Now if you don’t know me, you’re just going to assume I am crazy on this one, but here goes nothing.

Being a diver, you are well aware of DCS (Decompression Sickness) A.K.A. The Bends. Well one thing as a diver you may not be aware of is Diverticulitis. I mean why would you, after all, it has nothing to do with diving. In short, here is a quick snippet on Diverticulitis just to catch you up to speed a bit. Now bear with me, it gets to a diving point at some time.

Many people have small pouches in the lining of the colon, or large intestine, that bulge outward through weak spots. Each pouch is called a diverticulum. Multiple pouches are called diverticula. The condition of having diverticula is called diverticulosis.

About 10 percent of Americans older than 40 have diverticulosis. The condition becomes more common as people age. About half of all people older than 60 have diverticulosis.

Diverticula are most common in the lower portion of the large intestine, called the sigmoid colon. When the pouches become inflamed, the condition is called diverticulitis. Ten to 25 percent of people with diverticulosis get diverticulitis. Diverticulosis and diverticulitis together are called diverticular disease.

Ok, so now you have an idea of what I am talking about. Well as it turns out, to get it under age 40 is rare, to get it to the point where you need surgery to remove up to ½ of your large intestines is even rarer. I think the doctor said 1 in a million get it under age 40, on top of that 1 in a million get it so bad under age 40 that they need to have the colon removed. Well lucky me. 1 million x 1 million what are the odds. This from a guy who can’t even get 1 number on the power ball tickets, go figure. Well it seemed simple enough, yea right. All I could think was you’re going to cut what, from where, from me!!!!

            Well, turns out I did have one other choice other than surgery, but that didn’t wash well with diving, you know, being dead and all. So I opted for the surgery and figured I would save the coffin for old age instead, hopefully.

            Some of the things I was trying to avoid heavily were a.) a colonoscopy and  b.) a colostomy bag hanging off my stomach, aside from being disgusting, I am very sure you can’t dive with one of the hanging off your chest and you have it for 3 months minimum, then back for more surgery.

So now the big question was HOW do I manage this. Well my Diverticulitis was so bad I was walking bent over at the waist from the pumpkin carving contest until January 2009. A great deal of pain to say the least. Well It turns out that if you can get the infection of Diverticulitis down, then the doctor can cut the ends of the intestine and sew them back together without the need of using the colostomy bag to allow the ends of the intestines to heal to a level that would allow the doctor to now sew the ends together to connect your large intestines once again so things can flow normally, if you get my drift. Well I spent January taking some of the most powerful Antibiotics known to man, the same ones they use to treat Inhalation Anthrax as a matter of fact. This coupled with another Antibiotic that, bar none, is the worst tasting thing I have ever had the misfortune of tasting, beat back the infection to the point where the doctor could do the entire procedure in one shot. Yes I risked my life by skipping the emergency surgery they wanted to do but I had an agenda. Thank God. So I show up for the surgery as planned, once the infection was beat down, time was of the essence. So the surgery was scheduled quickly so we could get it done before the infection became a drug resistant strain, which happens quickly with this type of infection. So the next Monday January 26^th 2009 was the day of my doom, or at least so I thought. I show up for the surgery, they prep me and wheel me into to operating room and start the slicing and dicing. I wake up many hours later to a worried looking anesthesiologist who says you had me worried their son, glad to see your awake, and away he went. He seemed relieved that I did wake up, which had me worried to no end.

            Well the next thing I noticed was that my stomach was at least 2x as big as when I went into the O.R. but with the pain and meds flowing through me I was back out in no time. It was a few days before I could/would be able to speak to nurses or doctors, I mean after all, they just cut 18+ inches of my large intestines from my body, and let me tell you, it is NOT COOL.

            Well 5 days in the hospital and it was all I could take, so I checked out, and with the help of my loving wife, hobbled out of the hospital and to my home, where my wife could nurse me back to diving condition.  Well I was home by Friday night, by Sunday I felt great, I mean for having that much cutting done to me anyway.

            Now here is where that big old stomach comes into play. As it turns out, to do Laparoscopic surgery in the guts they need to add some air to the stomach/gut area so they have some room to work and see what they are doing. That’s why my stomach was so huge; they pumped me up so they could work.

            Well, your intestines are supposed to absorb this air, and it passes as gas. No problem right. Yea well your forgetting mister lucky is writing this story. Again, that 1 in a million shot comes back at me. In very rare cases, that air can pass through the little bit of wall that separates the guts from the lungs. It can be bad, or not bad, depends on what happens once that air makes its escape from the gut cavity. Well in my case, it went through that lining, and right into my blood stream and the sacks that surround my lungs. AKA I got the bends. I had a very mild case of DCS from diving in the past (Undeserved mind you that is). So as soon as I felt the incredible joint pain and lung pain, I knew what was happening, I mean The Diverticulitis, the surgery, the pain of it all, noting compared to the pain I was now in this Sunday night.  I Could not move, I was so racked with pain all I could do was suffer with so much pain, I never felt anything like it. The problem with this is as follows. 1.) not many doctors inland know how to tell if you have DCS, especially if you haven’t been diving in 2 or 3 months. 2.) no one ever believes you got DCS the hard way. So first I met with denial even by my wife, a fellow diver.

            My salvation (So I thought) was the fact that I have a subscription to DAN, The Divers Alert Network. So I call them to explain my situation. Now keep in mind, I am racked with such pain I can barely talk, and I am about to tell DAN that I got the Bends from Diverticulitis. I started out saying “ok, this is going to sound crazy but….”  So I start out telling the tale to this DAN expert. When I got to the Diverticulitis part he snickered and said that has nothing to do with diving. Really? I thought it did. Idiot. So I remind him that I said it was going to sound odd to say the least. So I continue and tell him of the air in my system that everyone within 10 feet of me heard permeate that barrier separating my lungs from my guts. It came through that lining like it ripped a hole, and you could hear the air bubbles bubbling up my chest area. I mean there had to be nearly a gallon size volume of air in me. I knew instantly it was bad, very bad, and it wasn’t just the instant massive amount of pain I felt, I knew exactly what was happening. So I finish the tale to the DAN expert. His response was as follows. Now keep in mind that this Expert is supposed to be a doctor. So I explain the procedure I had done. They cut my intestines in a laparoscopic procedure. This usually involves some form of cutting, usually with a laser of some type I assume. Well the DAN expert tells me that the doctor would of used pure O2 (Oxygen) to inflate my stomach, and that it would not cause the bends because it was pure oxygen. So I figured ok, no DCS means no DCS. Good news…I think.

But I just can’t help but think BS, this is DCS, I know it. Well everyone thought I was just nuts. My original doctor that did the procedure was unavailable to ask questions to around this time. There was a second doctor who answered everything I asked to the best of my satisfaction. A week goes by, and the pain is so bad, my wife and kids think I am going to die right on the couch in the parlor (and so did I for a while there). Terrible joint and lung pain, could barley breathe at all. Had it not been for my days as a free diver, where I learned to breathe very shallow and trust that I WAS getting enough air to survive, I would have panicked myself to death.

          Well after a week of this, I finally contact my original doctor, who informed me that O2 WAS NOT USED due to fear of exploding my gut cavity and CO2 was instead used. He confirmed that I did in fact get a mild to moderate case of the bends, and was surprised that it happened as it was the first time he actually seen it in person. So in short, thanks to my DAN membership, an IDIOT DAN Doctor, and some 1 in a million luck, I sit here and suffer from the effects of a case of DCS that went undiagnosed for 1+ weeks. In short, guess who won’t be renewing their DAN membership next year? Also ,Guess who won’t be signing up the other 3 divers in my family for DAN services. In my opinion, the DAN expert that I spoke to was hell bent on the denial portion of DCS. He instantly was in doubt and didn’t really pay attention. He made up his mind as soon as I said Diverticulitis, and in his mind, you only get the Bends from diving, nothing else. If you ask me, they need more training before I pay them any more money. The sad part of the story is this. At the hospital I went to for the surgery, the Decompression Chamber in this area was at that same hospital, just 200 feet down the hall from my room even, and no one would believe me that I had DCS. So no Recompression for me folks, just pain and time. If it weren’t for my wife, I am quite sure I would be in a grave right now. So again, Thank you Goobs.

So remember folks, you can get DCS from many places. DCS is Air in your bloodstream that does not belong there, it is NOT a Divers only condition, contrary to what these DAN doctors think. I would like to use this time to say how disappointed in DAN I am, I expected them to confirm my DCS and get me in that chamber, instead they denied it which pushed that ever so needed chamber out of reach. Had DAN made the right call, I could have gotten into that chamber that was 200 feet from the very room where I made my recovery. Now I am just waiting to hit the water again. I assume I will be ready shortly. It has been a while now, and while I still have some joint pain and nerve damage, I cannot wait to slip below the surface again soon. I am just waiting to be cleared for diving by my doctor. If he doesn’t clear me, my wife, the big meanie, won’t let me dive, imagine the nerve of her caring so much to make me stay healthy, what nerve huh? Well, see you down below, and hopefully, my next story is a DIVING story, not a Diverticulitis story.