A mum has told how she is 'very lucky' to be alive after her dream scuba diving trip in Thailand almost turned deadly.
Elizabeth Savage's life was changed forever following her holiday in Khao Lak in March last year, as she explained she is still living with the consequences more than 12 months on.
The 57-year-old decided to tick off a bucket list dream of getting her scuba diving qualification while on her travels, seeing her head on more than 20 exhilarating dives in depths of up to 82ft.
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But on her 23rd descent below the surface, the vacation rental owner began experiencing 'shooting pains' down her arms and legs, so she raised her concerns with the diving crew.
But according to Elizabeth, her worries fell on deaf ears and she claims she was told she was 'probably just dehydrated' or may have 'pinched a nerve'.
The mum says she was told to take some painkillers and rest, so she did - but she couldn't resist joining the crew once again when they headed out on their second dive of the day, which they promised would be 'great'.
Elizabeth said: "I just figured they knew what they're talking about and I had to trust them. It was a false sense of security. I went for a second dive, which was something I should have never done knowing what I know now."
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What she didn't realise at the time was that the pain she had been experiencing earlier that day was actually a symptom of decompression sickness, which is also known as 'the bends'.
The condition - which causes gas bubbles to form in the bloodstream and tissues due to rapid changes in pressure - can be fatal if it is not treated promptly and properly.
"I now realise I had decompression sickness from the first dive, and going down makes it worse," Elizabeth said. "When I surfaced the second time, I had the same shooting pain from the neck down and I couldn't use my arms or legs."
The California-native claims she was given 15 minutes of oxygen after 'pestering' the dive team, but it was hours until she eventually reached dry land once again - which is where she realised something was really wrong.
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"They said it was just dehydration so I drank so much water and then I had to go pee and I couldn't empty my bladder," Elizabeth recalled. "I didn't really understand what was going on there.
"I was more worried about why my legs weren't working. They should have immediately evacuated me from the boat and taken me to a medical facility, but instead there was a significant delay.
"It had been nine hours and I hadn't been able to empty my bladder even though I'd taken in a considerable amount of fluid.
"They got me back to land and I went to the toilet and realised my dress was soaking wet. My bladder had already released and I couldn't even feel it or tell that it had happened."
She was then taken to a hospital in Phuket, where an MRI scan revealed that a nitrogen bubble had lodged itself in her spinal cord and doctors confirmed she had decompression sickness.
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The mum was eventually flown home to the US on a medical evacuation flight the following month after undergoing 50 hours of hyperbaric chamber treatments, which she also continued on home soil.
Despite the dire situation, Elizabeth realises she is 'very lucky that she didn't die', as medics found that the 'nitrogen bubble was close to going up in my brain' - which can trigger neurological damage, a stroke, and even death.
"At any point I could've stopped the ability to lose my lungs like I couldn't use my bladder," she continued. "In the US they said I did suffer a severe injury to the spinal cord but that there's not much they could do.
"Having swelling on the nerves like that on the spinal cord is basically cutting off the supply to the nerves which then die."
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Since her ordeal, Elizabeth says she suffers with severe nerve pain from the chest down despite undergoing a dozen more hyperbaric chamber treatments and even a stem cell treatment earlier this year.
The 57-year-old said the bends have 'severely impacted' her quality of life, and all of her time is now 'dedicated to trying to get better and finding some sort of treatment that is going to help'.
She explained she 'can't sleep at night' because of the constant pain and also has to 'self-catheterise frequently because she still can't empty her own bladder'.
It's also been a huge financial stress for Elizabeth too, as she says her health insurance won't stump up the cost of the treatments for her decompression sickness.
She describes her whole experience of the bends as 'devastating', especially as it's forced her to give up scuba diving too - which was the 'most magical and amazing thing' to her.
"I can't change what happened to me, but if sharing my story helps even one person recognise the signs of decompression sickness early or pushes someone to trust their instincts when something feels wrong, then it's worth it," Elizabeth said.
"No dive is worth your life or your future. Looking back, I wish I hadn't ever dived if it means not having this problem."
Topics: Extreme Sports, Health, US News
Olivia Burke