Code Monkey
Contributor
Well, after more than 300 dives, it happened. I got the bends. 7 hours in a hyperbaric chamber and a day and a half later and I was feeling mostly OK. The tingling had gone from my fingers and toes and, a week after the incident, the nausea had mostly gone. Months later, I had another follow-up with a dive doctor. I told him of symptoms that lingered, it turns out, longer than they should have -- the dizzy spells, the foggy brain, and the hearing loss. While they've now completely gone (I'm nearly certain), based on the progress of my symptoms, my dive doctor told me that, if I were to go back to diving, it's just a matter of time before I got bent again but, this time, the effects would likely be permanent, neurological, and severe and that there was a good chance that it would kill me.
Myself, my wife, and multiple doctors here and in Indonesia where the accident happened have been over my computers and the hit was undeserved. I dove 6 days, 3 dives per day, always on nitrox, always well within my no decompression limits, and finished every dive with a safety stop. I dove with several other people who dove the same profiles I did (many of whom dove 4 dives a day) including my wife. I was the only one who got symptoms.
This email isn't really to discuss the incident (otherwise I'd have posted it in the "incidents" forum). I'm just explaining that, while I haven't posted here in a while, I'll only be around long enough to sell my gear and say goodbye to some good friends. I've enjoyed diving with Christian, Ken, Claudette, Missy, and several others on this list and off. I'll miss diving, in general, and with divers on this board in specific. I'll miss the posts and I'll miss the people.
Thank you all.
Myself, my wife, and multiple doctors here and in Indonesia where the accident happened have been over my computers and the hit was undeserved. I dove 6 days, 3 dives per day, always on nitrox, always well within my no decompression limits, and finished every dive with a safety stop. I dove with several other people who dove the same profiles I did (many of whom dove 4 dives a day) including my wife. I was the only one who got symptoms.
This email isn't really to discuss the incident (otherwise I'd have posted it in the "incidents" forum). I'm just explaining that, while I haven't posted here in a while, I'll only be around long enough to sell my gear and say goodbye to some good friends. I've enjoyed diving with Christian, Ken, Claudette, Missy, and several others on this list and off. I'll miss diving, in general, and with divers on this board in specific. I'll miss the posts and I'll miss the people.
Thank you all.