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I will write a regular trip report in a couple of days, but think everyone would be interested in this now... The Seizure: The diver had made their previous dive some 24 hrs before and prepared for the last dive of the trip along with 2 divers that would accompany them. The divers had only intended to stay 15 min to 220ft, the 2 other divers had made dives that morning and were making conservative second dives. The dive went as planned, 16 mins BT had been done and the diver elected to dive 20 min tables, all 3 ran exact profiles. All divers were on board but 4 when I went over to unshackle and make a breakable tie in to remove our mooring. I saw the diver who was decoing on our hang bar at 20ft and they looked fine. I took a minute to relax on the hang bar before I descended and everything looked fine. The following events were told to me as I was not back on board until 20 mins after I went down. The diver realizing something moved over to the buddy and signaled something was wrong, the buddy not knowing what was wrong asked if they wanted to go up. The buddy also knew that they were diving 20min tables for a 16 min BT and had already done 18 min of the 20 min required stop at 20ft. The diver should be clean enough to surface. A normal ascent was made by the 2 divers from 20ft only the buddy had put himself in the face to face position. At 5ft the diver seized and the reg came out of their mouth. Bubbles exited the divers mouth during the remainder of the ascent and once on the surface a call for help was made by the buddy, another diver jumped in and the victims head was raised out of the water, the body was in a complete convulse and the arms were so stiff they could not be bent to remove the gear and the harness was then cut. The diver was pulled from the water, within a minute of being out of the water the seizure stopped and the victim puked, lips were blue and color had gone from the face during the seizure, with in seconds those things returned to normal after the seizure. The drysuit was removed, the victim was unaware of what had happen and was disoriented, 02 was administered. The Capt went and made a call to the USCG. The victim was moved to the cabin until it could be determined the next course of action, I at this time was boarding the boat sensing something was wrong and quickly assumed the rule of carrying information between the radio and the victim, Rick Atkins took control of care for the victim. The victim was now in full control of all their faculties and was stating nothing was wrong, in due time they would admit to a tightness in the chest. I was concerned if there had been any aspiration of SW, a condition I have seen in the past that can result in more complications. The diver was transferred to a ship that had a trained medical staff and a more suitable platform for an airlift if that was necessary. The USCG flight surgeon agreed to the transfer and contacted "DAN" as another source of information, once on the ship ( in which they walked/ climbed over the rail on their own power) Dan ask the medical staff to perform a neurological test which the victim showed no negative signs to. The medical staff, Dan, and the USCG saw no need to airlift the victim and arrangements were made to pick up the diver when the ship came to port. When we arrived at the dock, Rick, Pete, and myself chose to drive and pick up the diver. Once there and the ship became moored up, we found that the ships staff would transfer care of the victim to the local hospital that had a hyperbaric chamber. When we arrived there was a bit of confusion as to where the victim was, having found the victim on our own we were asked to consult with the attending physician. The physician I felt was grasping at poor conclusions and we had seen him consulting the hyperbaric manual and at one point made a different opinion on the condition of the victim. He finally made the decision to do a table 6 as a precaution, the victim exited the chamber no different from when they entered. Exactly 24 hrs after it happen we stopped to eat at McDonalds. I have a hard time buying that it was an oxtox, the diver never did anything wrong and was well with in the limits for such an event to happen. I leave it up to those on this list and the lurkers to help solve this, I will answer any questions that are reasonable. JT Personally I would like to thank everyone on board who did a superb job during a very stressful event and for once the buddy system really paid off..... "You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get in the water" Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East Coast & more Web Site http://www.capt-jt.com/ Email captjt@mi*.co* -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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