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From: ddrake01 As was said in the compiled report, the thing that saved me was the repetitive crisis training. I've had a couple of situations that made me learn to clamp down on the overwhelming panic feeling before the worst time. That one happened on the second of two deco dives. The second was to 120 ft and I had a 20 ft stop to do. Great dive until the upline suddenly sent me from 70-40 ft in a few heartbeats. It was no longer secured to the wreck, but was to the boat which was being pushed by the wind against the current. I automaticcally regained control of my ascent through training, but then the panic set in. My ears had started roaring like a train. I wanted to bolt to the surface. I thought I was getting bent and wanted to go up, but knew I'd be really screwed then. I had visions of blacking out due to DCI which had just happened to a club member a year ago (embolism). Again, the automatic training response kicked in, i.e. STOP, relax and think. That triggered the thought that I should get on the Nitrox 1st and then make a decision. I had a 30 ft pony bottle with 36% O2 in it which was more of a bail out bottle than a deco bottle. Then, once thinking, with rapid heartbeat, I decided that I would keep one finger on the inflator button and wait out the situation at 40 ft to see if it got better or worse. The roaring/ringing gradually lessoned, which was a good thing as it was extremely unerving. I hadn't ever experienced that before and it was LOUD. As I slowly made my way to the 20ft stop where I was supposed to pick up 100% from the boat, I could not see the bar or regs. I could see the bottom of the boat, so I decided to swim under it and hoped I would find the second stages. The problem was, I never got under the boat. I gave up and turned my head to see where the line was and saw it next to me and coming by as the boat was pushed by the wind. I was now blowing hard on the reg and getting lower on mix/air. So, I had to suppress that 'OH SHIT you're gonna be a crippled dead bastard' feeling again. I figured I had enough gas to do the air decompression if I could just get calm down and stop wasting effort and gas. I wound up using all the 36 % and air I had down to 200 psi before surfacing and doing 100% O2 surface deco. The ringing did not go away completely. DAN said it was either inner ear DCS or barotrauma. The O2 did not help, interestingly enough, and I had no blood in the middle ear... To shorten the story, I have a little ring left in one ear that reminds me whenever I access a risk factor that I'm not superman. No permanent loss of function, though I avoid loud noise as it makes the ringing louder. The O2 was brought up on the boat due to free flow. My buddy was a neophyte who was let on by the captian. I expected no help from him and got none. He had no problems. The fish nets and frieghter traffic didn't help my frame of mind, but I'm still diving and a lot safer now. I always carry all the O2 I want/need with me on all wreck dives and will not part with it. Q: The captain said the roaring/ringing was due to me doing the dive on air. Is there something to this? He said it happened often when he was deep on air! Was he suffering DCI symptoms or decompression stress? Several people have talked about their ear problems after the issue was brought up in a safety topic discussion at a club meeting. Some of them said ringing was a problem for them now too... P.S. I know that all dead people are cripple, but not all are bastards! ;) David B. Drake ahdnn1a.ddrake01@ed*.co* Romulus, Michigan, USA EDS/GM Powertrain 8-375-5467 (GM NET)
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