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matt t. · 06-04-2006, 03:00 PM,

Had a couple of great dives today off of the Len-Der on the Milwaukee and Willie. Visibility was in the 40 ft range with bottom temp @ 42 degrees. Warmed up on deco with 55 degrees @ 40 ft. Boat was about 1/2 full. Wink

Swimjim · 06-04-2006, 05:09 PM,

Wow, you got the short end of the stick. I dove the Notherner this morning and below about 70 feet the viz openned up to a hundred feet. You could see the whole wreck plus a bunch of the bottom. MMSD must be throwing in a bunch of extra you know whats.

Jim

matt t. · 06-05-2006, 08:33 AM,

These days I'll take whatever end of the stick I can get. As long as it's wet! ;D

fishchaser · 06-24-2006, 02:30 PM,

Did the Willie, looked for the Gillen but didn't find, and did the Norland today. I knew Jerry was planning on the Wille for his first dive, so I got up early to beat him to it. Turns out Diver's Delight also showed up as Jerry was finishing. Talked to one of their divers at the South Shore launch when they were on a SI and we were going home.

Both dives were the first time on each wreck. Willie definitely cool...will need further investigation. I can see why it's so popular. Norland was decent, but the best part was the fish. A school of 300+ alewife hung around the entire time. Too bad no salmon chasing them. Also saw a decent sized perch.

Viz kinda sucked, about 20 feet (30 tops) each dive. I couldn't even see the boat during the stops. Surface temp 57. Bottom temp was somewhere between 40 (buddy's thermometer) and 52 (my computer).

Chad

matt t. · 06-24-2006, 05:28 PM,

Glad you're out diving again. How's the foot?

MikeS · 06-24-2006, 05:52 PM,

"Talked to one of their divers at the South Shore launch when they were on a SI and we were going home."

That diver from 3LD was me. Nice talking to you, too. Our second dive was on the 906 Dredge. Good dive. Similar to the Willie in viz and temp.

Mike

fishchaser · 06-24-2006, 07:01 PM,

The foot is doing better. Now no crutches. I have some shoe inserts that do wonders but I still have a bit of a limp and the pain is still 24/7 (haven't tried putting them in the drysuit boots....so walking in the drysuit is very painful). One more surgery to go (that'll be #6) whenever I'm ready...planning late fall....after diving and before any possible Carrib trip.

I think I have 13 dives in this year....several in Curacao in March, several at Bonne Terre in May, and these two today. First cold water dives of the year.

Mike, nice meeting you. Glad you had it good on the #6. What did you have for bottom temp?

DiveCaptDean · 06-25-2006, 05:14 AM,

Fishchaser,
I was reading your post when the wife popped her head over my shoulder...She is a Surgical podiatrist....if you dont mind...what kind of SX have you had on the foot?
I hope you are well..
Deano

MikeS · 06-25-2006, 09:19 AM,

I believe surface was 56, bottom 46.

fishchaser · 06-25-2006, 09:59 AM,

Deano,

My foot was kinda crushed by a kid who fell asleep behind the wheel (at 12:30 in the afternoon) who crossed the centerline and hit me and my Harley nearly head on. I had turned a little, exposing the side of the bike, where he hit me and my foot.

I have 9 broken or crushed bones. Metatarsal heads 2-5 were crushed beyond repair. My cuboid was pulvarized to dust (Dr.'s words). My ankle had a compound/open fracture.

The first surgery was to clean up the open fracture. My foot had immediately ballooned up to double size from the accident, so no other work was done on the day of the accident. Second surgery was ~3 weeks later to repair the foot. The metatarsal heads were removed and the bone chips removed were used along with some artificial bone material to try to rebuild my cuboid. My ankle fracture had everything in place, so nothing was done to it. Due to the removal of the metatarsal heads and metatarsal fractures, toes 2-5 were pinned. Since my cuboid was jelly, additional pins were put in my heel and metatarsals 4/5 and an external fixator was used to keep the spacing of where the cuboid was. (All pins have now been removed and I'm metal-free.)

Third surgery was a skin graft, as I had a bit of necrotic skin. Fourth surgery was for an infection I had in the area of the cuboid. Fifth surgery was to remove all the pins for the fixator. The upcoming sixth surgery will be to shave down the cuboid that solidified up much too large. Maybe with the swelling of my foot, he didn't know how much bone graft material to put in. My foot has probably now shrunken to as small as it will get (still big) and it has been 9 months since the accident. Now the bone protrudes, with the worst of it on the bottom of my foot. Now it's like walking with a big marble taped to the bottom of my foot, right in the arch. Walking barefoot is out of the question due to immense pain. Walking with custom shoe inserts is quite doable.

The ortho surgeon has been in the biz for over 20 years, including doing trauma in Los Angeles. He said that this injury is one of the worst he's ever seen. He said if my skin would have been damaged more, he would have amputated. This was a Dr. down in IL (accident was in IL, I work in IL and was coming home when the accident occurred). I also got a second opinion from a Dr at Froedert, and he too said it was the worst he's ever seen.

But, I'm walking, but with a limp and 24/7 pain. So at least I got that going for me! ;D

Chad