Amazz
Contributor
When you find one, you have to grab him. The web isn't the best place to share personal medical information. But it helped me tremendously, so I'll share my very dive related medical story in case it can help others.
I'm a good diver. I'm a safe diver. I'm a smart diver. I'm an educated person. I also work as a divemaster on weekends at Jupiter Dive Center. I have suffered from skin bends over the years. I have also had more serious pulmonary issues and visual disturbances after diving. I regularly dive rather deep profiles of 70-90 ft for 45 minutes and sling up to 40 tanks after diving. I have had many unexpected DCS hits over the years and never went to the chamber because everything was pretty much resolved over several hours. Stupid, but let's not go there. I started researching PFO in December 2007 and was pretty much convinced there had to be a relation there. Finally after a more serious hit in May (still didn't go to the chamber) I decided to proceed and try to get an answer. I started with my primary care physician which was a total mistake and waste of time. He's not a diver and really didn't understand a thing I was trying to tell him. After a quick phone call, I discovered that Dr. Doug Ebersole, Cardiologist, tech diver, rebreather instructor, SB member, accepted my insurance. I had my Red Sea trip coming so I scheduled my exam with him right after I got back. I stayed shallow with Nitrox on the trip. I had no issues in Egypt.
On July 7, I saw Doug Ebersole and he also did a TTE with bubble contrast. He saw an atrial septal aneurysm and bubble transfer either through a PFO or other atrial septal defect. He recommended that I get it repaired or not dive again. He suggested the closure for July 16 so I didn't have any time to chicken out. It wasn't like he said you could get this fixed. It was more like, the sooner you fix this, the sooner you can dive again. That's my kind of Dr.
Oh boy. I dive with sharks and pick up snakes. I have no fears about anything. Well let me tell you that I met my first demon of my life. I was terrified. Two days before the procedure, I was basically a bitch to live with. Chuck couldn't do anything right. Part was his fault and part was me being a total train wreck. I knew Doug would go through femoral veins for the procedure and that it would be pretty much "routine." There was nothing about this that would be routine for me. I have never been sick before so this was absolutely terrifying for me. I was a wreck.
The day of the procedure I took Chuck and my dear friend Bobbi, a nurse anesthetist and tech diver. I discovered that my greatest fear was being aware during the procedure. I wasn't shy about voicing my terror and Bobbi also looked after me. Thankfully, the catheter procedure wasn't started until I was totally "asleep" I think I was on a heavy dose of versed and don't remember anything. I remember Dr. Ebersole telling me that he was finished and me saying thank you for not making me aware. Hey, you don't get a medal for being brave so I had nobody to impress. I stayed overnight at Lakeland Regional Hospital and was sprung around 1pm the next day.
The results: I had an atrial septal aneurysm which is a floppy atrial wall and small atrial septal defect, which was a hole. I had some bubbles flowing to the wrong places. Dr. Ebersole used a 25 mm Amplatzer Septal Occluder to patch the entire thing. I took a nice 3 mile run today, just a week after my procedure. I feel great. Unfortunately, I can't dive for three months.
I feel very lucky about not being seriously injured while diving. I'm not sure how I dodged that bullet. I wonder how brain damaged I am from those weird visual auras. Ha Ha.
I got checked because I had multiple unexplained DCS hits when my computer showed that I should be fine. I was the one who had problems on trips when everybody else was fine.
People have asked me how I could ignore DCS symptoms and keep diving. It's not that simple. I felt I was able to manage it and hit a lot of dead ends over the years trying to get answers. I have thought about this a lot and I always knew I was getting bent. I didn't just sit back and wrecklessly put myself in danger.
I made many calls to DAN and felt it to be a waste of time. Yeah, I probably got unlucky and talked to the wrong guy each time. Yes, I purchase DAN insurance every year and will continue to do so. But I dealt with some ineffective people on the phone at DAN at least a half a dozen times. I remember my first case of skin bends. The guy at DAN did his best to convince me I had sea lice. Another time I was told that extreme fatigue was too non-specific to be considered a DCS symptom and that diving as an activity is tiring anyway. Christ, I was explaining the kind of fatigue where I could barely get to the couch before collapsing. Later, I was told that my type of DCS symptoms were not consistent with the PFO/DCS relationship. I know DAN can't diagnose you over the phone and they did refer me to my primary care physician. It was never suggested that I go to the chamber in the 1/2 dozen or so calls I made to DAN. Make an appointment with your primary Dr. they said. I just always got the feeling that DAN was trying to talk me out of feeling like I had DCS. I knew better and just dealt with it.
I finally made an appointment with my primary Dr. He basically told me that if I was really bent I would have ended up in the chamber. Well to end up in the chamber, one basically has to go to the chamber, right?? I never went. Don't expect a Dr. to understand what you are talking about unless he/she is a diver. They don't learn anything about this in med school. My Dr. didn't get it AT ALL!!! He told me I wasn't really getting bent. I guess they have this visual of a diver bending over in agony and that's what the "bends" is.
I also delayed taking action because I "heard" most doctors would tell you to stop diving and that insurance wouldn't pay to fix the problem. Finally, after a scarier episode in May, and talking with my friend Ellen (who is also a patient of Dr. Ebersole) I made an appointment to see him. In a 9 day period, I saw Dr. Ebersole, had the TTE with contrast, and had the defect closed. That was exactly one week ago and I'm a whole, healthy person.
I had countless episodes of what I knew were DCS symptoms. Some were mild, others were not. At worst, I would have the noticeable marbeling under the skin accompanied by painful burning in the lungs when inhaling and horrible coughing when exhaling. I felt "chamber ready" about a dozen times but was too wiped out to make a move. Chuck was always out cleaning gear in the pool and I just collapsed on the couch, not wanting to tell him and worry him. I always knew it would go away as it did in the past. My more severe skin bends were accompanied by visual disturbances, a wavy aura around the perimeter of my sight. It was like being in a tunnel with moving walls. This would start about an hour after surfacing and the skin issues would start about an hour after that. The last straw was May. I felt the typical burning in my left upper breast, accompanied by the weird vision, and lung burning. Over the next 30 minutes, I had a lump grow there about the size of a lemon. Over the next several hours, it gradually turned a nasty shade of purple, an obvious bruise. I don't know what the hell that was all about but it freaked me out. The lung pain and weird vision subsided over the next several hours so I didn't worry so much about dropping dead that night. The lump went down considerably the next day and the bruising was gone in about 10 days. During all of these episodes I never experienced vertigo. I was also told that the lack of vertigo meant that I must be dealing with something else besides DCS. What the hell? Everybody is different. Up to the very end, I even felt myself minimizing my symptoms to Dr. Ebersole. I have no idea why I did that. Maybe I was just so used to doing it. I feel great and will be diving in 2 months and 22 days, but who's counting?
I'm a good diver. I'm a safe diver. I'm a smart diver. I'm an educated person. I also work as a divemaster on weekends at Jupiter Dive Center. I have suffered from skin bends over the years. I have also had more serious pulmonary issues and visual disturbances after diving. I regularly dive rather deep profiles of 70-90 ft for 45 minutes and sling up to 40 tanks after diving. I have had many unexpected DCS hits over the years and never went to the chamber because everything was pretty much resolved over several hours. Stupid, but let's not go there. I started researching PFO in December 2007 and was pretty much convinced there had to be a relation there. Finally after a more serious hit in May (still didn't go to the chamber) I decided to proceed and try to get an answer. I started with my primary care physician which was a total mistake and waste of time. He's not a diver and really didn't understand a thing I was trying to tell him. After a quick phone call, I discovered that Dr. Doug Ebersole, Cardiologist, tech diver, rebreather instructor, SB member, accepted my insurance. I had my Red Sea trip coming so I scheduled my exam with him right after I got back. I stayed shallow with Nitrox on the trip. I had no issues in Egypt.
On July 7, I saw Doug Ebersole and he also did a TTE with bubble contrast. He saw an atrial septal aneurysm and bubble transfer either through a PFO or other atrial septal defect. He recommended that I get it repaired or not dive again. He suggested the closure for July 16 so I didn't have any time to chicken out. It wasn't like he said you could get this fixed. It was more like, the sooner you fix this, the sooner you can dive again. That's my kind of Dr.
Oh boy. I dive with sharks and pick up snakes. I have no fears about anything. Well let me tell you that I met my first demon of my life. I was terrified. Two days before the procedure, I was basically a bitch to live with. Chuck couldn't do anything right. Part was his fault and part was me being a total train wreck. I knew Doug would go through femoral veins for the procedure and that it would be pretty much "routine." There was nothing about this that would be routine for me. I have never been sick before so this was absolutely terrifying for me. I was a wreck.
The day of the procedure I took Chuck and my dear friend Bobbi, a nurse anesthetist and tech diver. I discovered that my greatest fear was being aware during the procedure. I wasn't shy about voicing my terror and Bobbi also looked after me. Thankfully, the catheter procedure wasn't started until I was totally "asleep" I think I was on a heavy dose of versed and don't remember anything. I remember Dr. Ebersole telling me that he was finished and me saying thank you for not making me aware. Hey, you don't get a medal for being brave so I had nobody to impress. I stayed overnight at Lakeland Regional Hospital and was sprung around 1pm the next day.
The results: I had an atrial septal aneurysm which is a floppy atrial wall and small atrial septal defect, which was a hole. I had some bubbles flowing to the wrong places. Dr. Ebersole used a 25 mm Amplatzer Septal Occluder to patch the entire thing. I took a nice 3 mile run today, just a week after my procedure. I feel great. Unfortunately, I can't dive for three months.
I feel very lucky about not being seriously injured while diving. I'm not sure how I dodged that bullet. I wonder how brain damaged I am from those weird visual auras. Ha Ha.
I got checked because I had multiple unexplained DCS hits when my computer showed that I should be fine. I was the one who had problems on trips when everybody else was fine.
People have asked me how I could ignore DCS symptoms and keep diving. It's not that simple. I felt I was able to manage it and hit a lot of dead ends over the years trying to get answers. I have thought about this a lot and I always knew I was getting bent. I didn't just sit back and wrecklessly put myself in danger.
I made many calls to DAN and felt it to be a waste of time. Yeah, I probably got unlucky and talked to the wrong guy each time. Yes, I purchase DAN insurance every year and will continue to do so. But I dealt with some ineffective people on the phone at DAN at least a half a dozen times. I remember my first case of skin bends. The guy at DAN did his best to convince me I had sea lice. Another time I was told that extreme fatigue was too non-specific to be considered a DCS symptom and that diving as an activity is tiring anyway. Christ, I was explaining the kind of fatigue where I could barely get to the couch before collapsing. Later, I was told that my type of DCS symptoms were not consistent with the PFO/DCS relationship. I know DAN can't diagnose you over the phone and they did refer me to my primary care physician. It was never suggested that I go to the chamber in the 1/2 dozen or so calls I made to DAN. Make an appointment with your primary Dr. they said. I just always got the feeling that DAN was trying to talk me out of feeling like I had DCS. I knew better and just dealt with it.
I finally made an appointment with my primary Dr. He basically told me that if I was really bent I would have ended up in the chamber. Well to end up in the chamber, one basically has to go to the chamber, right?? I never went. Don't expect a Dr. to understand what you are talking about unless he/she is a diver. They don't learn anything about this in med school. My Dr. didn't get it AT ALL!!! He told me I wasn't really getting bent. I guess they have this visual of a diver bending over in agony and that's what the "bends" is.
I also delayed taking action because I "heard" most doctors would tell you to stop diving and that insurance wouldn't pay to fix the problem. Finally, after a scarier episode in May, and talking with my friend Ellen (who is also a patient of Dr. Ebersole) I made an appointment to see him. In a 9 day period, I saw Dr. Ebersole, had the TTE with contrast, and had the defect closed. That was exactly one week ago and I'm a whole, healthy person.
I had countless episodes of what I knew were DCS symptoms. Some were mild, others were not. At worst, I would have the noticeable marbeling under the skin accompanied by painful burning in the lungs when inhaling and horrible coughing when exhaling. I felt "chamber ready" about a dozen times but was too wiped out to make a move. Chuck was always out cleaning gear in the pool and I just collapsed on the couch, not wanting to tell him and worry him. I always knew it would go away as it did in the past. My more severe skin bends were accompanied by visual disturbances, a wavy aura around the perimeter of my sight. It was like being in a tunnel with moving walls. This would start about an hour after surfacing and the skin issues would start about an hour after that. The last straw was May. I felt the typical burning in my left upper breast, accompanied by the weird vision, and lung burning. Over the next 30 minutes, I had a lump grow there about the size of a lemon. Over the next several hours, it gradually turned a nasty shade of purple, an obvious bruise. I don't know what the hell that was all about but it freaked me out. The lung pain and weird vision subsided over the next several hours so I didn't worry so much about dropping dead that night. The lump went down considerably the next day and the bruising was gone in about 10 days. During all of these episodes I never experienced vertigo. I was also told that the lack of vertigo meant that I must be dealing with something else besides DCS. What the hell? Everybody is different. Up to the very end, I even felt myself minimizing my symptoms to Dr. Ebersole. I have no idea why I did that. Maybe I was just so used to doing it. I feel great and will be diving in 2 months and 22 days, but who's counting?
