Sorry to report that I have become a statistic. I am one of these
divers who got Bent even though I did everything correct.

The weekend started out fine with a dive to 150' using my Meg. The
back gas I was using is Air, and my bailout tanks had 18/30 mix, and
100% O2 respectively. The dive went fine as I descended to 100' where
I preformed a Flush using the bailout tank containing 18/30 mix. I
corrected my PO2 and continued to the 150' mark. Nothing remarkable
happened and I came back up following my Explorer Dive Computer,
making all the stops required. The total dive time was 34 min and I
only had a few min to stop at 20 and 10 feet. I felt good, and didn't
notice anything wrong with either my equipment or my body.

The following day, Sunday, I did the next dive, and the profile was a
gradual decent to 100' following a ledge, purge with 18/30, and
continue on to the 165 mark. On the ascent I gradually came up to the
60 foot mark, and did a bailout practice by switching to the 18/30
mix and swimming along the 60 foot ledge for about 5 min. I went back
on the Meg, and continued my ascent to 20 feet. Even before I left
the 60 foot mark my computer had cleared all deco stops. Once at 20
feet I again went off the Meg to practice bailout and used the 100 O2
tank. Did about 10 more minuets at 20 and 10 feet before switching
back to the Meg purged with O2 and surfaced.

I sat in the water for another few min breathing off the Meg. After
that I grabbed my fins, stage tanks, and up to the truck I went. I
noticed right away that my harness felt tight, and my hands felt
weaker. I didn't think to much of the problem as I was diving in a
drysuit with dry gloves, and the suit squeeze after all the air has
been purged can cause that sensation. Once I removed all my gear, I
didn't notice any more tightness in the chest area, but on the way
home I had to stop driving and take some pain killers to help with
the discomfort in my back and neck. Sunday and into the night the
discomfort kept building and I slept little that night. At work the
next day my arm, and chest discomfort would increase to pain, and
then role back down to a dull nudge just like a roller coaster
affect. I finished my work and gave D.A.N. a call. The on-call Doctor
said to go and get a chest X-ray to rule out any kind of lung
problems. I don't live all that close to the Chamber so I went to the
local hospital where they did the X-ray and took blood ect. The test
came back problematic and I found myself in an Ambulance heading to
the Chamber. Once at the Chamber they re-did all the blood test, (I
hate that part) a full neurological exam and another X-ray. The
chamber doctor guessed that I had a spinal cord hit, and recommended
a USN table 6 treatment. Once at the 2.8 ATA's (60 feet) my symptoms
cleared up right away. After feeling like crap for so long the 6
hours in the chamber felt like an eternity. I was glad that the pain
was gone but the mask and the time in the middle of the night was
anything but pleasant.

After the Chamber ride, I went home to get some rest and take it
easy, unfortunately as time passed my discomfort and pain came back
and another Chamber ride came the following day. Two and a Half hours
latter I vowed to never come back again. Since then I feel better but
the discomfort is very slowly going away, and I realize that lots of
time is required to overcome this problem, and nothing I can do will
make it go any faster.

I wife is great and understands what's going on, but my family
doesn't understand and thinks that my diving should be over forever.
I love to dive, and the dive that gave me problems came with no
equipment problems, no air problems, I didn't hold my breath; I never
felt anything was wrong, and according to multiple deco programs I
followed a very conservative profile. Such is life. I wish I could
point to something that I could change, but I can't. Even the Doctor
couldn't offer anything they could point to that would help.
Apparently just one of those RISKS you must deal with every time you
enter the water.