DORSET, UK (16 May 2003) -- A diver stung by a potentially deadly jellyfish felt as if his kidneys were being crushed in a vice. Draftsman Calvin Dudley, 21, said last night: ''The pain was very intense - unreal. ''I was clutching a seat and stomping my feet.'' He said he could feel the pain even after being given morphine. Mr Dudley, of Bakewell, Palmerston, was stung on the face by an irukandji jellyfish on a reef 5km from Darwin Harbour on Monday. A few minutes later a 19-year-old fellow diver surfaced suffering from the bends. Mr Dudley said the jellyfish was so small he didn't see it. He immediately surfaced after being stung. ''I got on the boat and rubbed vinegar on the sting,'' he said. ''Ten minutes after that I started getting pain in my kidneys. ''Try sticking your kidneys in a vice for a couple of hours and cranking it. That's what it was like. ''I'd heard about irukandjis so I was worried.'' | | He also suffered vomiting. The boat was met at Cullen Bay by ambulance officers who rushed Mr Dudley to Royal Darwin Hospital. He was kept overnight and discharged the next morning. Now he can't wait to get back in the water. ''I love diving,'' he said. ''I've got a bit of leftover kidney pain, but that's gradually wearing off as time goes on. I feel myself coming back to normal.'' The bends victim was treated in a decompression chamber for several hours at Royal Darwin Hospital and then discharged. SOURCE - The Northern Territory News |
