Subject 585

Right now I'm taking a break from packing to get one final entry off before I leave for Europe.  My flight for Copenhagen leaves in five hours!  I had an awesome time at DAN in Durham last week.  One of their head trainers, Patty put me through a super-intense DAN instructor boot camp.  I also had a chance to take part in a medical study at Duke University as a volunteer subject.  The PI for the study is Dr. Neal Pollock, and he's examining the risks involved with flying after diving.  The test subjects were placed in a chamber and completed a simulated 60 foot no-d dive and then went back into an altitude chamber for a simulated flight.  Any formation of bubbles within subjects' hearts or pulmonary arteries are monitored the entire time using doppler and trans-thoracic echocardiogram.  It was really interesting to see first hand how this type of physiological science is performed.

I also had a great time hanging out and partying with everyone at DAN.  Donna, Eric, Scott and especially Dan and Betty were incredible hosts.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to get involved with some other DAN projects during my year.  I've got to get back to juggling stuff around between bags, dive gear is heavy and luggage restrictions are stricter than ever!  This time tomorrow I'll be from Copenhagen!