BradnerBoy
Contributor
To those of you that I've had the pleasure of diving with over the last few years, I wanted to let you know of an unfortunate incident that occurred recently that will prevent me from ever diving again.
While vacationing and diving in Hawaii over Christmas and New Years, I suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung). I stated feeling slight pressure under my right collarbone late one afternoon after two morning dives. Whether this was the result of a dive, I'll never know for sure, but given my dive profiles leading up to it and knowing in my own mind how I conservative I dive, I doubt it.
The next day, I went to the ER in Kona after feeling considerable chest "congestion" (oddly, I wasn't in pain. It was more a discomfort). Shortly after arriving, they did an x-ray and a CT scan and a pneumo was clearly seen in my right lung. A surgeon placed a thoracic vent in my upper chest and with a syringe, aspirated the majority of air so that within 5 minutes of inserting the vent, I could take a full breath again.
We flew home Jan 1, as planned, with the vent still in, then had it removed at a local ER that Monday. Physically, I'm fine. Mentally however, is a different story. Knowing that I'll never dive again has been, well, traumatic. An odd feeling, I suppose, for a hobby, but as many of you reading this know, divers are pretty passionate about our hobby. I think that's what makes this most difficult to accept.
Last Monday afternoon was rough because I had to sit down with Hunter (my son and dive buddy) and tell him that I will never dive with him again. At first, I think he honestly thought it was a cruel joke, but it only took a split second for him to see I wasn't joking. I spoke to a few close dive buddies and told them, then told Les at Langley Diving where I was 2 OW classes, 2 exams and my endurance swims away from completing my DM course. So close....
At the end of the day, I think it's safe to say, I dodged a potentially lethal bullet. If the pneumothorax occurred underwater, it could have easily become a tension pneumo and that's not good. As a friend said, I'm on the right side of the grass.
So, to wrap this up, I'll continue to participate in the diving community albeit it as "surface support". Hunter wants to take a break, but fully intends to keep diving and I'm thrilled. Like hockey parents who shuttle their kids to and fro between various rinks, my role will be to shuttle him from dive site to dive site and I'm ok with that.
I have an appointment tomorrow morning with Dr. Harrison at VGH and I hope to get some more info from him, but I know the one thing Ill never hear him say is that one day it'll be safe for me to dive again.
look forward seeing everyone again on weekends and the comradery of the dive community. To me, it was and still is, the best part of diving.
Take it from someone who knows first-hand; enjoy every single dive you make, because you never know when itll be your last.
Todd.
While vacationing and diving in Hawaii over Christmas and New Years, I suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung). I stated feeling slight pressure under my right collarbone late one afternoon after two morning dives. Whether this was the result of a dive, I'll never know for sure, but given my dive profiles leading up to it and knowing in my own mind how I conservative I dive, I doubt it.
The next day, I went to the ER in Kona after feeling considerable chest "congestion" (oddly, I wasn't in pain. It was more a discomfort). Shortly after arriving, they did an x-ray and a CT scan and a pneumo was clearly seen in my right lung. A surgeon placed a thoracic vent in my upper chest and with a syringe, aspirated the majority of air so that within 5 minutes of inserting the vent, I could take a full breath again.
We flew home Jan 1, as planned, with the vent still in, then had it removed at a local ER that Monday. Physically, I'm fine. Mentally however, is a different story. Knowing that I'll never dive again has been, well, traumatic. An odd feeling, I suppose, for a hobby, but as many of you reading this know, divers are pretty passionate about our hobby. I think that's what makes this most difficult to accept.
Last Monday afternoon was rough because I had to sit down with Hunter (my son and dive buddy) and tell him that I will never dive with him again. At first, I think he honestly thought it was a cruel joke, but it only took a split second for him to see I wasn't joking. I spoke to a few close dive buddies and told them, then told Les at Langley Diving where I was 2 OW classes, 2 exams and my endurance swims away from completing my DM course. So close....
At the end of the day, I think it's safe to say, I dodged a potentially lethal bullet. If the pneumothorax occurred underwater, it could have easily become a tension pneumo and that's not good. As a friend said, I'm on the right side of the grass.
So, to wrap this up, I'll continue to participate in the diving community albeit it as "surface support". Hunter wants to take a break, but fully intends to keep diving and I'm thrilled. Like hockey parents who shuttle their kids to and fro between various rinks, my role will be to shuttle him from dive site to dive site and I'm ok with that.
I have an appointment tomorrow morning with Dr. Harrison at VGH and I hope to get some more info from him, but I know the one thing Ill never hear him say is that one day it'll be safe for me to dive again.
look forward seeing everyone again on weekends and the comradery of the dive community. To me, it was and still is, the best part of diving.
Take it from someone who knows first-hand; enjoy every single dive you make, because you never know when itll be your last.
Todd.
