Got myself bent - not much fun.

[mud_diver]

10.7.06 - 10.8.06 Lake Wazee - Nice wekend of diving. 3 dives Saturday 2 on Sunday. All clean profiles. Max tissue saturation 83% in midrange tissue compartments.
10.9.06 Right Hip, right knee, right lower leg and  right ankle start hurting pretty bad.
10.10.06 - 10.20.06 Go to doctors and get an X-ray of hip. Told I have bursitis of the hip, some kind of inflamation in the joints. Doctor puts me on medicine to reduce inflamation. Pain only gets worse.2 trips to the chiropractor, helps relieve a little pain, but nothing seems to help.
10.21.06 Lakee Wazee - 2 dives, bothe clean profiles except first dive has a slightly faster than normal ascent, but still within safety limits.
10.22.06 Wake up, can barely walk. Long drive home.
10.22.06 Late afternoon - Can't take the pain any longer - off to the hospital emergency room. After a bit of talking with the doctor, he suspects the bends. Confers with St. Lukes hyperbaric department and off I go in an ambulance.
10.22.06 Late evening - wheeled into hyperbaric chamber for a 6.5 hour ride. Morphine makes the pain tolerable.
10.22.06 - 10.26.06 - every day  to the chamber for another ride. Pain is lessening with every treatment, even at shallow depths of pressure. Caught pneumonia from the high concentration of oxygen. Sound like Darth Vader when I breath. Hyperbaric nurse is considering putting in a chest tube. Already have a catheter (and not the condom version), cause I can no longer pee.
10.26.06 Excruciating pain. Somethings gone wrong. Into the MRI machine. Herniated disc in my spine has fragmented.
10.27.06 Spinal surgery to remove fragments of disc.
10.28.06 Discharged from the hospital for a half a week of bedrest.

Most likely scenario: Had a herniated disc before my first dive I knew nothing about. Poor blood flow results in the bends in my spine, puts pressure on the disc, cause pain in my leg.

Lessens learned:
1. Always have DAN dive insurance. Going to be the best $60 I ever spent. This bill will be quite expensive but DAN will pay for it. ( I was told about $5,000 per chamber ride x 5 rides = $25,000 just for chamber time, not sure if this is true, waiting to see a copy of the bill)
2. Don't ignore any pain after diving, get it checked out.
3. Even if you are within your NDL, you can definately get bent.
4. Nothing fun about the chamber.
5. Made some good friends diving, quite supportive while I was in the hospital (You know who you are. THANKS !!!)

Brian

[Dewit2it]

Sorry to about your misfortune.    GET WELL SOON!!! 

Hope you can still dive later on!

[matt t.]

Good luck and keep us informed regarding your condition.

[Vtach]

Sorry to hear...wish you a quick recovery.

[Omicron]

Brian - I'm really sorry to hear about that - I wish you the best during your recovery.

If you need anything during recovery, let everyone know - I'm sure we can help if you need it.

Jason

[mud_diver]

Thanks, doing much better. I have seriously thought about giving up diving, but Friday I changed my  mind. I am definatley going to continue, there is still too much I want to do and see. I will just have to run a seriously conservative profile from now on.

[matt t.]

If you get a chance, and are comfortable posting them, I'd like to see the gasses and profiles you were diving.

[DiveCaptDean]

Hey Brian,
I am very sorry to hear about your situation....I truly wish you a speedy recovery..

Before you give up diving..do some research...I am in the process as well....
I personally have had several back surgeries,...i am a big guy and the one i had three years ago was due to me changing my babies diaper!...It turns out that i had actually had a  crushed disc for some time, but it did not present itself...just when i bent over to change that diaper, a portion of that disc slid over to the nerv duct and i went into immediate pain..that tracked all the way down to my toes..via the sciatic nerve....i didnt walk again until I had the surgery three days later....I think it is very possible that while you were diving that a piece of the disk slid similar to mine and started affecting your sciatic nerve.....I dont know what kind of diving you were doing nor your profile, but is it possible that even though you got bent that it really had no impact on your back issue?.........keeping in mind..my mother in law got the skin bends on two short 40ft dives..........

I hipe you are doing well, i just hate so see someong give up the sport....if i find anything interesting regarding back issues and diving..ill keep you posted..

G/L

you'll be back alot sooner than you think..you should get a full release from your doctor in three months...

[divbum]

Hope you have a full and speedy recovery.

[Swimjim]

Sorry about your bubble trouble.  Hope you get well soon and can continue diving.  I feel a little better about using V-Planner in the old fart levels now.  Makes the extra deco time worth while. I guess I have to accept the fact that I'm becoming an old fart. Ha.  Pretty soon I'll be changing my grand kids diapers, I'd better be extra careful.  Best of luck and a speedy recovery!

Jim