Quote: (Originally Posted by
shell-back)
Only one DR made a statement about osteonecosis and a rather weak reference to my diving practices, He is not a diver.
Familiar story. I have a T4-5 facet joint injury, suffered in dec 04. The first specialist i saw (after seeing 3 gp's who all said "take some anti-inflams rest for a few days, then go back to work") poked and prodded, asked all the usual questions, then asked my work history. As soon as I mentioned the word "dive" his eyes *****ed up, asked my diving history, and when my last dives were. It just so happened that I'd done a weekend of deepish cave diving (6 dives between 35-60meters) over 2nd-4th Dec. I did the injury on dec 19th. I was seeing this specialist in early feb.
His response as I told him about my last dives "I believe you have the bends".
It took me a good half hour to convince this ****** that I knew a LOT about diving, and a fair bit about diving medicine, and that NO, I wasn't bent. Even then, he still mentioned in his report to works insurer that he believed my diving history was the main cause of my injury...
Mind you, this was also the ****er that told me I would be permanently in a wheelchair within 6 months... Needless to say, my back is still screwed, but I'm still walking, and I got a few more opinions.
Billy, all the best with it mate, make sure you speak to plenty of docs, one of them has to get it right!