DCS off Jacksonville, FL

[Jibeho]

A Brevard County diver is recovering this morning after being rescued at sea with a case of the bends.

XXXX XXXX, 48, was treated and kept overnight for observation at Florida Hospital in Orlando, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Dan Comeau said.

According to Comeau, the Coast Guard got a call around noon Tuesday from the commercial fishing vessel Down Easter II that was 26 miles east-southeast from Port Canaveral.

The vessel reported that XXXX had symptoms of the bends: difficulty breathing, nausea. He’d had it before and had just come up from a 130-foot dive.

The boat was going to bring him in but the engine stalled, Comeau said.

The Coast Guard sent a boat out from Port Canaveral and a helicopter from Jacksonville. The helicopter took XXXX to Florida Hospital, the closest hospital with a decompression chamber and helipad, Comeau said.

As of Tuesday night, Comeau said, XXXX was out of the decompression chamber and recovering. He was kept overnight for observations.

The Port Canaveral station’s had several search and rescue operations so far this year, but this was the first rescue of a diver with the bends, Comeau said.

Last year the station conducted 130 search-and-rescue operations, he said.

http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070117/BREAKINGNEWS/70117004/1086&template=printart

 

[CheddarChick]

Thank goodness...Hope his recovery goes well..

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

So this is this guys 2nd time with the bends? He might need to learn about gas management and basic deco.

 

[Seadeuce]

So this is this guys 2nd time with the bends? He might need to learn about gas management and basic deco.

... or he may need screening for a PFO



Seadeuce

 

[Divin'Papaw]

So this is this guys 2nd time with the bends? He might need to learn about gas management and basic deco.

I'm very glad he's OK. Sounds like two hits now, with at least one requiring a chamber visit. I think it's time for a little hiatus from scuba followed by a very gradual re-entry. I sure hope he stays away from those depths (reported he was at 130) for awhile. It would be instructive to know if he has any DCS risk factors, if he's simply staying down too long or coming up too fast or if he just has a pre-disposition. Regardless I would think a modification to his diving style or pattern is probably in order.

 

[MarkH]

This is all assuming that he really had the bends and it wasn't seasickness/CO2/heart problems/etc... Does anyone know if hospitals use the scanner to check for bubbles in the eye blood vessels or do they just put you in the chamber for a wide variety of symptoms (joint pain, etc.) that could be the bends?

 

[Surface Tension]

It seemed to me, at least from what I know, that it wasn't a clear case of the bends, but rather a chamber ride for precautionary measures. Heck, when it's rough out some guys I dive with have nausea and breathing difficulty before they roll off.

 

[cudachaser]

A lot of the commercial spearfishermen and lobster divers are pretty crazy on Pelican Flats. I have heard of the hurt diver and probably met him a time or two

These guys dive up to 5 tanks a day in 80 to 130ft of water

 

[tedwhiteva]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Coast Guard transported a diver to safety after he apparently began suffering from decompression sickness, the bends, after a recreational dive approximately 26-miles southeast of Port Canaveral, Fla., at about 12:30 p.m.

*****, 38, of Brevard County, Fla., surfaced after a recreational dive from the fishing vessel Down Easter 2 and was experiencing symptoms of decompression sickness such as severe body pain, going in and out of consciousness and nausea. The captain of the Down Easter 2 contacted Coast Guard rescue coordinators in Jacksonville, Fla., for help.

Rescue coordinators launched a rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Port Canaveral in a 47-foot rescue boat and a rescue aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Ga., to assist *****.

The rescue aircrew was conducting training in Jacksonville, Fla., when they were diverted. The rescue boat crew covered the 26 miles of water in less than two hours and arrived to Down Easter 2's position first. Two members of the boat crew boarded the Down Easter 2 to assist ***** and prepare him for a helicopter medical evacuation.

The helicopter crew arrived only minutes later and lowered their hoist basket to the boat crew aboard the Down Easter 2. The aircrew safely hoisted ***** aboard the helicopter with the help of the two boat crewmen.

***** was flown directly from the Down Easter 2's position to the Florida Hospital in Orlando, Fla., where he is in good condition.

 

[Doubles]

I read this in a Coast Guard news release

Glad to hear he is in good condition.

Anyone have the details on what happened? Is there anything to learn from this event?

-s