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Oxygen Chamber Saves Scuba Diver
by Katie Thomas
Staff Writer
A Connecticut man suffered a nearly fatal diving accident 60 miles out to
sea when his suit took on too much air and he sped to the surface Friday without allowing his body to properly decompress.
The incident came at the end of what had been a fairly smooth dive around the Texas Tower, a toppled radar station, said the diver, Mark Shannon, of
Fairfield, Conn. An experienced diver and crew member for the Wahoo, a dive boat based at the Captree Boat Basin, Shannon was about to begin his ascent
from 140 feet in the Atlantic Ocean when he swallowed a mouthful of water while switching from one air regulator to another.
After several moments spent bringing his breathing under control, Shannon began to head for the anchor line that would lead him to the surface. His diving partner, crew member Nick Ricciardelli, had already begun untying the
line, so Shannon decided to try to make it to the anchor line before fixing his suit, which had too much air.
"I started to drift upward, and then I got farther and farther out of control," said Shannon, 40, who has dived perhaps 700 times since 1989 and is a lieutenant in the Stamford, Conn., fire department. "Then I was flying
to the surface." Shannon considers himself a lucky man. Often such "uncontrolled ascents" can be fatal. Air trapped in divers' lungs expands as it reaches the surface and can rupture their lungs if they don't exhale, as
Shannon did. An air bubble could have become trapped in his blood and reached his brain, causing stroke-like symptoms or death.
"This guy was very lucky," said Shannon's doctor, Kenneth Hirsh, of the John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. "He was very fortunate that he doesn't seem to have long-term problems." Instead, Shannon got a severe
case of what is known as "the bends," or decompression sickness, which happens when divers ascend too quickly and the nitrogen that has dissolved into their tissue and blood while deep underwater turns into gas bubbles that block blood flow and can impede the nervous system.
Crew members immediately fished Shannon from the water and began giving him oxygen. Shooting pains stabbed his back, legs and nearly all of his joints.
Captain Janet Bieser radioed the Coast Guard, and within an hour he was on his way to Mather and the hospital's hyperbaric oxygen chamber, which allows the nitrogen to slowly dissolve.
He spent eight hours in the chamber Friday and has received several two-hour treatments over the past several days. Doctors say he is expected to fully recover.
Shannon's wife, Robin, learned of the accident Friday afternoon after returning from errands with her daughter, Rachel, 3.
"It's the kind of phone call you hope you never get," said Robin, who also is an avid diver.
Wahoo owner Steve Bielenda called Shannon an experienced diver and said the accident could have happened to anyone. "This is one of those domino effect type of things. One thing goes wrong, you pay attention to it, then
something else goes wrong," he said. His boat conducts about 5,000 dives a year. Bielenda said Long Island sees three to seven such accidents every year. Eleven passengers and five crew members made the trip aboard the Wahoo
on Friday.
Despite his ordeal, Shannon hasn't sworn off diving. If doctors permit it, he'll dive again. But "I don't know if I'll ever go that deep again," he said.
Decompressing How patients are treated for the "bends" The increased pressure of the chamber helps decrease the size of nitrogen bubbles in a patient who has decompression illness or the "bends," a painful and dangerous condition usually associated with diving and caused by gas bubbles
in the bloodstream and body tissues. The chamber helps reduce the bubbles so they can be reabsorbed into the bloodstream.
100 percent oxygen is pumped into the chamber at high pressure for the patient to breatehr. This is a high-pressure or "hyperbaric" dose of oxygen.
During the course of treatment, whihc varies, the patient is given air breaks of 21 percent oxygen.
In a pressurized chamber, the body is able to absorb two to three times more pure oxygen thatn if there were no increase in pressure.
SOURCE: Kathy McGonigle, R.N.; John T. Mather Memorial Hospital; World Book
Encyclopedia; Sechrist.
http://www.newsday.com/coverage/current/news/tuesday/nd3990.htm
by Katie Thomas
Staff Writer
A Connecticut man suffered a nearly fatal diving accident 60 miles out to
sea when his suit took on too much air and he sped to the surface Friday without allowing his body to properly decompress.
The incident came at the end of what had been a fairly smooth dive around the Texas Tower, a toppled radar station, said the diver, Mark Shannon, of
Fairfield, Conn. An experienced diver and crew member for the Wahoo, a dive boat based at the Captree Boat Basin, Shannon was about to begin his ascent
from 140 feet in the Atlantic Ocean when he swallowed a mouthful of water while switching from one air regulator to another.
After several moments spent bringing his breathing under control, Shannon began to head for the anchor line that would lead him to the surface. His diving partner, crew member Nick Ricciardelli, had already begun untying the
line, so Shannon decided to try to make it to the anchor line before fixing his suit, which had too much air.
"I started to drift upward, and then I got farther and farther out of control," said Shannon, 40, who has dived perhaps 700 times since 1989 and is a lieutenant in the Stamford, Conn., fire department. "Then I was flying
to the surface." Shannon considers himself a lucky man. Often such "uncontrolled ascents" can be fatal. Air trapped in divers' lungs expands as it reaches the surface and can rupture their lungs if they don't exhale, as
Shannon did. An air bubble could have become trapped in his blood and reached his brain, causing stroke-like symptoms or death.
"This guy was very lucky," said Shannon's doctor, Kenneth Hirsh, of the John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. "He was very fortunate that he doesn't seem to have long-term problems." Instead, Shannon got a severe
case of what is known as "the bends," or decompression sickness, which happens when divers ascend too quickly and the nitrogen that has dissolved into their tissue and blood while deep underwater turns into gas bubbles that block blood flow and can impede the nervous system.
Crew members immediately fished Shannon from the water and began giving him oxygen. Shooting pains stabbed his back, legs and nearly all of his joints.
Captain Janet Bieser radioed the Coast Guard, and within an hour he was on his way to Mather and the hospital's hyperbaric oxygen chamber, which allows the nitrogen to slowly dissolve.
He spent eight hours in the chamber Friday and has received several two-hour treatments over the past several days. Doctors say he is expected to fully recover.
Shannon's wife, Robin, learned of the accident Friday afternoon after returning from errands with her daughter, Rachel, 3.
"It's the kind of phone call you hope you never get," said Robin, who also is an avid diver.
Wahoo owner Steve Bielenda called Shannon an experienced diver and said the accident could have happened to anyone. "This is one of those domino effect type of things. One thing goes wrong, you pay attention to it, then
something else goes wrong," he said. His boat conducts about 5,000 dives a year. Bielenda said Long Island sees three to seven such accidents every year. Eleven passengers and five crew members made the trip aboard the Wahoo
on Friday.
Despite his ordeal, Shannon hasn't sworn off diving. If doctors permit it, he'll dive again. But "I don't know if I'll ever go that deep again," he said.
Decompressing How patients are treated for the "bends" The increased pressure of the chamber helps decrease the size of nitrogen bubbles in a patient who has decompression illness or the "bends," a painful and dangerous condition usually associated with diving and caused by gas bubbles
in the bloodstream and body tissues. The chamber helps reduce the bubbles so they can be reabsorbed into the bloodstream.
100 percent oxygen is pumped into the chamber at high pressure for the patient to breatehr. This is a high-pressure or "hyperbaric" dose of oxygen.
During the course of treatment, whihc varies, the patient is given air breaks of 21 percent oxygen.
In a pressurized chamber, the body is able to absorb two to three times more pure oxygen thatn if there were no increase in pressure.
SOURCE: Kathy McGonigle, R.N.; John T. Mather Memorial Hospital; World Book
Encyclopedia; Sechrist.
http://www.newsday.com/coverage/current/news/tuesday/nd3990.htm
