Deep Heat

As I lowered my twin-set onto the deck I felt strangely relieved to be back in an environment that is relatively easy to deal with. The dive had been more of a physical work out than a wrecker's brass hunt. OK I knew it would be a big tide and I also knew it would be the usual dark wreck dive that is so often the case out of Dartmouth but...

"The deepest part is in the scour but most of the wreck is much less than fifty metres. There will be some tide on her but we're pretty near slack now. Oh and if the shot is not on the wreck we'll clip on and start a circular search!"

"All right you're leading, I'll follow you"

It started with a deep warming sensation, similar to an application of 'Deep Heat', then it began itching. It's quite bizarre looking back on those first few moments - I appeared to have taken the attitude that if I ignored it, it would go away! All sorts of strange thoughts went through my head; if it was a bend then they would ban me from diving for ages and I would have to join that group of divers who can't go beyond thirty metres. No, not me, I take my diving far too seriously. I'll just say nothing and it is bound to go away.

As the itching slowly got worse... maybe I should say something.

"Sorry I can't help you pull the shot in skipper, my right arm is giving me some jip."

"That's all right, it happens to me sometimes"

What that was meant to mean, I'll never know. I disassembled my kit, got dressed and sat in the cabin drinking tea while we made our way back to the harbour. During the ride back I either convinced myself that the itching had gone or it had in fact eased. Either way I paid the skipper, loaded up the van and dashed home, already late for a relative's birthday celebration.

It must have been around five o'clock when I awoke with a rather interesting pain in my shoulder joint and an arm that felt like someone had given it a good old fashioned kicking! The pain wasn't unbearable but certainly enough to remind me of the previous days dive. Oddly enough it took a further fifteen minute telephone conversation with a much respected dive colleague before I was ready to admit to myself I WAS BENT. So how come it took so long for me to accept what had happened? How could I have been so stupid? Perhaps if I had used oxygen on the boat when the symptoms had first arisen I would not have developed the pain in my shoulder joint. It's not as if we were exactly short of the stuff in or out of the water!

Eight thirty at the DDRC..

"Yes, you're bent. Get number one ready for Simon and find out who is on call to be an attendant"

To say the operation of the chamber and its staff was slick and professional is a major understatement. Within ten minutes they had my dive computer checked, a ten page document filled out and me installed in chamber one with a paramedic - I even had time to call my boss where I tried to explain what decompression sickness was.

It was at this point in the proceedings that I was given plenty of time to think about my predicament. How long am I in here for? When can I dive again? Will I be restricted in depth in future dives? What about my dive holiday at Christmas? Where do I go to the toilet? What about next week's dive in Newquay? She doesn't expect me to pee in those does she? Why aren't they lecturing me about safe dive practices? Oh god I hope I don't need a pee!

Well five hours just flew by!! NOT!

Twenty minute sessions on oxygen followed by short breaks during which time my attendant forced numerous cups of tea, squash and water down my neck. Well, what goes in must come out and pretty soon I was having to swallow my pride and fill the aforementioned cardboard bottles. It's probably worth mentioning at this point that my attendant was a lady and.., well.., it's enough to say that most warm blooded males would not have found her unattractive.

"How's Simon getting on?" came the voice over the tannoy.

"He's fine, he says the pain is easing a little"

"Has he been to the toilet yet?"

"Err...Yes he has"

"Can you tell me how much?"

"Hang on... well... all of it...yes a whole one"

So in came the oxygen and liquids, out went the carbon dioxide and cardboard bottles - I will never say a long haul flight is boring again.

We finally arrived at the surface in the early afternoon, a little over five hours at eighteen metres and no stops - so why won't my computer give me these times? I scrambled from my prison cell straight into a medical examination. The examination consisted of a complete set of neurological tests - noises, vibrations, jabs with pointed objects etc etc. Before long it became clear that apart from the untold damage years of alcohol abuse had done, I was quite 'normal' yet because the pain in my arm had not quite gone I should return the following day for a further treatment.

Fortunately the final treatment was only for two hours and in the slightly more sociable atmosphere of chamber three with the daily NHS patients. Being with non-divers receiving treatment made me feel that my small ailment was relatively trivial - one elderly lady had been making two dives a day for three months in order to help a serious leg wound heal.

So what's the point to all this, after all it was only a minor 'hit' and by the time you read this I will be diving again? Well I wanted to make two points really. 

First, too many people who suffer diving injuries like this try to cover them up or at least do not mention them outside a very close circle of friends often leading to gossip and supposition. This is unfortunate because even though they may be bad experiences they are still experiences that would benefit other divers if recounted as examples and discussed within branch diving education. The secret taboo of the bend victim helps no-one. Perhaps if more detailed first hand accounts of such incidents had been relayed to me during training I would not have been so slow and / or embarrassed to reach for the oxygen.

Which leads me to my second and final point. Don't be as slow I was to ask for oxygen even if you are not 100% sure you need it. It is always available on club and most charter boats and for the relief it can give a DCS victim - oxygen is cheap at any price. I might not have been so lucky.

Simon T.