Here's my story, I hope that everyone avoids the mistakes I've made. I'm a male diver, 29 yrs old, in good health, and usually sensible about my diving. I've been diving since 1999, and currently an AOW with nearly 40 dives.
I did two shore dives on Thursday 23/8/2001, max depth was 15m, with 60 min surface interval. Then I did another two dives on Friday 24/8/2001, max depth was 15m, surface interval was 90 min. On Friday I performed safety stops for both dives (5m/3 min).
I was wearing a skin suit, water temp was 29 degrees (nice and warm), consumed little air, no currents, I was well-hydrated, didn't drink alcohol, and didn't smoke, also got plenty of sleep before Friday diving. However, water entry and exit was a bit tough, since there were some high tides.
I was out of the water at 2:15 pm, my Aladin Air X gave me a 5 hour no fly time. Full de-saturation reading was about 14 hrs.
The divemaster (PADI course director) looked at my computer and said, "I don't like the Aladin Air X, they're too liberal. Be careful with them." I disregarded his advice.
The Aladin Air X cleared the DO NOT FLY at 7 pm. I was at the airport and had an eery feeling, but I had to travel. My flight departed at 7:30 pm (I had to fly), and the descent began at 8:30 pm. I started feeling funny and out-of-breath, and was sweating a bit. I thought that I was being extra-sensitive and decided to ignore the symptoms and "toughen-up". The Oxygen tank was a few meters away from me, but I felt shy about asking the flight crew for O2.
I got back home at 9:30 pm, feeling extremely tired and drained and short of breath. My wife (also an OW diver) called me from another city, and I told her I'm suspecting DCS, she began to freak-out, so I calmed her and told her that if I slept, I'd wake-up feeling ok. All I could think about was getting an O2 bottle from the nearby pharmacy, or calling DAN. But I guess my judgement was impaired, and opted to rest and sleep instead. Looking back, I can't believe my actions on Friday, I made all the wrong decesions while knowing that they were wrong, but still remained passive, and I still don't know why!
During the course of Friday night, I woke up several times, really tired and feeling funny, almost tingly. Its difficult to describe the sensation. I finally woke-up the following day (Saturday 25/8) at 9 am, and my left foot was numb. My little toe was red as though blood was not circulating. My fears had become true, and I called DAN. The DAN doctor told me that this is probably DCS, and she doesn't know of a chamber in the city I was in. Fortunately, I had saved info about chambers in my digital diary, I found one in my city, and called the chamber (at 10 am). The doctor (a diving doctor and a neurosurgeon) instructed me to come immediately to the emergency room in the hospital.
I arrived at 10:15 am, and requested admission, the admission person gave me a hard time, and was not convinced that I needed urgent medical attention (I was standing up, albeit limping). Too drained to argue, after 20 minutes, I saw by coincidence an ER nurse and doctor, and they instructed the admission people to admit me as an emergency patient (11 pm).
Five internal medicine doctors examined me, and my foot was getting worse, half the foot was turning dark-red, and it really hurt. They put me on a stretcher in the emergency room and took chest x-rays, which were clear. I guess they feared a cardiac arrest.
Ironically, the only mono-chamber in the hospital was just occupied by another patient (not DCS). I had to wait until 3 pm before entering the chamber.
I spent 2 hrs with a pressure of 2.5 atm and 100% O2. I felt better, as though blood had nourished by oxygen deprived foot, but all my toes were still purple. I had session #2 on Sunday at 2 am, session #3 at 10 am, and two sessions afterwards. Everyone at the hospital was extra-nice and really cared. I got to be known as "the diver", and the senior consultant lectured his residents about my case!!! It very rare to get DCS in this city!
I'm writing this on Wednesday 29/8 after I had done 5 sessions, my little toe is a pink and slightly numb, and I need additional sessions.
Since this hospital is a public hospital, I did not pay any medical fees. However, the chamber can be used by private patients for $300 per session. The consultant allowed me to resume diving in October 2001, and told me to log this incident in my log book.
So, the lessons learnt are as follows:-
1. Dont trust your computer with no fly times, wait at least 12 hours, regardless. 24 hours is better.
2. Never feel shy in an airplane, request assistance.
3. Keep an O2 tank at home.
4. Keep a list of chambers and their phone numbers wherever you travel. Even if there is no diving in a particular city (like my case).
5. If you have any suspicion, get a chamber session, at least breath pure O2.
6. Call DAN for advice. They understand!
7. Never disregard advice from those who are more experienced than you are. (e.g. the PADI course director)
8. Never be passive when it comes to your own health. Never pretend that you are tough and invincible.
I hope that you learn from my numerous mistakes, and never allow yourselves or anyone else to fall into such traps.
I did two shore dives on Thursday 23/8/2001, max depth was 15m, with 60 min surface interval. Then I did another two dives on Friday 24/8/2001, max depth was 15m, surface interval was 90 min. On Friday I performed safety stops for both dives (5m/3 min).
I was wearing a skin suit, water temp was 29 degrees (nice and warm), consumed little air, no currents, I was well-hydrated, didn't drink alcohol, and didn't smoke, also got plenty of sleep before Friday diving. However, water entry and exit was a bit tough, since there were some high tides.
I was out of the water at 2:15 pm, my Aladin Air X gave me a 5 hour no fly time. Full de-saturation reading was about 14 hrs.
The divemaster (PADI course director) looked at my computer and said, "I don't like the Aladin Air X, they're too liberal. Be careful with them." I disregarded his advice.
The Aladin Air X cleared the DO NOT FLY at 7 pm. I was at the airport and had an eery feeling, but I had to travel. My flight departed at 7:30 pm (I had to fly), and the descent began at 8:30 pm. I started feeling funny and out-of-breath, and was sweating a bit. I thought that I was being extra-sensitive and decided to ignore the symptoms and "toughen-up". The Oxygen tank was a few meters away from me, but I felt shy about asking the flight crew for O2.
I got back home at 9:30 pm, feeling extremely tired and drained and short of breath. My wife (also an OW diver) called me from another city, and I told her I'm suspecting DCS, she began to freak-out, so I calmed her and told her that if I slept, I'd wake-up feeling ok. All I could think about was getting an O2 bottle from the nearby pharmacy, or calling DAN. But I guess my judgement was impaired, and opted to rest and sleep instead. Looking back, I can't believe my actions on Friday, I made all the wrong decesions while knowing that they were wrong, but still remained passive, and I still don't know why!
During the course of Friday night, I woke up several times, really tired and feeling funny, almost tingly. Its difficult to describe the sensation. I finally woke-up the following day (Saturday 25/8) at 9 am, and my left foot was numb. My little toe was red as though blood was not circulating. My fears had become true, and I called DAN. The DAN doctor told me that this is probably DCS, and she doesn't know of a chamber in the city I was in. Fortunately, I had saved info about chambers in my digital diary, I found one in my city, and called the chamber (at 10 am). The doctor (a diving doctor and a neurosurgeon) instructed me to come immediately to the emergency room in the hospital.
I arrived at 10:15 am, and requested admission, the admission person gave me a hard time, and was not convinced that I needed urgent medical attention (I was standing up, albeit limping). Too drained to argue, after 20 minutes, I saw by coincidence an ER nurse and doctor, and they instructed the admission people to admit me as an emergency patient (11 pm).
Five internal medicine doctors examined me, and my foot was getting worse, half the foot was turning dark-red, and it really hurt. They put me on a stretcher in the emergency room and took chest x-rays, which were clear. I guess they feared a cardiac arrest.
Ironically, the only mono-chamber in the hospital was just occupied by another patient (not DCS). I had to wait until 3 pm before entering the chamber.
I spent 2 hrs with a pressure of 2.5 atm and 100% O2. I felt better, as though blood had nourished by oxygen deprived foot, but all my toes were still purple. I had session #2 on Sunday at 2 am, session #3 at 10 am, and two sessions afterwards. Everyone at the hospital was extra-nice and really cared. I got to be known as "the diver", and the senior consultant lectured his residents about my case!!! It very rare to get DCS in this city!
I'm writing this on Wednesday 29/8 after I had done 5 sessions, my little toe is a pink and slightly numb, and I need additional sessions.
Since this hospital is a public hospital, I did not pay any medical fees. However, the chamber can be used by private patients for $300 per session. The consultant allowed me to resume diving in October 2001, and told me to log this incident in my log book.
So, the lessons learnt are as follows:-
1. Dont trust your computer with no fly times, wait at least 12 hours, regardless. 24 hours is better.
2. Never feel shy in an airplane, request assistance.
3. Keep an O2 tank at home.
4. Keep a list of chambers and their phone numbers wherever you travel. Even if there is no diving in a particular city (like my case).
5. If you have any suspicion, get a chamber session, at least breath pure O2.
6. Call DAN for advice. They understand!
7. Never disregard advice from those who are more experienced than you are. (e.g. the PADI course director)
8. Never be passive when it comes to your own health. Never pretend that you are tough and invincible.
I hope that you learn from my numerous mistakes, and never allow yourselves or anyone else to fall into such traps.
I did, several times, but I was lucky.
