barb once bubbled...
Sorry to say but the rule of thumb in a rescue is if a diver is convulsing you wait until the seizure ends before trying to help him. This way the "rescuer" does'nt become a victim also.
Agreed
. . . I think you're very fortunate to be alive.
Now that's an understatement!!
I'm not sure that releasing your weight belt and shooting you to the surface would have been the best thing to do either..... if you were seizing that is. Given the situation as you told it ... I don't see any solution. I believe you're alive because it simply was'nt yet your time.
.....I don't see any solution. I hate problems without solutions
Me too! My buddy did follow me down, I understand, but for some reason could not lift me from the bottom. I do not know why. I only suggested that
as a last resort he could have jettisoned my weight belt insted of leaving me and going for help. As it turned out the eventual ascent was hardly a "controlled buoyant lift". I suspect they thought they were retrieving a dead body by that time.
I think if I were rescuing an unconscious diver at depth, I would get the victim neutrally buoyant and control the lift with my BCD/drysuit. The temptation is to go up as quickly as possible but I think that would just add more risk to an already difficult maneuver. I would'nt remove the weight belt until at the surface.
I would follow a convulsing victim down as far as I could ... if I was able I would try to help him but not at the risk of my own life (within reason). I would'nt want anyone risking their life for me
If you look at my reply to lanun I posted
If you lose your grip on your buddy during the ascent and you use your version 2, he will sink while you rocket to the surface. (1,2,3 and 4 all then apply)
That is exactly what happend when the roles were unexpectedly reveresed! I still haven't seen my buddy's profile but I do agree that you must not expose yourself of the risks of becoming a casualty yourself.
As for basic life support, this consists of chest compressions and various forms of ventilation, (i.e. supporting the circulation
AND respiration). While performing a rescue you have no way of knowing whether the casualty is alive or has a functioning circulation but as Mike F posted effective chest compression is quite impossible underwater so there seems little point in attempting the impossible. The victim may have suffered a cardiac arrest secondary to an MI, or suffered massive pulmonary barotrauma, for example.
The best you can do is to support ventilation but, as I pointed out in the same post, this is not without the considerable risk of doing more harm than good.
Can I expand on
the four minute rule? In cardiac arrest (not to be confused with simple unconciousness) the circulation to the brain and vital organs ceases. If this is not restored in a
warm casualty (i.e. the usual form of cardiac arrest as taught in public first aid courses and practiced in the emergency room, where
circulatory support is continued for up to one hour) the vital organs suffer irreversible damage within four minutes. Hence the adage, early CPR and early defibrillation. I did not suffer a cardiac arrest at any time, luckily, so the four minute rule did not apply in my case.
In addition I was submerged in cold water, which I aspirated. Although very damaging this caused a degree of protective hypothermia which, I believe, is one of the main reasons I survived with a pretty intact brain despite the delays in rescue.
It would be wrong to extrapolate from this single incident and recommend that one should
never attempt rescue breathing. However, I tend to agree with Genesis that the Mamalian diving reflex may have played a role in my ultimate survival.
In my opinion the surface is the place to provide basic life support but my incident does confirm that this should not be abandonned by any rescuers no matter how bad things may seem.
