As I lay here in the recovery area of the cath lab...

[TONY CHANEY]

Great news and I'll be willing to hit the caves with you or other dives post recovery.

[Pullnglide]

Thanks everyone! I look forward to diving with you again Tony! After my procedure I had another TTE performed to check the device and flow. While I was there a young lady was in the room next to me undergoing a TEE. She has 20 dives under her belt since ow certification and has been bent twice with depths of 50'-60'. Seems like that would be an ASD instead of PFO with her being bent that easily but I'm certainly no Dr.! You all seem to agree and I can't say enough about Dr. Ebersole, his experience and skill and not to mention his bedside manner are all second to none! If you've had a DCS hit especially more than once and you believe it to be "undeserved" (yes I know some people do not believe in "undeserved" so take it with a grain of salt) please see a Cardiologist and rule out a PFO. As far as the second bout with DCS it's was "undeserved" as far as my dive plan but was deserved for me doing 100'+ 30-60 min deco dives 3 days in a row knowing I had a PFO, not very smart and I paid the price, well BCBS and DAN did to the tune of roughly $100k. I hear a lot of people say (When a technical diver gets bent they always blame a PFO), we'll please take into consideration that it's a viable possibility. Eric (bamafan) was with me on the first hit and brought up the PFO, I had never heard of that and did not think it caused my problems but I'm grateful he mentioned it. Closing it obviously does not eliminate DCS risk but greatly reduces it by about 5 times. Some hear that it's a heart procedure and may be weary of having it done but when you choose a great Dr. And that person has a great team surrounding them it makes it a bit easier. Some supporters may not want to be mentioned but you know who you are, thank you for all of the good advice especially to have a TEE done after the TTE was negative and once again, thank you all.

[debersole]

Thanks, Derek (and everyone else) for the kind words. I'm just glad everything went smoothly for you. I am very blessed to be surrounded by a great team of nurses and technicians who are hard-working, highly skilled, and very compassionate. They make my job very easy.

Hope to dive with you once May rolls around and you are six months out from your last DCS event!

Doug

[bigdave]

My PFO was closed between 8:30 and 9:30 this morning. The Dr. stated it was of significant size. I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning his name as I haven't revealed it before but Dr. Ebersole performed the procedure and the nicest person and Dr. you'd ever want to meet!! It was worth the 7 hour drive to be able to meet him and have him perform the procedure. I've planned my first cave trip back May 19th-21st and it can't get here fast enough!! I can't thank Dr. Ebersole enough!! Thank you to everyone who has chimed in on my DCS and PFO posts and thank you to those who have sent me private messages with information, support and well wishes. The picture is of the device that was put in my heart. Thank you all!

Congrats - best wishes for DCS-free diving!

David

[Pullnglide]

Thanks Dave and Dr. Ebersole!