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Last week I saw part of a documentary on one of the German satellite TV stations. At first I thought it was a general intro about diving; some talk about nitrogen narcosis, DCS, etc. Then I noticed it was some sort of Rescue 911 episode. They followed a German girl (approx. 21), doing her Open Water Certification dives, near Hurghada (Egypt) in the Red Sea. After one of her boat dives, she was felt a bit cold (N.B., the weather was fine and she was wearing a full-length wetsuit, after a dive which was neither very deep nor very long (sorry, they weren't more specific). After approx. 1/2 hour, she started to get dizzy, got a headache, and just a few minutes later she lost consciousness. The boat captain immediately made radio contact with shore, to have a doctor ready. While applying O2, they headed for shore. 1/2 hour later they were at a shack, which they call hospital in Hurghada; no deco chamber, oxygen only for a few minutes (they had to get another old rusty cylinder from the basement), none of the intensive care equipment usually available in our modern hospitals. To make things worse, the Egyptian doctor didn't speak English very well, so everything had to be translated, thus loosing even more precious time. At one of the hotels, an experienced diver who also was a doctor was informed about the accident, and immediately went to the hospital. By the time he arrived, the girl was not responding to any of the reflex tests they did on her legs and she was still unconscious. The diver/doctor immediately called a hospital in Germany, specialized in diving related problems. They decided the best thing to do was fly her to Germany and treat her in a deco chamber. It took them more than 4 hours before the plane arrived in Egypt. In the meanwhile the girl was transported to the airport. Another 4 hours later she was in the hospital in Germany, in the deco chamber. diagnosis: paralyzed from the waste down, problems with her right arm and not able to speak. after treatment in the chamber for several days, she stayed in the hospital for 1 month. After that, she had to learn to walk and talk again. They had scans (CT-scans ?) showing brain damage before and after treatment. Although residual damage was small on the last scan 6 months later she had not recovered completely and it was expected that she will always have some speech/walking problems. Why did this happen? Unfortunately, the program didn't provide very detailed information, but they mentioned the class was doing exercises on slow ascents and they did multiple shallow dives. The water temperature was approx 25C (78F). No indications of bad physical shape, no others divers experiencing the same problems. Concluding remarks: You can get DCS starting with minor symptoms, leading to major problems. One can get DCS on shallow dives where everyone else has no problem at all. If I go diving, I prefer to have a chamber nearby. If there had been one in Hurghada, problems would probably have been a lot less serious. Also, a doctor who is familiar with diving and speaks English would be nice :-(. Han Weegink ----------------------------------------------------------------------- IIIII CCCCC TTTTTTT Han Weegink info only I C C T ICT Automatisering Deventer BV I C T Aerospace Group Holland I C T E-mail: weegink@ic*.nl* I C C T Telefax: +31 (0)5700 21362 IIIII CCCCC T TelePhone: +31 (0)5700 33888 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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