified as well. You have my mind going right now thinking of ways to gear you up without intruding on your ventilator. Keep the hope my friend and please keep us informed on your progress.

 

[Matt the Aquaman]

Dear Marie, I wanted to say thanks for writing me. It is nice to talk to other people that love diving like I do. I appreciate your encouraging words. And you are right, I would need a custom made diving suit to accomodate my ventilator. The suit part will be easy, it's the ventilator underwater part that is going to be tricky. I have many ideas regarding that issue that my doctor is looking into. But we seem to be stuck for the moment. Have a good day and thanks again. Matt the Wonder Boy.

Click here to greet a new member! :happywave
No experience needed and it feels great!​

 

[ScubaFriend]

Hi Matt

Where there is a will there is normally a way i admire your courage and conviction and wish you the best in your dream dive ... i wish i could be there to see it

 

[Lloyd]

Matt,
Could you help with some specifics of your ventilator. My brother is a biomedical eng. He works at Nasa now. Who knows?
Lloyd

 

[NINman]

Welcome to SB, I hope all is going well and I do hope that you are able to fulfill your dream.

 

[ASUPaula]

I'm very interested in knowing if there's any validity in Snowbear's suggestion. On the surface (pun intended) it makes a lot of sense. I'm interested in your perspective, Matt. Best regards in achieving your goal, and thanks for your inspiration, Paula (literally changed my last name to) Hope

 

[Brian1968]

Matt,

I just happened across this thread this morning and it has me intruiged. Certainly got my mind to thinking and coming up with some issues that, while not insurmountable, need to be adressed. I think, with some work, this is an attainable goal.

I think it goes without saying that we're looking at a shallow reef dive here. So that puts things somewhat in your favor, pressurewise. Moving underwater is going to prove a challenging obstacle to overcome. Though you may be content to drop down to the bottom and watch the fish. And that is a very cool thing to do too.

First of all the trach tube: If it is not cuffed to provide a seal against air leaks it will need to be changed to a cuffed tube. Further to that, during the dive the cuff will need to be inflated with sterile saline. Otherwise the increased pressure will collapse the air in the cuff. This is the same procedure when transporting ventilated patients by air. Much of this I'm sure you already know but I mention it for those listening in who's brains are also working on this.

Secondly, getting a device to deliver enough pressure to give you a breath, Matt, at depth. Knowing what vent settings you are on would help and can you generate any respiratory effort at all?

You would certainly need support divers during the dive. So the other idea that is going thru my head is having you on a resus bagger during the dive running off the second stage of a regulator. That idea's embryonic.

I think the positive pressure hookah or a version thereof is the best idea so far.

I wish I could help you out in person. I admire and applaud your resolve. And I definitely think this is doable with the planning and thought you are obviously putting in to it.

If I can think of anything else I'll post here. But in the meantime you have my best wishes. Feel free to message me at any time.

Brian, Registered Respiratory Therapist

edited for lousy spelling at 2AM

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Much of this I'm sure you already know but I mention it for those listening in who's brains are also working on this.

Actually thanks for mentioning this, my brain is not working on this, but I am interested in the progress and details. Thanks for bringing some of the challenges to the forefront for those of us that are not in "in the know."

 

[Brian1968]

I don't know of a vent around that will be capable of delivering the pressures needed to give you a breath at depth. They're designed to work within a comparatively narrow range around normal atmospheric pressure and thier maximum is way, way under what a SCUBA delivers. If the vent is sealed in a water/airtight suit of it's own it won't know what pressure it's at anyway. The same problems would be presented as a person trying to breathe from a garden hose on the surface (different recent thread I'm thinking of). The air intake for the ventilator will have to be fed from somewhere as well.

Running a long line down from a ventilator at the surface will present problems. Low compliance tubing (as ventilator tubing by nature is) will be crushed by water pressure at even meagre depths. Even on the surface with too long a length of tubing most, quite possibly all, of the flow from the vent will go in to inflating the tubing rather than your lungs.

Would you be able to hold a regulator/snorkle style mouthpiece in your mouth? Is your trach tube fenestrated? Would you be able to get your breaths through your mouth rather than the trach tube, and have the trach tube capped?
What sort of peak pressures do you normally ventilate at?

I think there's a way to do it, but I'm pretty certain that the submersible ventilator isn't it.

 

[Brian1968]

You need to find and talk to some folks involved in hyperbaric medicine to find out how they deal with trachs under pressure. And also to find out how ventilators perform under pressure. This won't solve the air source/water tighness issues. But it might give you somewhere to lay some groundwork.