This is a continuation of other comments I have made regarding this subject in this thread.------- There is no hospital on the island of Utila. There is the "trauma center" (first aid station) located at Bay Islands College of Diving (BICD) and the the public health service, located across the street from BICD. I was taken to BICD (The hyperbaric chamber is also located here. It is said to be supported collectively by all of the dive operations on the island. I was bleeding from two small severed arteries in a deep laceration to the nose.
I was treated by a male nurse who was assisted by a young teen ager. After a lenthy period of time attempting to stop the bleeding he finally said he needed help. I was beginning to feel the early symptoms of shock and expressed this to my wife. One of my dive friends went and located, Jose Guerra, aCuban doctor, who is currently working in the public health center on Utila. He was the only doctor on the island. (Glad he was there) He came in, took a look at the situation, told me not to be concerned, that he would have the bleeding stopped in ten minutes. Sure enough, about 10-15 minutes later, he had cauterized the bleeders and sewed up the laceration. He packed the inside of the nose to stop the small amount of remaining bleeding.
I was unable to make the trip uphill the few blocks to our apartment, so we got a room in the hotel next door to BICD. At about 4:00AM Ann, my wife, had to go across the styreet and wake up "ol Jose because the packing was saturated and I was bleeding again. Jose to the rescue. He had on his "Blues" and sandals. He broughr packing , etc. and re-packed the nose. The bleeding stopped. He had a great bid needle full of a chemical that he wanted to shoot in my south end. He promised it would make me feel better and sleep. Thanks, but no thanks, I wanted to know if I started bleeding again.
Next morning he changed the packing again, and several more times over the next two days. I should mention that they attempted to take x-rays. The film was bad and the equipment was not working. Our boat captain was chosen to hold the negative plates. Enooough said.
During this time we were in touch with Divers Alert Network (DAN). I'm fortunate that I have both primary and DAN insurance. DAN was and continues to be superb. They had bi-lingual doctors immediatly on line and they had a case manager who was available 24 hrs. Great cudos!! They would not let me fly for two reasons. I had been doing about 4 reps a day and flying was problamatic; also the possibility of arterial bleeding again while in flight was a major consideration.
SOOOOOOOO, Ann and I left our two bags of equipment with our good friends at Deep Blue Divers, also our two bicycles. Two days later we were able to take the ferry to La Ceiba, and a five hour taxi ride to San Pedro Sula, where DAN had made arrangements for me to see the doctor at the hospital emergency room. He checked me out, removed all the packing, gave me the OK to fly the next day. DAN paid for our emergency return.
Saw my doctor. X-rays & CT-scan revealed I had a massive orbital blowout. My right eye was sinking back in my head, etc. Saw one of the best Opthalic-plastic surgeons in Houston. He did reconstructive surgery complemented by generous amounts of titanium, etc. Subsequently began seeing a well known ENT, who specializes in dive medicine. After aboyt two and a half months (Ann and I regularly swim laps) we returned to Utila. We spent another month there and did not want to leave. We will probably go back for an extended stay after the first of the year. We just got back from Cozumel (another adventure story) and other than some local diving, plan to go to the Flower Gardens for 3 days in September. Thanks again for the interest/comments about related Cuda attacks/bites, etc. Be safe, Cudabait:band: :band: :band:
