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In 2001 I went back to Aruba on vacation and was again
seduced by the waters in which I’d had my first taste of
scuba. I took a 3-hour resort course to brush up on those
long-unpracticed skills and jumped back in. Equalizing, mask
clearing, neutral buoyancy — I remembered the concepts,
and I felt confident it wouldn’t take long before it was all
second nature. It felt great to dive again, but it turned out I
was rustier than I’d thought.
The last dive of the trip took me to 100 feet. The other
two divers on the trip were much more experienced than
me, and I didn’t want to slow anyone down. Maybe I was
overconfident or overeager to get to the site, but I wasn’t as
careful about equalizing as I should have been. The other
divers descended rather quickly, and I found myself struggling
to catch up. I remember feeling a bit of discomfort as I went
deeper, but it passed. My ears felt a little “full” throughout
the next day, but I had awakened with the sniffles and a bit
of a sore throat so I thought I might simply be coming down
with a cold. My flight late the next afternoon was more than
24 hours after my dive, and it was fine, or at least it was at
first. When the plane arrived at the first stop, I noticed my
ears felt more than a little full, and there was definitely some
discomfort. When I arrived at my final destination, I knew
something was wrong. There was a feeling of pressure in
both ears, and my hearing was muffled; it was as though I
had a couple of pillows over each ear. I got home, still hoping
against hope that whatever it was would pass on its own. Two
days later, I went online and found DAN’s website.
I had never belonged to DAN
®
and didn’t know much about
the organization other than they were the people to call if you
got “bent.” When I’d first been certified in Aruba in 1988, my
instructor mentioned DAN several times and encouraged us to
consider membership and dive-accident insurance. Since that
time, I had noticed the logo at dive shops and on dive boats
but had never given it much thought. In fact, I assumed DAN
was just for professionals or people who dived all the time.
Even as I checked out the website, I wondered if my problem
was important enough to get a response. Encouraged by the
friendly presentation on the website, I emailed DAN and got a
very prompt response from a medic who asked me to describe
my symptoms and then asked further, more specific questions.
She explained I probably had some bleeding on the insides
of both eardrums and recommended I see a specialist. I had
no idea where to begin. I had been living in Columbia, S.C., for
just a year or two. I didn’t have a regular doctor, and I had not
made any effort to connect with the dive community there.
I was really worried about what might be going on with my
ears, and I didn’t want just to pick a name out of the phone
36
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SPRING 2012
RESEARCH, EDUCATION & MEDICINE
//
D A N WA S T H E R E F O R M E
PROTECT
YOUR GEAR.
PROTECT
YOUR
MEMORIES.
EQUIPMENT
INSURANCE
www.DAN.org/equipment
• Flood coverage
included
• No penalties for
filing a claim
• Cash
settlements