My scuba diving days may be over. :(

[gypsyjim]

One thing for certain none of us will get out alive. The trick is to minimize risks while maximizing life while we have it.

DiverG following your doctor's orders to the n'th degree and giving yourself the best chance to heal totally is your best bet. Tehn see a dive doctor for the final word on continuing to dive. I do suggest that you are careful on selecting the Dive Doctor. Make sure it is someone who also loves to dive. My experience is that there are some "Dive doctors" out there who basically do the paperwork so they have another income stream from doing "Dive Medicals". If that is their motivation they seem to be more inclined to "Just say NO" to reduce perceived risks of litigation since nobody can guarantee that any given diver will never have ab incident while diving

Best of luck to be abel to continuethis wonderful sport.. :doh: not so big a fan of motorbikes but your life.. LIVE IT YOUR WAY!

Finding a Dive Dr that loves to dive, sounds like very good advice.

 

[teecup]

I wish you a speedy recovery. What did your doctor say about diving again?

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

DiverG,

Don't write diving off altogether yet. As mentioned in previous posts spontaneous pneumothorax would be a problem, but many divers who sustain them through injury and accidents can get a sign off to dive again. Just take it slow, and make sure you get a proper medical from a diving doctor (not a regular GP) or hyperbaric facility to get the all clear before you think about getting back in the water.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery and a bright diving future

 

[DiverG]

Thanks folks. I'm supposed to do a follow up with the admitting doctor tomorrow, but not sure if its going to happen. I'm also suppose to see a new primary doctor tomorrow with the Veterans Administration Medical Centers. I didn't get a good vibe with the new doctor a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't actually see her. So we'll see how the actual visit goes.

To those of you that have suffered this injury and are still diving. Did your lung get punctured or just collapsed from the blunt trauma? I'm near positive the ER doctors said my lung was punctured, and according to the linked article there is a good chance I shouldn't dive if the lung was punctured.

 

[flots am]

To those of you that have suffered this injury and are still diving. Did your lung get punctured or just collapsed from the blunt trauma? I'm near positive the ER doctors said my lung was punctured, and according to the linked article there is a good chance I shouldn't dive if the lung was punctured.

There really isn't much sense in having a lot of anxiety over this, until you've seen an actual doctor, who can see what kind of damage you have, exactly from what, and possibly talk to someone at DAN.

Also, different VA hospitals specialize in different stuff.

If your doc seems clueless, you might want to do some research and see which VA facility handles a lot of injuries similar to yours. Some VAs have nearly "Start-Trek" level facilities and staff for particular types of injuries/diseases, while others are more likely to hand you an aspirin and tell you to "walk it off"

flots

 

[DiverG]

Flots, I'm not really stressing over this at the moment. I've done very little diving as it is in the past few years. At the moment seeing the VA doctor is totally unrelated to this incident, but obviously will use them for what I can. If the worse happens, I'll survive and move on.

 

[letterboy]

There really isn't much sense in having a lot of anxiety over this, until you've seen an actual doctor, who can see what kind of damage you have, exactly from what, and possibly talk to someone at DAN.

Also, different VA hospitals specialize in different stuff.

If your doc seems clueless, you might want to do some research and see which VA facility handles a lot of injuries similar to yours. Some VAs have nearly "Start-Trek" level facilities and staff for particular types of injuries/diseases, while others are more likely to hand you an aspirin and tell you to "walk it off"

flots

Totally agree, the VA I went to north of me actually recommended I drive further south to a different hospital with more "toys" that could diagnose my migraines.

Even if you are not seeing them for this currently, exploring your options is always a good thing. While hanging out in the hospital, if you can contain yourself with all the fun there, check out the hospitals in your AO, the VA may actually have a better option, as scary as that is...

 

[flots am]

While hanging out in the hospital, if you can contain yourself with all the fun there, check out the hospitals in your AO, the VA may actually have a better option, as scary as that is...

For specific problems, there are literally no better facilities, public, private or research, anywhere in the world than some of the VA hospitals.

Unfortunately if you get the wrong problem at the wrong VA, you can also get treatment that would be considered substandard even in a bad hospital.

 

[Jim-SAR]

DiverG - at least you're still here and able to post about it. :cool2:

In September of 2011, I had an crash on the race track, and my bike landed on my back. I broke seven ribs under my left shoulder blade (#4 through #9, maybe #10), bruised left lung, and a grade-4 spleen rupture. I spent a week in the hospital after having trauma surgery to remove the spleen. Having an incision from my waist to my sternum put a halt to everything that required movement of my core muscles......pretty much any movement. All of my rib fractures were a single fracture per rib, with 4 that were displaced (pictured). If you have multiple fractures on a rib, you could have what they call a "flail chest".

If you have a punctured lung, I would think that you would have problems breathing, because the air would enter your thorasic cavity and could potentially lead to a collapsed lung. I believe they have to vent that air off through a needle to allow the lung to re-inflate. If it's a bruised lung, then it just hurts like hell to breathe in addition to the ribs.

No matter what, your body will heal, and unless something drastic has happened, I would bet that you'll be cleared to dive again. It may take a long time (months/year), but with some good healing, you should be good to go. As much as it may hurt, make sure you use the Spirometer (breath volume meter) to keep your lungs expanded. If you shy away from it, you could develop pneumonia. This was the doctor's concern for mine, and the reason for x-rays one/twice a day.


Good Luck!