Could I be bent?  At some point, in your dive experience, you might be asking yourself this question.  Stories from others help us to understand the feelings and thoughts associated with the actions that follow.

Here below is the verbatim text from Terry Gardner's "bends" testimonial piece that's in this month's Alert Diver magazine; it is a reprint/excerpt from DAN's Alert Diver March/April 2009 issue.  We are truly grateful that she took action, and now that she has agreed and generously allowed us to reprint it.  As Terry says, "after all the whole point of my testimonial is to let divers know whether they dive once in a blue moon or all the time, they should belong to DAN and have the insurance.  I think the coverage is more important than fins!"

TERRY GARDNER
Freelance journalist
310/820-3455 (work)
310/702-0569 (cell)
LA Times web page: http://articles.latimes.com/writers/terry-gardner

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DAN Was There for Me

By Terry Gardner

Although I had been certified for 20 years, I didn't get serious about diving until I received my advanced open-water certification. I wanted to make up for lost time, and I was determined to get in as much diving as I could. My dive instructor recommended that I join Divers Alert Network^® in case I had questions or needed help. 

I joined DAN^® in 2006. A year later, in November 2007, I learned DAN membership and insurance are essential whether you dive once a decade or 10 times a year.  

Putting on the squeeze 

In Maui, we had just finished two blissful dives, the first to 80 feet (24 meters) and the second to 60 feet (18 meters). Relaxing topside later, however, I felt as though my brand-new "miracle suit" was trying to squeeze the life out of me. (The miracle suit is a type of bathing suit with extra spandex that helps you look 10 pounds thinner.)  

As I drove away from the Kihei boat ramp, I wondered: "Can a bathing suit be allergic to diving?" and "What was I thinking? No one looks good in a wetsuit anyway."

After removing the suit, showering and changing into comfortable clothes, I still felt as though an invisible gorilla was squeezing my abdomen. My dive buddy, Larry Quimby, who is also a DAN Member, suggested we call the DAN 24-Hour Diving Emergency Hotline number on my membership card.  

I felt awful as I dialed DAN's number — I was certain I wasn't bent. "This is a weird swimsuit reaction," I thought. "What if I have an allergy to something in the suit? Maybe DAN will know about it." 

Waiting for the connection, I mused further. "I made just two dives today. If I was going to get bent, it would have happened in Bonaire, when I had been diving for six days," I said to myself.  

"My buoyancy control was great today. Sure, I did only a two-minute safety stop on my first dive because I was low on air, and maybe I pushed my nitrogen level a bit, but I only approached the red zone; I didn't enter it." 
 

Talking with DAN

My thoughts were interrupted when Dan Nord, DAN's director of medical services, answered the call.  

"Hello, this is Dan," he said. 

Despite my discomfort, I appreciated the irony of a "Dan" answering the DAN hotline. He went straight to work and asked about my symptoms. Continuous squeezing across my abdomen, shortness of breath and low back pain, I told him.  

Dan: "What about your legs?" 

Terry: "Oh, they're fine. I can't be bent." 

Dan: "Judging by what I'm hearing, this sounds like symptoms of decompression illness. I think you should go to Maui Memorial and get checked out." 

Terry: "But Dan, I have a massage in half an hour." 

Dan (a bit more sternly): "You should go to the hospital." 

Terry (pleading): "I really want a massage." 

Dan (redirecting the conversation): "Are you sure your legs are fine?" 

Terry (standing up): "My legs are fine."  

Oops, my left leg felt like a sponge as I stood and staggered to write down DAN's phone number. My leg's rebellion convinced me Nord was right. I canceled my massage, and Quimby drove me to the hospital. 

From the hospital ...

Nord was right; I needed to see a doctor.  

I can say with all truthfulness that the only upside to getting bent was the rapid service at the Maui Memorial emergency room. When we said I might have decompression illness, within five minutes I was hooked up to a saline intravenous drip and breathing oxygen.

At the hospital a brain CT scan showed no neurological damage. Thank goodness. I breathed a little easier.  

Since I had responded so well to oxygen, the doctors felt convinced it was DCI. They recommended that I be flown to Oahu for evaluation at the Hyperbaric Treatment Center at Kuakini Medical Center in Honolulu.  

... to the chamber

Dr. Richard W. Smerz, medical director of HTC and DAN's Pacific regional coordinator, treated me. He said that both the oxygen and the IV for hydration I had received in Maui had helped speed the removal from my body of the excess inert gas — the nitrogen that had accumulated and caused my symptoms. My symptoms had virtually resolved.  

"We chose to treat you to remove any remaining inert gas," Smerz said. He explained further that one can recover spontaneously from mild cases of decompression illness but that more serious cases need treatment. In fact, if left untreated DCI is more likely to result in permanent disability. "The range and severity of symptoms vary depending on the amount of inert gas one has in his tissues and where bubbles form," he said. 
 

Examining the evidence

Later Nord told me what got his attention about my symptoms in that phone call, and we discussed whether my relatively minor mistakes — i.e., making a shortened safety stop after pushing my time-depth limits — had caused me to get bent.  

"Divers don't have to make mistakes to get decompression illness," he said. "As for the triggers that prompted my recommendation, a number of things got my attention. The dive profiles you gave were sufficiently deep and long. In addition, you made repetitive dives. 

"You had a sudden onset of difficulty breathing, with girdle and back pain within an hour after the dive. The description of ‘rubbery legs' late in our conversation clinched it." 

Nord was especially concerned by my description of being squeezed. "For neurologic DCS, especially involving the spinal cord, one of the most characteristic symptoms is the onset of a tingling or a constricting sensation in a girdle distribution around the abdomen," he said, adding that this is sometimes followed by a progression of numbness and/or weakness in the lower extremities that ascends into the abdomen. 
 

The follow up

I spent four hours and 34 minutes in the chamber. When I was released at midnight, I was given a follow-up appointment for the next day. The physicians told me that I couldn't fly back to Maui for at least 48 hours. That delay would prevent a recurrence of symptoms.  

I was given a "permission to fly" letter, which required me to delay my flight back to the U.S. mainland by one day. American Airlines charged me a $100 change fee but advised me to submit the letter to the airlines to get the charge refunded due to medical necessity. Once the airlines received a copy of the letter, it immediately refunded the $100 to my credit card. 

I took a cab to a Waikiki motel. The next day I called DAN TravelAssist and learned that covered expenses included essentials like food and lodging. Since I did not know anyone on Oahu, being able to reach out to TravelAssist helped me feel less stranded, and ultimately almost all my expenses on Oahu were reimbursed — from lodging to toothpaste.  

DAN TravelAssist even arranged for my return flight to Maui a couple of days later, after the doctors had released me to fly the short distance back to Maui.  

At every turn, Nord was there for me medically and with a kind ear. The claims adjuster at Palmetto Health, which processes claims for National Baromedical Services, was kind and helpful, and DAN TravelAssist helped with my expenses. 

After the trip, I realized that my annual payment for DAN dues and dive insurance is the best investment a diver could make.  
 

Epilogue

The same night I was treated at the chamber in Honolulu, another diver received treatment for DCI. He told me he had apparently lost consciousness during his ascent; his regulator fell out of his mouth, but his dive guide had pushed it back in to keep him from drowning.  

I asked him if he was a DAN Member and if he had dive accident insurance. "No," he said, "and I don't want to talk about it."  

I recall Nord telling me that he fields many calls from divers who are not DAN Members. DAN is truly there for any diver — member or not. Still, it's great to be a member if one day "bubbles up" leads to "bubbles inside." 
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Is Your Membership Current? 

Know before you go: Check your DAN membership card or call DAN at 1-800-446-2671 or +1-919-684-2948 if you're not sure if your membership is up to date. If you're a DAN e-Member, you can check your status online. 

Keep your DAN card handy; make sure you and anyone you're traveling with know how to locate it in case of emergency. 

Chances are you won't need assistance, but if you do, DAN is here for you. 

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