I only had 1 week remaining before visiting the specialist, and having a feeling that the news would not be good, the only way I could prove it to myself was to do a "dry dive" inside a Hyperbaric chamber.
It just so happens, that I knew of the London Diving Chamber, buried deep inside St Johns and Elizabeth hospital in North West London, and booked it up a week ago.
Jen and I hopped on the train, and after a couple of hours we were standing in the reception. Being nearly an hour early, we waited around for a while for the remaining 4 people to turn up. The operators put on some DVDs (ones that I had made! Strange coincidence!). While we were waiting, the usual dive medical forms came out.
At this point I would like to stress that I would strongly NOT recommend that anyone follows this as advice. Please be truthful on dive medicals.... my circumstance was a little different and I certainly was aware of the risk I was taking doing this.
At least 5 of the questions had me thinking YES, for example, "Are you on medication?" , "Do you have problems with your sinuses?" etc. Knowing that answering YES to any questions would mean disqualification from the dive, I chose NO. I realise this could have had serious implications for my health... but my thinking was this..... What better way to test your diving fitness than in a dry enviroment inside a hospital.... far safer than the ocean!
So, medical declarations over, we changed into our scrubs (blue hospital uniforms) and were briefed about our depth, bottom time etc. We also did a timed test to circle as many of the letter "L" on a piece of paper... this would be compared to a test that we would do at 50m.
So... anxious.... I stepped into the chamber with Jen and 4 other dudes....
Ear defenders on, we the chamber started to pressurise... Initally, the discomfort was evident.. Equalisation without water is far more difficult. Everybody, not just me, was equalising like crazy... It was very hard on the ears and after literally dozens and dozens of equalisations and what felt like an age... we were at 10m.! What an effort that was!
Anyway, after everybody gave the ok, the pressurisation continued, with the equalising getting less and less intense. All was okay, until I hit 42m.... then the I ran into a Narcosis brick wall...
For non divers, see here for an explanation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_narcosis
I was feeling slightly panicky, nauseous, my lips were numb.... but focus focus focus was what I was telling myself. We finally hit the 50m mark, and I was glad... the feelings would not get any stronger. Then someone spoke... and due to the pressure... it sounded like a squeaky mouse... That made everyone burst out laughing, and took my anxiety away immediately.
We completed another timed test, while laughing, and then the supervisor started to ask questions about Boyles Law... the guy next to me (the geekiest guy I have ever seen) spoke in a ridiculous voice with the most scientific answer ever... Jen looked straight at him and burst out laughing again... very amusing.
Just before heading back up, the guy threw a plastic cup in the air, and we watched in amazement as it slowly fell to the ground (due to the air being so dense).
So, bottom time over, it was time to go up...
Because of the air density, it was very hot, but as we ascended on our way back to 12m, the air began to become less dense... it got very misty... and bloody cold!
At 12m we put on oxygen masks and breathed 100% O2 for a few minutes as part of the staged decompression schedule, then up to 9m and more breathing O2. Finally, up to 6m and breathing normal air.Although my ears were squeaky, the air escaped and no symptoms showed. This is good information that I can show the specialist on Thursday.
Post dive, Jen and I went to a very nice (and cheap!) Mexican restaurant called Lupita (near Embankment)... I would definately recommend it..... especially those gorgeous Mojitos... perfect for apres dive!
Roll on the specialist on the 10th of Feb and then plans can be made.!
Much love
SD
