Posted by Steve on May 03, 2001 at 22:57:08:
Although this dive was only to 1fsw in the chamber you still needed to equalize the ears and Mark Tullin told us that we could log the dive. The chamber treated patient number 800 yesterday while many divers waited for their turn to tour the facility. It was a graphic display of how Bay Watch retrieved the victim from the dive site and transported him to the chamber and then a LA Counter Fire Helicopter evacuated the patient to a hospital on the mainland. The diver was conscience and walking on his own power so I believe he is alright. Had it been an embolism, treatment could have lasted up to 12 hours and the victim would be taken down to 165' fsw and treated with nitrox and slowly brought back up. They train to be able to handle the narcosis and treat patients. They decompress using navy tables and the victim is then treated with 100% O2 at 60 fsw for 20 minutes then 5 minutes on air and alternate this again several times. High ppo2 is what does the trick to breakdown those bubbles. They have witnessed paralized patients come in and then walk out after treatment. Also they have witnessed divers come in with no eyesight and left there with sight. Thanks to Karl Huggins, Mark Tullin and Larry Wells for the grand tour.
I talked to a chamber volunteer that was very proud of the paint job in did on the chamber. He must be a UCLA Bruin fan because he painted it Bruin blue and I think the chamber is owned by USC.;-)
Good news is the vis at Catalina is really clearing up 45' at Blue Caverns and the water temp 58 degrees with a warmer thermocline. I was on the boat Sea Bass, this is one fast dive boat. 75 minutes to Catalina, plenty of deck space for the ten diver load and great burgers for lunch. Capt Jerry claims you can leave a 7:00 AM have two dives and back at 22nd street landing by 1:30-2:00 PM.
Steve
ps: I appologize for any inaccuracy, please feel free to make any corrections.