Getting Bent Four Hours from a Chamber

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Patent Foramen Ovale is a hole between the upper chambers of the heart. Everyone is born with it, but for 70-80 percent of people, it closes naturally after birth. It's diagnosed by a cardiologist conducting an echocardiogram bubble test. Divers with a PFO are at a much higher risk for DCS than others, as the sidebar discusses.

One of our correspondents, a 60-year-old woman diver, had a bends hit, after which she discovered her PFO. We want to share her story with you. It's a case that demonstrates too much diving upon arrival at a destination, dehydration, not catching early symptoms, the difficulty of getting to a recompression chamber, the ordeal of a chamber, and dealing with the cost, even though she had DAN insurance. Thankfully, she has no lingering problems, but she tells a cautionary tale.

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