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Hey Falks,
Sorry for the long'ish post - but I believe it is worth knowing and being aware of....
My DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis)
In the last several years I have done over two thousand dives. I did not have any health issue or dive accident. I was accomplishing new plans, new more ambitious dives and ideas for the future. Here follows a description of 13 days of my life, when I have learnt that a small hole in a pavement can decide upon if I will ever dive again…
Day 1
I have done two dives on shallow depths (max 15m) with total dive time of 140 minutes. More then half of the time I have spent on depths less then 6 meters. On the evening the same day I have twisted my ankle (I just fell with my leg in some small hole in the ground) – the ankle got swollen, so I have put some ice over it and contacted a doctor. After visiting the doctor a suspicion of broken bones comes to light – we are planning to make an x-ray next day.
Day2
Hospital – X-ray shows no bone damage, so it is classical ankle sprain. I got a cast for 14 days and we will see what will happen next with the ankle.
Day 3, 4 & 5
Except me being angry with the ankle and having a slight fever – all seams ok.
Day 6
..but also a part of the night from 5th to 6th day: I have a pain in my lower left chest side, and it get more painful with every hour. The fever is about 38-39oC. I call a doctor, who after coming and checking me suspects a spleen inflammation. He sends me to blood testing and ultrasound of stomach/abdomen area. I am advised to eat paracetamol (it will hurt I hear from the doctor) and we shell meet in 3-4 days (it was Friday) for checking.
Evening/night: the only position I can stand the pain is while sitting. The pain is not allowing me to sleep, I have problems breathing and moving. Except intramuscularly painkiller injections I am breathing almost 60% nitrox (I just got one at home).
Day 7
The pain is practically in whole left upper body part. My breath is very shallow – every try to get more deep breaths is too much pain. The pulse is over 120, the fever rises up to 39,8oC. I decide to go to hospital. I can not sit – I am 180 cm high, but now I can only hunch from pain to 160cm. It has to look odd – all people seeing me are just moving away. I can only speak with very weak voice, I ask for additional consultation with a doctor immediately after the test. Happily the personnel at the hospital spotted me quite fast and offered a separate room and immediate doctor attention. I am lucky – I meet a diving pulmonologist. The talk is short – X-ray of my chest at once. The results – the ultrasound looks fine, there is a slight inflammation but at the X-ray they can not see much – my diaphragm is raised very high so they can not see anything specific. We decide to make computer tomography of the chest. First free date is in two days and the results in next two days… The doctor offers agents for treatment for clotting in the blood vessels, antibiotic and strong painkillers. We shell have phone contact.
Day8
I feel a bit better – I can breath more deeply, after taking the painkillers I can fall to sleep for 40-60 minutes. I have a fever around 39oC. I sweat so heavily that thou I drink liters of fluids I start to dehydrate.
Day 9
Slight improvement. I can not sleep more then an hour. I will have the tomography in the evening. The technician at the hospital is complaining that I can not raise my arm high enough, so they make the test as they have put me (I can lay down for several minutes). The technician asks me to wait because he has to consult a doctor. After few minutes I see the doctor and after few more minutes I am transported to hospital with immediate life threatening condition.
The hospital
I try to listen to all opinions that I hear from doctors – they are different, but one point is common: I have clotting in my left lung, clotting in the down lung artery, bleeding into alveoli, fluid in pleura, threat of hart attack and arteries clotting. Next examination, everything is hurting me. I met a “specialist” – I have asked for strong painkiller, and the Ketonal works best with me, and the “specialist” says that Tramal would be better (thou I have indicated that I do not tolerate this medicament very well – last time I had hallucinations after it). As result I spent all night in pain, until finally someone notices that, so I get what I asked for before.
Day 10
I feel better. After another ultrasound I get first good news – the risk of hart attack and more serious clotting is getting smaller. From a patient with high risk factor I turn into a one with a low risk factor… Doctors and students come in groups to wonder – they say I have quite fast regeneration rate… They do not care that I am almost dying …J … they just consider why I get better so fast.
Day 11
Better and better. The breathing is not that difficult any more. They inject me all the stuff for anti-clotting and antibiotic and give me many more colorful pills….
Day 12
I seams that with a little time I will be as new, but… it only seams like that. They control the blood, urine, ultrasounds and all the other “important” things. I keep fighting for more painkillers…. Day like everyday then J
Day 13
I had a serious talk with an important doctor – everybody call him “boss” here. He brings me back to the ground – my condition is very serious still. Thou he is impressed with my regeneration potential = the lack of unequivocal answer about my health is a result of the fact that I am getting better too fast. From tomorrow they will reduce by half the anti-clotting agents. I ask when I will be healthy. He answers: “with you organism – I would say – they are big chances that soon… I would say…”.
…. Now
After few weeks from leaving the hospital I feel much better. After the DVT I feel only little pain in the left down part of my chest – the effect of regenerating lung tissue.
After several talks/consultations and visits – I got permission to return to diving – the lung is not showing any changes. The problem is still the ankle… but it also gets better. For six months after leaving the hospital I will take anty-clotting injections.
What happened?
The issue was trivial. After having the cast put on my leg I should had been given an anti-clotting injections. It is painless, subcutaneous injection , that would spare me from all the “attractions”.
Yes, yes… a simple ankle sprain was a reason for verifying my life plans. Paradoxically, the two thousands dives I done, did not hurt me…only a small hole in a pavement…
Wojtek A. Filip |