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- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.scuba-l
- Path: sparky!uunet!boulder!boulder!dunbar
- From: dunbar@boulder.Colorado.EDU (S Dunbar)
- Subject: Re: Heart Surgery and Scuba Diving
- Message-ID: <dunbar.727715667@beagle>
- Sender: news@colorado.edu (The Daily Planet)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: beagle.colorado.edu
- Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
- References: <SCUBA-L%93012122360326@BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU>
- Date: 22 Jan 93 15:14:27 GMT
- Lines: 45
-
- "Reef Fish (Large Nassau Grouper)" <RFLNG@CLEMSON.BITNET> writes:
-
- >Does anyone have any first-hand or medical knowledge to shed light on the
- >following situation?
-
- >A friend of mine, an avid, otherwise healthy, scuba diver, had a heart
- >attack which resulted in an open-heart surgery involving a double-bypass
- >and the replacement of a heart valve by a human one (as opposed to a pig
- >or plastic-valve). He required no post surgery medication after the first
- >week, and his recovery schedule was approximately as follows:
-
-
- I am not a Doctor so take this for what it is worth.
-
- My real questions would be what caused your friend to need a CABG (coronary
- Artery bypass grafting ) in the first place you said that he initally
- had an MI which led to the CABG, well that is something in it self, so
- if your friend has drastically changed his lifestyle, that would be
- a good thing, for instance wt. loss, cessation of smoking, stress reduction,
- if he has good, then perhaps diving would be ok, but lets remember diving
- can be very strenous and stressful, so this is something else to think
- about.
-
- Suppose your friend wants to dive now, if i were him my first open water
- dive would be in the florida keys, the reason being, that if after
- the dive your friend has an episode of chest pain or angina, then
- he would be near a setting that he could get thrombolytic care...
-
- suppose you are on the island of rangaroa in the s. pacific, there would
- be no where to go to get care and the reason i bring this up is because when
- i was there a older gentleman spent too much time in the sun and passed
- out, it was not cardiac but if it was we were too far from reality
- of life.
-
- If it was me, i would dive again, carefully and i would be sure to
- do it after tons of research on my own part. I would also be sure
- i changed my lifestyle.
-
- good luck to your friend and i hope you enjoyed your trip, post a summary.
-
- scott
-
- Scott\ /\/\ /|email: dunbar@boulder.colorado.edu
- /***\ /\/*/**\/*|Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
- / /\ \/**\/ \ |University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0347
-