240hrs After The DCS Strike

I am sorry the pictures do tend to emphasise the down side of it all. I guess the down side was pretty significant. However there is an upside. The upside is I have learnt a lot. It could have been a lot worse. I have come through it. I have discovered two doctors in Ipoh that have good experience in treating DCS and they actually have a sit in chamber in their surgery. In fact... I have been in it today. For two hours. It has resulted in some further improvement. No. I should say this..

IT HAS RESULTED IN SOME FURTHER IMPROVEMENT

I don't understand the mechanism of this further improvement but it is definitely there!!! I can actually look left and right before crossing the road without nearly falling over!! Therefore I think I had better celebrate with a beer tonight!!

Smile with me. Even better grin like an idiot... I am!

It's really odd the way things go on you know. I guess normally I would be pretty assed off that the arrangements for leaving this place are in tatters but I am not now. I feel that if there is anything that I should be assed off about it's my health issues. Now my health issues are declining (touch wood..don't really want to speak too soon) I am feeling pretty good about life and departure arrangements in tatters are almost a source of amusement.

What else to report... Oh yes, I have a smile on my face. Life is Gud. So I have posted a photo of the Gud Life. Tropical Island Gud Life. Pulau Tenggol Tropical Island Gud Life!

20hrs After The DCS Strike

Horizontal is still best.

One other thing that I have to say is that Niclas Jacobsson who took these photo's helped me through this like a brother. For anybody that sees this blog and knows Niclas shake his hand when you see him. For anybody that sees this blog and doesn't know Niclas.. get to know him - a great guy.

See where adventure gets you!

See Where Adventure Gets You



Had a mishap this weekend. It's messed up the forthcoming UK schedule somewhat. The mishap involved completing a 2nd scuba dive off a remote island in the South China Sea called Pulau Tenggol on Saturday the 4th Aug 07 to discover that within minutes of being back on the boat I had severe loss of balance and visual cognition followed by severe vomiting. After an hour or so of oxygen Charlie and Niclas got me to the shore. I could not walk and laid on the beach for most of the afternoon. When I tried to move at about 6pm I was a mess, ending up in a crumpled heap on the beach. A storm was on it's way in and I needed the hospital. No way the regular boat could do it so the Malaysian Marine Police were summoned and I was evacuated to a jetty on the mainland in a state of the art maritime vessel through the storm to a waiting ambulance and on to a small town hospital 1.5hrs away from Pulau Tenggol on the mainland. Their diagnosis was decompression sickness. I was transported to a 2nd hospital almost 500km's away in Kota Baru right in the north eastern tip of peninsular Malaysia where they could treat this stuff. It was 5am Sunday morning. I entered their hyperbaric oxygen chamber three times over the nxt two days and showed a little improvement each time. I was discharged Monday the 6th Aug in the afternoon but told to stay in the town overnight. The people were great. One of them drove my truck from the port I originally left it at (Dungun) to the hospital on the Sunday and sat with me for one of the treatment sessions smiling and encouraging me all the way through. The chamber sessions are a challenge. Claustrophobia was my biggest issue. I had a 2hr session followed by 2 * 5hr sessions. I asked for sedation to get me through the last session! The chamber is a monoposition hroizontal acrylic chamber. It does the trick but plays havoc on the anxiety chords. My friend Niclas drove me back from Kota Baru to Ipoh Tues morning 7th Aug. I appear to be continuing to recover (8th Aug 07). Great. I have some lovely friends here who get all concerned for me when stuff goes awry like that. I have learnt a tremendous amount!! Sadly no diving for 6mnths.