I've posted a lot on CDF about my bouts with DCS and having a PFO (parent Foramen Ovale) which greatly increases risk of DCS by not being able to decompress efficiently. I am posting here to give those that are not CDF members some insight about a PFO. A PFO is something everyone is born with and closes by itself in 75% of the population. It more often than not goes undetected but can cause some medical problems and greatly increases a divers DCS risk due to the bubble load. I've had 2 "undeserved" hits in the last year and a half and it turned out to be highly influenced by a PFO. It was closed via a heart cath this past Tuesday and so far everything is going well as far as recovery goes. It's an outpatient procedure. I was in and out of the hospital in 10 hours. After my procedure I had another TTE (Transthoracic Echo (sp?)) performed to check the device and flow. While I was there a young lady was in the room next to me undergoing a TEE (Transesophageal Echo) She has 20 dives under her belt since ow certification and has been bent twice with depths of 50'-60'. Seems like that would be an ASD instead of PFO with her being bent that easily but I'm certainly no Dr.! If you've had a DCS hit especially more than once and you believe it to be "undeserved" (yes I know some people do not believe in "undeserved" so take it with a grain of salt) please see a Cardiologist and rule out a PFO. As far as the second bout with DCS it was "undeserved" as far as my dive plan but was deserved for me doing 100'+ 30-60 min deco dives 3 days in a row knowing I had a PFO, not very smart and I paid the price, well BCBS and DAN did to the tune of roughly $100k. I hear a lot of people say (When a technical diver gets bent they always blame a PFO), we'll please take into consideration that it's a viable possibility. Eric (bamafan) was with me on the first hit and brought up the PFO, I had never heard of that and did not think it caused my problems but I'm grateful he mentioned it. Closing it obviously does not eliminate DCS risk but greatly reduces it by about 5 times. Some hear that it's a heart procedure and may be weary of having it done but when you choose a great Dr. And that person has a great team surrounding them it makes it a bit easier! Attached is an actual image of the device placed in my heart to close the PFO.
