Thanks for the welcome
.
As far as the hit goes - pretty straightforward, I overheard the term "deserved-hit" whilst in the chamber IIRC and I'd say it was appropriate.
Really briefly - OC dive on a scooter (first time on a scooter - more on that to come). Group was diving a 21/35 tmix, I on the other hand had decided to give the dive a go on a 12/70 blown over a couple times with air - o2 checked in around 20% IIRC (retrospectively I'd say I was diving air more or less - judgment error #1). Dive went more or less as planned, as I mentioned it was the first time I had used a scooter, and it was borrowed. I was having a hell of a time getting it to track straight and fighting it the whole time to the point that my arm was wasted (turns out one of the interior trim weights had come loose and was moving around on me - judgement error #2, I shoulda called the dive at the point I realized this was not working for me). Dive profile was max depth 113', avg depth 84', dive time 66 min. 12 total minutes of deco on EAN50 starting at 70' (roughly 5-2-2-1-1-1 - judgement error #3, I shoulda used my head a bit and looked at what MY deco profile should have been given my breathing gas. Consequently, nobody else in the group took a hit, same dive profile but proper gas selection). I got out and commented on how beat my arm was - at that point only thinking it was a product of me fighting the scooter (clearly that was part of it) 5 minutes later on land starting to take gear off it became clear to me that it wasn't just a tired arm. Increasing pain localized at right elbow and slightly above, at one point or another I felt nauseous and had a moment where I felt I might black out - no in water recompression was going to happen at that point. Luckily I had a solid group of guys there to help me out, they got me some more EAN50 (nobody had any o2) and helped me get my gear off then took me to the ER and waited with me until it was clear there was nothing for them to do there and I sent em home.
ER was a clusterf#%^ but that's another story. Longways-short it took them 2 hours of me explaining DCS and that I had it to 3 or 4 doctors for some intern to come back at me and say, "sir, we think you have what is called decompression sickness, and we are going to call the hyperbaric staff that is on-call, but it will take them at least an hour to get here and get set up" at this point I wasn't about to start yelling (outloud anyways) for fear that they may delay further due to me being a pia. Anyhow about 3 hours after arrival they finally pressed me (lucky for me I wasn't in serious shape). Table 6 with 1 extension - a fun night.
Fully covered by DAN, albeit with quite a bit of paperwork hassles / double-billing by hospital, etc, etc.
I did some investigations into a PFO check as I fully intended (provided no PFO) on continuing and progressing further into some good diving. I got my primary care phys to refer me to the local diving specialist for searching out a PFO. After a couple more referrals (got to keep the chain clear for insurance reasons) I finally got hooked up with an appointment with another local specialist for a transcranial doppler. They put a crownish thingamabob on my head, I laid down and they pumped an agitated saline solution into my arm and gave a listen. No PFO. All said and done, it took about an hour and a half out of my workday and I walked out of there and back to work (probably shoulda milked it for a bit more
).
In my situation, given that I was able to get the procedure done and paid for by insurance and that I wanted to keep on diving it was a no brainer to get the test done. Had I had a PFO, I can't say whether or not I'd have continued to look into repair options. Maybe at that point it woulda been time to take up something else but it's all academic as I was clean.
Anyhow, I was lucky that it wasn't that bad and it was a nice lesson/reminder in personal responsibility. Here's to learning from one's mistakes and avoiding any re-runs.