Fear of getting the Bends

[Fruitographer]

Went to the doctor the other day to test for a PFO. The one I did was Trans Thoracic Echo (TTE). I've heard of the test where you swallow a tube which sounds unpleasant but the TTE was a breeze. They use an ultrasound to take images of your heart and then inject a syringe filled with aerated saline. the bulbs show up through the ultrasound as white dots. the bubbles should only be visible on one side of the heart and if any show up on the other then they know there is a hole allowing the bubbles to transfer from one side to the other. When they first make the injection the one side of the heart turns almost completely white. I could see a few small bubbles on the other side so I think it's safe to assume I have a PFO. The gentleman administering the test couldn't give me the results but he basically knew the results. I told him I saw the bubbles so he said that's all we can tell you and if you saw them and they're only there for a PFO then you can jump to your own conclusions until a cardiac specialist can confirm the results. So basically I have a PFO and now I have an appointment coming up with my Dr. to see where we go from here.

 

[sea_ledford]

Dr. Doug Ebersole seems to be the go-to doc in FL for working on PFOs. Not sure how that would work with the VA, but just throwing it out there for you.

I have no personal experience with Dr. Ebersole, but he has a great reputation. I think he is on SB somewhere.

-Chris

 

[uncfnp]

Dr. Doug Ebersole seems to be the go-to doc in FL for working on PFOs. Not sure how that would work with the VA, but just throwing it out there for you.

I have no personal experience with Dr. Ebersole, but he has a great reputation. I think he is on SB somewhere.

-Chris

@Dr. Doug Ebersole

 

[mafi]

You can read about it here:

MY DCS HIT

Wow, thank you for sharing. I am a born risk-taker so this is was a great reality check, although I have no intentions of going below 200'.

If you don't mind me asking, why did you chose such an aggressive GF? I can somewhat get behind the GF-low, but surface with 90 after this kind of dive?

 

[Dsix36]

Wow, thank you for sharing. I am a born risk-taker so this is was a great reality check, although I have no intentions of going below 200'.

If you don't mind me asking, why did you chose such an aggressive GF? I can somewhat get behind the GF-low, but surface with 90 after this kind of dive?

I intended to switch it to 80, but due to lack of brain function, completely forgot to do it for that dive. I managed a dive below 300' with enough bottom time to need 8 hours of deco with 60/90 so figured going down to 60/80 would be beneficial