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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
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Sarasota Scuba Club
Please keep XXX in your prayers. He is hospitalized and is fighting Decompression Sickness.
His mom, XXX is a friends with many in our club.
You got this XXX. is <emoji> feeling concerned with XXX
XXX update: He is at Blake Memorial hospital and has been diagnosed with DCS, decompression sickness also known as "the bends". He's had a full work up and MRI to rule out a spinal injury and possible other factors. (Including but not limited to Guillan Barre, cauda equina, ETC.) At the moment he does not have functional use of his legs. He has very slight movement and erratic sensation in both lower extremities, he is numb in his groin and cannot voluntarily void urine right now. He has tingles and numbness up to his mid chest. He is alert and cognitively sharp. Upper body strength is good in his arms and shoulders. His reflexes are normal with exception of Babinski, which points to an lower motor neuron insult ( spinal ). He is scared and rightfully so.
Thank you for all those who have reached out. Social media has come through and by the grace of God people who have experienced DCS have come out of the woodwork to help me properly advocate for his best treatment. The cause and treatment for DCS are not an exact science. XXX can at times be a renegade diver but Thursday was not one of those days. He had a very typical 1st drop in 90 ft. of water, with a dive buddy and did his safety stop. It was glass calm seas and very clear aquarium type of visibility, I watch his safety stop from the surface.
The first thing he said was "don't say it, you were right...". (Because his gun floated up like I thought it would be it's teak and had no shafts in it) He got on board and things went south quickly so I put him back down in the water with a diver to sit at 25 ft and simmer down. I had zero reason to think he was bent or had DCS, as nothing went wrong on his dive. He covered some ground but wasn't down for more than 2o minutes and he didn't blow his stop. I figured he didn't eat enough or drink enough so I made him a sammich and gave him some bottled water.
He didn’t get better so we came in. He couldn't walk and after trying to walk him XXX grabbed him and carried him up to the house and put him on the couch so we could keep an eye on him. He had graduation in a few hours... it was time for him to get dressed and it was a three ring circus like Weekend at Bernies with 2 boys and his girlfriend trying to dress him and get him ready. My dad's in the kitchen making taco meat and I cleaning lanai and house. So they try to give him crutches and he is dead weight on his limbs. XXX brought him out to the truck. I thought he walked him but later he told me that he carried him like a baby.
I end up abandoning cleaning and jump in car to drive him to scf for graduation. I'm thinking he's nervous maybe, he will rally. We got there and when I went to get him out of truck he tells me that he can't move his legs. I'm thinking it some sort of psychosomatic thing be he's telling me he's not bent it feels like a pinched nerve.
I took him to get observed and treated by a friend that is a very good chiropractor and he was out of alignment but didn't respond to adjustment. So he said to bring him in to ER and I brought him to the new ER around the comer.
They evaluated and focused on possible DCS but didn't rule out another nervous system insult or injury. They sent him by emergency transport to Blake Memorial. Blake is a level 1 trauma center with a hyperbaric chamber.
At 1 AM on Friday morning approximately 12 hours later they put him in the chamber on a Navy table 6 protocol.and let him marinate under pressure for almost 6 hours. He experienced significant pain in his ankles and begged to be let out early. They ended the session about 5 minutes early.
He had no significant change and couldn't move legs or feel anything normally from the waist down. I had doctors do a neurological exam to rule out everything else before they stuck him in the deco chamber again. He was ruled out for several things and they put him back in the chamber on a Navy table 5 protocol.
DCS is not a super common dx but Blake gets its fair share as we have plenty of commercial and rec divers in our tricounty west coast area. At this point, people on FB made assumptions and started chatting with friends. I have a small friend group but I have brilliant and caring friends that would do anything to help myself or my children. Through a few degrees of separation, I ended up with the cell phone number of the world expert on DCS. I also listened to a lecture from him a month ago in Tampa so I know he knows what he is talking about. God is Grace, I don't ever forget this.
It took some time, but XXX's attending physician and the expert have finally connected to adjust and take an aggressive treatment course of action. This is because someone saw something on FB, told someone else, that person I don't know said have her call me, he told me his experience, gave me the experts #, and the expert answered and then helped me advocate. This was not for any motive other than to help my son. This actually has tears streaming down my face because I don't know how I can be this blessed.
I'd like to think that my grandmother XXX went to heaven to get to work, as she finished her earthly time of 97 years while XXX was being transported to the chamber.
He does not have functional use of his legs and is numb from the chest down still. He has been in the chamber 2x now, with scant progress. He will be put in for 7 to 8 hours today on another Navy 6 protocol.
We are all praying that he can tolerate it. He needs to remain calm as fear and anxiety are not good, but very real at this point. It's hard as a mom to tell him to suck it up but I am.
I will try to update everyone, I'm sorry if I don't respond to everyone right away. If you think it is
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