It could happen to anyone who dives

s75952004

thanks for sharing .
as a cancer survior ,I do understand how you feel .the thoughts that goes through one's mind . I see you have at least found the one way to recover ,going away from england was a great idea . my motto for life is fight till you can fight nomore .a stong mind will heal the body.
how is it with todays medicne ,till you get to the correct doc the rest look at you like you are from star treck
take care

dantheman

Thanks for the update Simon.
Keep that great attitude, dude.

Hoping for a full recovery,
--dan

Simon TW

Hi Guys

I thought that I should post to let eveyone know how things are going. Thanks for all of your concern and encouragement, it means a lot.

I had the test for a PFO on Wednesday. it was the scan of the heart while a solution of gassed saline was injected into the blood stream. I was expecting the swallow a thing while they send echos method but they assured me that this was all that was needed. (I know one is called TEE and one TTE but not sure which way without searching)

I have to wait for the officail results but the consensus seemed to be that I was clear.

Now being "Clear" for a PFO is on one hand a good thing as it won't impinge on my diving but on the other hand I still don't know why I got bent.

Shame the other thread got closed as it was interesting.

Thanks again and dive safe.

Simon

Simon Ciantar

My God what a post !


Hope you ll have no side effects, I agree with you perfectly about denial, a few years back I had a similiar albeit much less serious case, after a perfectly normal dive with only about 6 minutes of deco on air , [but which lasted for about half the dive time] i felt a slight discomfort around my Kidneys , later I started itching , still kept telling myself it was nothing , finally got a full rash over all my chest, then i had to admit , but then i started thinking i will worry my wife , my parents, the Hyperbaric doc will be pissed ... since he will be called to duty on a Sunday etc.... Finally I decided to wait it out , itching subsided after about half an hour but rash remained for about 24 hrs , later after two days finally went to chamber and basically was told off by the doc! He told me he couldnt do anything now and that it was too late to see what damage if any had been done.... One thing he told me that I will never forget is that it is not up to the diver to decide if it is a case which needs treatment or not .... its up to the Doc ... so if in doubt go the chamber !

Simon

Gregv

Simon TW

While I'm sure the doc who performed your c-TTE (contrast trans thoracic echo) mentioned this, the negative test result doesn't necessarily mean you are "Clear for a PFO". The c-TEE (or c-TOE, same thing, just different spelling of oesophageal) approach, while still not perfect is a more sensitive test.

As an example, a paper by Cartoni et al (1) shows c-TTE had a negative predictive value of only 81% when compared to c-TEE in detecting PFO. I've only been doing TOE's (TEE) for 6 months now, but my senior colleagues agree that the 80% negative predicitive value number sounds about right.

To echo earlier comments, even if the test had been positive for a PFO, it may not have been the culprit.

Very happy to hear your recovery has gone well.

Greg

(1) Cartoni D et al. Identification of Professional Scuba Divers With Patent Foramen Ovale at Risk for Decompression Illness, American Journal of Cardiology, 94:July 15, 2004

Simon TW

Thanks for that Greg. I've been reading lots more on the subject. When it all boils down. We get under water, we're not designed to be there, we can do everything thing possible to mitigate any risks but there are risks.

We all know this is true and yet we choose to accept the risks. Risk has to measured against reward.

dteubner

[quote=Gregv]Simon TW



To echo earlier comments,

Greg



What's that they say about puns?

Dave T

Gregv

Glad someone picked it up...

Greg

nskdrs

A friend of mine had a false postive PFO test with TTE, more storys like this arround.

I asked two doc's, senior and young for advice, both employees of an internationally highly ranked cardiology institute, they would recommend TEE for decisive diagnosis, this institute strongly disagrees with other methods for being liable to wrong diagnosis, its only recommended for first diagnosis on unconcious patients with possible internal injuries.

Just to support the other post.
All the best for your recovery!

ROB DAVIE

Administrator's note: The other thread was closed due to interference and personal attacks on the part of one new member who claimed to be a doctor, but refused to supply his bona fides, and refused to modify his behaviour. The thread was not pulled, just closed. Members should use the search function, please, if you wish to view the thread

Simon TW was sent a message requesting that he re-start this thread, which, as all can see, he has done.

R. Davie
Rebreather World Admin