h20_kat
Contributor
Unbelievably I write this from a hospital bed in Singapore after suffering a pneumothorax while on a diving holiday in Indonesia. As there isn't much to do besides surf the internet I have been doing a fair bit of that and read (not for the first time) an article on the DAN website Decompression Illness: What Is It and What Is The Treatment? which mentions pulmonary disease as a possible risk factor for DCI. This makes sense, but I hadn't considered that it might be relevant to me until after I had the pneumothorax.
In October 2013 I suffered decompression sickness. I am unsure to this date why exactly it happened but contributing factors could have been: short surface intervals, fatigue and possibly being cold.
I had about a 48 hour delay getting to the chamber and it took 6 months for my symptoms to completely resolve. In August 2014 I was cleared by a diving physician to return to diving, however, with increased conservatism advised.
I did about 20 dives in September-October and was fine. I planned an extended dive holiday for December-January. I was nearly at the end of my amazing trip, having done probably 75 dives when I suffered the pneumothorax.
The incident happened while I was diving in Sulawesi, Indonesia and there was a pretty huge language barrier between myself and the doctor. However, it seems from the CT scan that I had there that there is some issue with my lung. I don't know if the doctor knew what it was exactly or if he was even able to tell because at that point there was a fair bit of trapped air in my thoracic cavity.
After the first chest tube was removed in Indonesia my chest cavity again filled with air. The doctor said I was going to need a thorocotomy. My insurer decided to evacuate me to a better hospital thankfully. The hospital in Indo was a scary place. I had another chest tube inserted when I arrived in Singapore. It was removed yesterday and all seems okay so far. I will have another x-ray tomorrow to confirm. They haven't done a CT scan here and don't intend to. I will have to follow up on this after I get home.
My point in writing this is two-fold.
Thanks for listening. I am devastated that I will no longer be able to be a part of the scuba community. That year off from diving was difficult and I was so happy to be back in the water. I am gutted that I won't be able to dive anymore.
In October 2013 I suffered decompression sickness. I am unsure to this date why exactly it happened but contributing factors could have been: short surface intervals, fatigue and possibly being cold.
I had about a 48 hour delay getting to the chamber and it took 6 months for my symptoms to completely resolve. In August 2014 I was cleared by a diving physician to return to diving, however, with increased conservatism advised.
I did about 20 dives in September-October and was fine. I planned an extended dive holiday for December-January. I was nearly at the end of my amazing trip, having done probably 75 dives when I suffered the pneumothorax.
The incident happened while I was diving in Sulawesi, Indonesia and there was a pretty huge language barrier between myself and the doctor. However, it seems from the CT scan that I had there that there is some issue with my lung. I don't know if the doctor knew what it was exactly or if he was even able to tell because at that point there was a fair bit of trapped air in my thoracic cavity.
After the first chest tube was removed in Indonesia my chest cavity again filled with air. The doctor said I was going to need a thorocotomy. My insurer decided to evacuate me to a better hospital thankfully. The hospital in Indo was a scary place. I had another chest tube inserted when I arrived in Singapore. It was removed yesterday and all seems okay so far. I will have another x-ray tomorrow to confirm. They haven't done a CT scan here and don't intend to. I will have to follow up on this after I get home.
My point in writing this is two-fold.
- Does anyone have any information or links to articles that discuss how lung issues can contribute to DCI?
- If indeed I do have a lung issue that was a contributing factor in both dive incidents then I am concerned that the diving physician did not investigate this when he did my medical. He did not do a chest x-ray as part of the examination. I did disclose to him that I had previously had pneumonia (25 years ago) and that I had been a smoker for many years. There is obviously nothing that can be done about this now, but perhaps it can serve as a lesson to other divers to ensure they have complete medicals in order to evaluate their fitness to dive. Even if something doesn't seem obvious as a problem (I am not aware of any lung issues) it could potentially be.
Thanks for listening. I am devastated that I will no longer be able to be a part of the scuba community. That year off from diving was difficult and I was so happy to be back in the water. I am gutted that I won't be able to dive anymore.