my DCS Hit

gtzavelas

This is a short report about my deco hit, 2 months ago.

Dive 1: Monday at noon. Max depth: 115m.
Profile:


Dived with Megalodon rebreather and following setup:
Diluent 10/70, set point 1.1 at depth then switching to set point 1.3 above 30m and flushing with O2 at 6m. Deco by HS Explorer, setting 2, (conservative RGBM) with padded shallow stops (more time at 9/6/3 meters). The set point of the HS explorer is set to 1.1 during the dive, and 1.3 above 30m.
The dive was a sea water cave dive. Water temperature 21 deg C. Dry suit. As the water was warm, suit inflation was via bail out gas.
Towards the end of the deco i did a bounce to 50m, as shown in the profile above. (with quite fast ascent as can be seen)

Less than 1 hour after surfacing dived again to 21 meters:


No symptoms after the dives.

Dive 2: Wednesday noon dive (48 hours after dive 1):


Same mixes / procedures / max depth.
At 161 minutes as soon as I surfaced and stood up (in 1 meter water) both me knees hurt.I then dived immediately (within 1 or 2 minutes) to do additional O2 starting at 9 meters.
After 45 minutes, on resurfacing my knees still hurt.
One hour after exiting the water it was decided to go to chamber. The reason of the delay was because I was not convinced it was a DCS hit as I was feeling OK apart from the knees. During this one hour I was mostly lied down breathing O2 and drinking a lot of water.
Reached chamber after two more hours (mostly breathing O2).
Doctor diagnoses mild case of Type II hit (left legs had a neurological hit – reflexes were a bit off) plus very minor impact on balance.
Did 3 sessions (3 days) and was OK.


Possible Conclusion : The bad (yo-yo) profiles of Monday (bounce dive a 50m at the end of the deco, 2nd dive at 20m) left a small bubble in the knee (with very marginal symptoms that I did not realise on Monday). The bubble was recompressed two days after and produced the hit.


As a final note, my blood tests showed an elevated level of Bilirubin apparently caused by the high level of PO2 that breaks down the red blood ceels. One month after the accident the Bilirubin are still high. I am currently investigating this. (its now 2 months I am out of the water and planning to dive again very soon).

any input is welcomed

George Tzavelas

jepuskar

My Bilirubin is high too...I guess we are just over achievers.

I'm curious about your dive one...what was the reason for the bounce down to 50m after deco?

J

gtzavelas

how high is high?
have you investigated it?
do you have any evidence that there is any impact in any way with diving?
my initial (limited) findings so far indicate that there is no impact at all.

George

PS. your other question is replied by PM

ScubaDadMiami

Anyone can second guess his or her actions. So, don't be too hard on yourself. Certainly, the bounce at the end of the dive could have been the issue. If forced to make such a dive (I, too, would like to know why you elected to make the bounce at the end), I think that this profile would have called for extended decompression (apart from what the computer said).

The more important thing is that you put yourself on oxygen, rested, and drank water when the question first arose. Then, you got yourself to the chamber rather than denying a possible DCI hit. So, you should be congratulating yourself for doing this much. You would be suprised how many people end out having complications and residual deficits due to denial.

__________________
Howard Packer
IANTD CCR Instructor
Miami Beach, Florida
CCRDiveTraining.com

jepuskar

I dont know how high it is and I dont want to know, but it cant be related to diving because I havent dove since middle of Nov and even then this was on OC at shallow depths. If having a high Bili should limit one in and their diving I have no idea.

I have a dr's appointment next week regarding this. I went to webmd.com, all that does it tell me I'm probably dying of some liver malfunction.

I'll let you know via PM what the cause is of my elevated levels as soon as I find out.

J

Muzz

I really don't understand any of your dives. Why are you doing all bonce dives? Are you just going down to depth staying 1 minute and coming back up doing a super long deco?
I don't get it what the dive was about.

gtzavelas

The purpose of the 1st dive was to drop a couple of safety / bail out tanks (down to around 110m) for the diver going further down the cave.

I don’t have a problem answering your question but I don’t think the interesting aspect of this post is WHY I did this dive, but the fact I got BENT…

Mixaddict

Hi Gtzavelas,

Not trying to be critical at all, but the saw tooth profiles could very well have caused/contributed to the DCS event. My understanding is that most computers do not deal with saw tooth profiles very well. I know that we all like to think that our computers will calculate whatever profile we happen to dive and adjust accordingly, but in reality, it seems like the sawtooth profiles are more problematic. I agree with ScubaDadMiami in that I think a longer deco after the sawtooth would have been called for. Additionally, I would be very reluctant to do a 2nd dive after just one hour's surface interval after a dive down to 115m. 115m is not an insignificant depth, especially when it included a sawtooth profile.

I glad you are doing OK, and I hope that you are able to find the answers to your questions.

Regards,
Randy

__________________
Randy Thornton (MixAddict)
Inspiration, Evolution,Hammerhead & Sentinel
CCR Instructor

zzzzzzzz

Hi George,

Glad to read your hit was without dire consequences.

Your profile is of interest from the point of view of using a doppler.

The question that will remain without answer is whether using a doppler might have given you added insight into doing or not doing the added diving on day 2 and perhaps getting on oxygen on day 1.

This post is certainly not to question your dives, technique, karma, personality, religious affiliation or wisdom.

This seems to be one of those situations where we are left wondering if there is a tool that could have made a difference, and under what circumstances it might make sense to have this tool.

z

tibby

Good to hear you're OK George!
It's always good when you live to tell about it. Thanks for sharing.
Tibby

__________________
Does the voice of reason change when you add helium to the mix?...hmm