Everything done right......still a hit.....

[Caver95]

Wow, I didn't think I would get a response this fast!! I guess I should clear a few things up. I have my Nitrox Certification along with Rescue Diver. You are correct, I was not at 89 feet the entire dive! That was my recorded bottom depth. The current was a little strong so I decided to stay in one spot, which was filled with marine life(even a lobster that crawled out from under the ledge to investigate)! I was diving nitrox. When I left the bottom I had 4 minutes until decompression. I did a slow ascent and did my proper safety stop, which also was interesting as I had two remoras hanging with me(I have pictures to prove it). My computer was taken to the shop and the profiles downloaded also my tank was rechecked(this was my first dive of the day). The dive before that was two days prior. I was checked for possible PFO and it was negative(along with every other possible medical cause). DAN was contacted as soon as the symptoms proved to be DCS. I must credit the dive boat crew for doing everything by the book, which saved my life!!
Thanks for caring,
Lisa
I'll answer any other questions anyone may have.

Lisa,
Where you well hydrated? how much sleep did you get? did you drink any booze? Salty food? eat anything at all? are you in good shape? on any meds? have a rapid accent?
what kind of computer, what gas where you breathing? where you flying the day before, getting over being ill, or where you ill when you went diving?
that would give me a better picture or what went on.
Nick

 

[DandyDon]

I noticed that she thought she might have a pulled muscle, which suggests strenuous activities. That'll sure put a diver over.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

You can "do everything right" and still take a bends or tox hit.

Diving is risky and anyone who thinks it is not is fooling themself.

Personally, if I ever got bent or toxed I'd think long and hard about
whether diving was worth the risk of taking another hit.

Happy Christmas.

 

[Orlando Eric]

There has been a observable occurence on these types of postings over the years that I have noticed. Someone post that a diver got a hit following their planned profile.

Immediatley everyone says to themselves.. "Well THEY must have screwed up!" Must have not drank enough water, ascent to fast, sawtooth profile, strenous activity, too lean gas, exp suit too cold, etc etc.

Anyone ever spend a little time at a craps table? The models are pretty good as proven over X times of dives by Y numbers of divers however you are still throwing dice and she might have done it all the way we are trained and yet there is not a glowing red devil in the details to point at and say, "YEP that is it.. I knew it!" That makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about the way you dive because YOU do not do that.

We can try and cut the odds in our favor by hydrating, conservative profiles, staying warm, not drinking coffee, no booze, sleep well, slow ascents, deep stops, longer stops, better mixes, and no strenous activities after diving and perhaps dive for 24 years and never take a hit.. then "Just when you think it is safe to go back into the water".... "Today's the day."

My $100.01 worth.

 

[NSDiver]

There has been a observable occurence on these types of postings over the years that I have noticed. Someone post that a diver got a hit following their planned profile.

Immediatley everyone says to themselves.. "Well THEY must have screwed up!" Must have not drank enough water, ascent to fast, sawtooth profile, strenous activity, too lean gas, exp suit too cold, etc etc.

Anyone ever spend a little time at a craps table? The models are pretty good as proven over X times of dives by Y numbers of divers however you are still throwing dice and she might have done it all the way we are trained and yet there is not a glowing red devil in the details to point at and say, "YEP that is it.. I knew it!" That makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about the way you dive because YOU do not do that.

We can try and cut the odds in our favor by hydrating, conservative profiles, staying warm, not drinking coffee, no booze, sleep well, slow ascents, deep stops, longer stops, better mixes, and no strenous activities after diving and perhaps dive for 24 years and never take a hit.. then "Just when you think it is safe to go back into the water".... "Today's the day."

My $100.01 worth.

Eric-

I don't think anyone is trying to say that SOME factor definetly caused this hit, but it is worth asking the questions to decide if there were any contributing factors. I think everyone here understands that it is perfectly plausible that Lisa did everything right. As you've said, she could have just beaten the odds and gotten bent despite safe diving practices. If SB members didn't ask these kinds of questions in threads like this, SB would be largely useless.

There's another thread that is quite good on this topic. Rick Inman got bent, and he concludes that he got bent because of an aggressive day of diving, caffeine, etc. He is an experienced diver, and seems to just have gotten complacent.

Record dive for me - 5 Hours. ...in the chamber.

-Nick

Edit: Need to clarify an earlier post that I can't edit anymore.

It's hard to believe that she could have done everything right and still been so seriously hit. Kinda makes me scared to go in the water again.

The wording here is kinda bad - I'm not trying to blame Lisa, rather I'm trying to say that this could be a good example of doing everything right and still getting hit.

 

[mattroz]

"where you flying the day before"

Flying the day before would have little or no effect on the hit and any little effect that it have would be benificial. When you're in an airplane there is LESS pressure on you so you offgas more than usual.

 

[kraken]

I think the concern about flying is related to dehydration.

 

[mattroz]

touche, hadn't thought of that before thanks for the insight

 

[H2Andy]

When I left the bottom I had 4 minutes until decompression.

hey lisa, thanks for the info! and also, i'm very glad you're ok

as you know, computers and tables are not an "exact" science. when diving this
close to the deco profile, i ignore my computer and make sure that i do a LOT
(i mean, A LOT) of slow stops on the way up.

i think the culprit here is a too-fast (relatively speaking) ascent after being that
close to deco (because, again, this is an inexact science).

in other words, just because your computer says you're ok doesn't make it true =)

in this case, i wold have done a very slow ascent to 40 feet, and would have
stayed there 3 or 4 minutes, then a very slow ascent to 30, and stayed there
3 or 4 minutes again, then t0 20 feet and stayed there pretty much as long
as my air allowed (say down to 500 psi), then up to 10 feet and i would have
stayed there until about 200 psi before surfacing very slowly during those last
10 feet.

basically, any time spent shallow (above 20 feet or so) at the end of a dive is never wasted!

 

[H2Andy]

Immediatley everyone says to themselves.. "Well THEY must have screwed up!"

well, since you can read my mind, i won't tell you what i'm thinking right now =)

seriously, i think people are asking questions to RULE OUT other causes
before concluding that she didn't do anything "wrong"

it's like any diagnosis: you want to rule out what it CAN'T be before you decide
on what it can be