On Thursday, August 31, 2000 12:50 AM, Carol Reid wrote:

(snip)
> PS I dithered about posting this because I expect a bitta
> flak/ criticism etc. because I somehow feel that I've let the
> side down

Carol!  First let me say that I'm glad that your symptoms have, after
treatment, apparently resolved themselves, and that you're OK.  :-)

Secondly, I can't for the life of me imagine anyone giving you any flak.
It's always easy, with hindsight, to say, "Perhaps if I had/hadn't done that
then this/that wouldn't have happened?"  The emphasis, however, is very much
on the word *perhaps*.  For most people reading your report, the appropriate
comment would be, "There, but for the grace of God, go I!"  :-)

> I don't think I deserved a hit!

I'm starting to try and wean myself away from the term "undeserved" hit!
:-)

For what it's worth let me quote some lines from Alex Brylske's book,
"Beating the Bends".

"Equally important, if it's an undeserved hit, you should make the victim
understand that not all cases of bends are preventable.   ..... you can now
appreciate the imprecise and poorly understood nature of the decompression
phenomenon.  The only way, in fact, to avoid DCI with complete certainty is
never to dive.  Virtually any dive exposes a diver to some risk of getting
bent, even if he follows every rule and safety precaution to the letter.
Unfortunately some things in life just happen, and the bends is, at times,
one of them."

Although there are a lot of things that we can do to try and reduce the
chances of contracting a bend there is really too little known about its
causes.  One of the speakers at the OzTek Conference even suggested that
there was no evidence to show that, for example, being old or overweight,
(I"m not suggesting that this applies to you, I'm only raising to highlight
belief versus actual knowledge!), played any part in a person's
susceptibility.

I'm glad you're OK - and that you saw fit to share your experience.  :-)

Strike