It's been a long road back from Covid, ready to dive again!

[12th Man]

It's been a very long road back from having Covid-19 pneumonia and spending 40 days in the hospital. I'm seventeen months since leaving the hospital. Getting back to diving has been a huge goal of mine. After what seems like a gazillion tests, CT scans and tons of doctors appointments, I'm finally in the home stretch. Today I did my first of two Hyperbaric chamber sessions. Todays session was 90 min at 1.75 atmospheres. I had no issues at all during the 90 min session, just watched a movie on the TV outside the chamber. Tomorrows session will be 90 min at 2.75 atmospheres. A lot of thanks goes to the doctors at UT Southwestern Long Haul Covid program. The doctor overseeing my treatment specializes in diving and utilizing hyperbaric chambers.. As long as tomorrows session goes according to plan, the doctor will release me to dive. I can't wait.

My goal for my first few dives are shallow reef dives down to 40 to 50ish feet to ease my back into it. I'll probably throw a couple shark dives in out of Jupiter FL as they're usually no more than 50' or so. Then off to Belize for 10-days this July for more serious diving.

 

[txdamselfish]

Here's to your health returning and only getting stronger!
Bravo to the UT Diver Dr & UT SW LH Covid Team!
I would love to hear more about the UT Diver doctor and using the hyperbaric chambers to test your "readiness" to return to diving.
Please reply back and let us know how your trips went.
Interested in reading about any modified dive plans and techniques used to ease your way back into diving safely.

 

[kaylee_ann]

awesome, congrats! been a long time coming. covid is hard enough to go through as-is. well done!!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Great news! Best of luck!! I'm sure it will feel amazing to be back underwater.

 

[scubadada]

...My goal for my first few dives are shallow reef dives down to 40 to 50ish feet to ease my back into it. I'll probably throw a couple shark dives in out of Jupiter FL as they're usually no more than 50' or so. Then off to Belize for 10-days this July for more serious diving.

What shark dives in Jupiter are <50 ft? Deep Ledge is generally down to around 100 ft with an avg of around 70. Wreck Trek is down to around 90 ft with an avg of 65-70. The Jupiter reefs usually have a max depth of 70-85 ft and an avg of 60-70.

Not that you won't do perfectly well, but you should be aware of your goals. Your 2nd hyperbaric session will be at just less than 60 ft.

Best of luck in your return to scuba, I would feel exactly the same way

 

[Divin'Papaw]

What shark dives in Jupiter are <50 ft? Deep Ledge is generally down to around 100 ft with an avg of around 70. Wreck Trek is down to around 90 ft with an avg of 65-70. The Jupiter reefs usually have a max depth of 70-85 ft and an avg of 60-70.

Not that you won't do perfectly well, but you should be aware of your goals. Your 2nd hyperbaric session will be at just less than 60 ft.

Best of luck in your return to scuba, I would feel exactly the same way

Good question for clarification @scubadada. I assumed he was referring to one of the baited dives. Those I think (don't know first hand as I don't do them) have you hanging in mid-water in 30-50' range.

 

[scubadada]

Good question for clarification @scubadada. I assumed he was referring to one of the baited dives. Those I think (don't know first hand as I don't do them) have you hanging in mid-water in 30-50' range.

Good point, I did not think of that. I have never used any of the baited/fed shark operations in SE FL. Perhaps that is what @12th Man meant.

 

[Pearlman]

It's been a very long road back from having Covid-19 pneumonia and spending 40 days in the hospital. I'm seventeen months since leaving the hospital. Getting back to diving has been a huge goal of mine. After what seems like a gazillion tests, CT scans and tons of doctors appointments, I'm finally in the home stretch. Today I did my first of two Hyperbaric chamber sessions. Todays session was 90 min at 1.75 atmospheres. I had no issues at all during the 90 min session, just watched a movie on the TV outside the chamber. Tomorrows session will be 90 min at 2.75 atmospheres. A lot of thanks goes to the doctors at UT Southwestern Long Haul Covid program. The doctor overseeing my treatment specializes in diving and utilizing hyperbaric chambers.. As long as tomorrows session goes according to plan, the doctor will release me to dive. I can't wait.

My goal for my first few dives are shallow reef dives down to 40 to 50ish feet to ease my back into it. I'll probably throw a couple shark dives in out of Jupiter FL as they're usually no more than 50' or so. Then off to Belize for 10-days this July for more serious diving.

Congratulations on your recovery!
Curious - did you request a special round of testing to assess your physiology specifically for diving?

 

[12th Man]

It's been a long drive home from the big D back to West Texas. Today's session went great at 2.75 atmospheres for 90 min which the tech said was around a depth of 90ish feet.

Dr. Cabrera the UT Southwestern Long Haul Covid Doctor who treated did a great job setting up all of my tests and therapies I went through. The biggest and best were the twenty five EEC Flow therapies. These were ground breaking in my recovery as they got me through my chronic fatigue and short of breath issues. When it came to diving and hyperbaric chamber portion, Dr. Cabrera reached out to Dr. Johnson who specializes in dive medicine and utilizing the hyperbaric chamber. Great team effort for sure. I feel great now, so much better than last Nov when I started with Dr. Cabrera.

As I told my wife, I'll be going back to diving slow and easy as it's not a race. Just being able to blow bubbles underwater again will be incredible. The shark dives out of Jupiter Fl are over a bait box. We usually descend to 50' or so and when the sharks come up, stay 30 to 40' for 45 mins or so each dive. It's a great dive and I just love being in the water with those incredible animals.

This weekend I'll get all my dive gear out and give it a good thorough going over. Planning on some dives in May timeframe in FL and South Texas gulf.

 

[12th Man]

Congratulations on your recovery!
Curious - did you request a special round of testing to assess your physiology specifically for diving?

Absolutely yes on that statement! The last thing I wanted to do was go out into the ocean and drop off the back of boat, descend and find out I'm having issues. I figured it was better try it out in a controlled environment with medical staff present if I had an issues and something went wrong. During my discussions with Dr. Johnson, he said if I could make two atmospheres, I was golden. I asked for more and he said he would do 2.75. He decided to do it in two steps, the first at 1.75 atmospheres for 90 min and then 2.75 atmospheres for 90 min. No issues what so ever. I felt great inside the chamber and after I got out.