DM test success!

   I walked into Skin n Scuba at 8:30 this morning, confident that I had studied and prepared myself well for part two of our written exam for dive master certification. What I, and everyone else, didn't realize was that we were also being tested on using old-school dive tables to calculate things like pressure groups and surface intervals. Not a big deal, except that I hadn't even looked at a dive table in over four years, and have always go with the computer to calculate all that for me.

   Math stresses me out. I feel like I am always the last person in the room to "get" it. And I hate being put on the spot when I don't know the answer, and i'm struggling. So this morning was very frustrating. I really had to work to keep my internal tension from being too visible. But, in the end, what Sam always says is correct: he may be crude, but he damn sure can teach scuba! After our review, we took the test, and I got all those dive table questions right.

   I only missed two questions on the test today, and they weren't things that I had studied, so I just had to guess. I had also missed two questions on part one of the exam. The perfectionist in me that I try so hard to keep at bay wants to be frustrated, however, I am thankful that I got 116 out of 120 questions correct!

   Sam shocked us with his story of how a large moray eel nearly took off his middle finger while he was spearing lionfish in Belize. He had nearly 30 stitches in that one finger, and it was still quite swollen several weeks after the accident. He's lucky he still has it!

   In the Caribbean, divers have been spearing lionfish and feeding them to the eels, because lionfish are not indigenous to the area, and they are killing all of the native species. Problem is, the Eagles have started associating the flash of us here with food, and sometimes they strike first and ask questions later. Ouch!

   After the test everyone started packing their things to leave. Wally came in and asked for a volunteer to lead a Scuba refresher session, and no one spoke up. I had expected to be at the shop all afternoon anyway, so I said I'd do it. This was my first refresher course to lead. And the two guys in the class, Monte and Kevin, were great. Though neither had been diving in a few years, they both took right to it again, so it made my job easy. A perfect time for me to practice my teaching skills!

   When all was said and done, I drew a shark on Wally's dive slate, and headed home to enjoy a nice dinner and some champagne to celebrate. Now all I have to do is pass the skin diving exercises, and the open water scuba work, and hopefully by June I will be a Divemaster. Or a mermaid. Or both!

Divemaster Exam Emminent

   Divemaster exam tomorrow morning! #mathchallenged #20yearssincemathclass #determinedtoconquer 

   Here's one of the important things I must remember: because the air pressure at sea level is one atmosphere (14.7 PSI), you have to remember to add a one every time you descend another atmosphere. So 33 feet is 2 atm, and 66 feet is three. You divide the number by 33 for saltwater (34 for fresh), and then add the one to get the number of atmospheres.

   I also need to remember that the weight of 1 ft.³ of salt water is 64 pounds. And for freshwater, it's 62.4 pounds. Also, water moves heat away from the body 20 times faster than air. And sound travels 4 times faster in water than air, because water molecules are more dense and elastic than air. That makes it difficult to determine from which direction the sound is coming… And often makes a sound appeared to be coming from overhead.

   Thanks to Chris for this! ;)

   I've spent the last few hours reviewing the physics and math behind dive theory. And by some not-so-small miracle, I think I understand it. Let's hope I can remember it long enough to take the exam tomorrow morning.

   And let's hope this is my reaction after the exam. Can't wait to break into the bottle of champagne I've got chilling in the fridge!

The NERVE...!!!

   Tonight, I did a 5k run to to celebrate my normal Electromyography (EMG) test this afternoon. "Celebrate" is a strong, word though, because the result was bittersweet. I didn't want nerve damage, of course, but it's just one more dead end, leaving my 20+ year-long ankle pain unexplained. Between the x-ray, MRI and EMG we've ruled out a fracture, soft tissue damage, ligament tear, and nerve damage. The only potential culprit seems to be the large cyst deep inside my ankle joint. (I know, lovely, right?)

   But back to the EMG… if you've never had one, take my advice: DON'T. Unless you like the idea of having needles stuck in you while simultaneously being shocked repeatedly and stronger in succession. It was so intensely painful that it was impossible to keep my leg from jumping off the table, and I had fantasies about jumping out the 4th story window. Anything to escape!

   This is an illustration of an actual conversation between myself and the doc:

   He laughed—hard. I laughed nervously while wincing through the pain.  When I left, I still had tell-tale pen marks all over my right leg and my lower back, and my leg was still singing as if it still contained needles and shockwaves. The run tonight helped stave that off, and the dogs enjoyed it too. It will be interesting to see what my doc says tomorrow afternoon...
   Update: nerve damage in my ankle. The bad news: Need to start a neuropathy med to see if it helps. Ugh. The good news: No surgery for now. Yay!!!