Times you felt you were near death?

[XanaDUer2]

1991. Just crossed the border from Kansas into Colorado. Had zero exp with tornadoes. Look to the right of the highway, notice two large Vs in the sky. Person with me knew right away. Two large tornadoes coming towards the highway.

Ppl stopped taking pix. Cops moving them along. I'm driving. Thought this was it. I can still hear the sound like a train. HIT THE GAS! No overpass or ditches. Outran them tumbleweeds rolling over the highway. Never forget it. Thought I was a goner.

Anyone else ?

[Ziggysmom]

1. Yes! Was about 14 at the time, out riding my horse, had no saddle but the bridle had a metal

bit in the horses mouth. Storm blew up so fast and lightning struck a tree about 100 feet from us. I felt all my hair start to stand up and the horse was freaking out. I hopped off Epic and removed his bridle. He was a well trained, tame old soul I rode for shows and knew how to lie down on command. We lied on the ground for at least 30 minutes through the rain and hail, in the nearest ditch we could find.

Some years later one of our pasture horses was killed by a lightning strike, it was horrible. I still cringe in storms.

[XanaDUer2]

4. I get it

Glad you were both ok and there was a ditch

[Upthevibe]

2. XanaDUer2...........

January 17, 1994 - The Northridge Earthquake.

I was living in a condo five miles from the epicenter in Canoga Park.

It happened at 4:31 a.m. My bedroom had hardwood floors and my bed was literally bouncing throughout the room. The closet doors were the sliding type so they were opening and things from the closet were flying all over the place in the air.

At first my heart stopped but then an amazing sense of calm came over my body. I thought to myself, "it's okay that I go now. I'm happy and have had a good life". When it stopped we (I had a roommate who was in her room next to mine) had to crawl out of the condo to get outside because there were upper floors that were caving onto the lower floors.

I'll never forget that time of my life....

[XanaDUer2]

6. So scary

Glad you made it

[mnhtnbb]

16. Damn

I was a student at UCLA when the Sylmar quake (6.6) hit Feb 9,1971. My roommate and I thought it was the end of the world. There was a bookcase on the wall over my bed and right after I woke and sat up, numerous heavy textbooks fell off the shelves right where my head had been seconds before.

My husband and I left CA in 1988 with our almost 2 year old and never looked back. I do not miss earthquakes!

[XanaDUer2]

3. I'm so happy you and your horse made it

Scary

[Ocelot II]

5. I was a flight instructor with a new student who'd had only a few lessons.

We were flying a Cessna 172. Right after takeoff the engine started to roll back, and we couldn't climb. There was a river at the end of the runway and bluffs on one side. I took control of the airplane right away and was able to carefully turn it around and land while the engine was still producing some power, though not enough to climb. I don't think we got even 100' in the air. I didn't know if the thing would fail altogether and there really wasn't a safe place for an off-airport landing anywhere nearby. Scared the bejeebers out of me but I had to pretend I wasn't scared so the student wouldn't freak out. But she did, and that's the last we saw of her. I kept on flying but I wouldn't go near that particular airplane again even after it was inspected and repaired. Bad juju.

[XanaDUer2]

8. I wouldn't go near it

[Harker]

7. I've twice had loaded firearms aimed at me from close range.

One was a cop looking for a robbery suspect wearing the same color jacket, the other a very drunken acquaintance who had a beef with a friend of mine.

Also thought I'd had it when my '66 Chevy Chevelle left US 36 sideways after I missed a large deer but struck gravel in early 1987.

I could probably come up with others.

[XanaDUer2]

9. Had a farmer in upstate

Ny pull a shotgun on us when we were kids

[Harker]

11. That can change things profoundly.

Gads.

[catbyte]

10. I was in the Soviet Union on a 2-week study trip in college. I was on a flight form Moscow to Kyiv.

We were flying on Aeroflot, of course, and on approach, the pilot must've had a flashback to being in the Red Air Force in WWII because it was the steepest dive I've ever felt. Everybody in the cabin was alarmed, including the flight attendants. The man sitting next to me remarked in very broken English, "I hope there's an airport down there." Indeed. Fortunately, there was, and it was a remarkably smooth touchdown.

It was the only time I ever had the urge to kiss the ground.

[XanaDUer2]

12. Id crap

[surrealAmerican]

13. I was a kid who climbed trees.

I was climbing as high as I could in the tree in front of my house - about as high as the roof. I could feel the tree top swaying with my weight. Looking down, I saw the hard pavement of the street, and suddenly realized that a fall would probably kill me.

[XanaDUer2]

14. Funny how you can be doing something

Normal and then realize you are in danger

[k55f5r]

32. I climbed the Douglas fir in my front yard during a storm

What a hoot! I was 80 ' in the air, the trunk at that height was only a foot or less, and the wind was blowing me like a pendulum 8-10' side to side. (I was 27 at the time and wearing my safety belt and lanyard).
Spent 1/2 hour up there.

[mnhtnbb]

15. I was caught in a rip current

when I was 16 at Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas, CA. My friend had gotten out of the water and was sitting on the beach. There was a lifeguard about 20 yards down the beach. Neither one of them realized I was in trouble or heard me yelling for help. I realized what was happening -- thanks to Red Cross training I'd had in water safety --and that the reason I was being pulled under waves and farther from shore, was due to a rip current. So, I started swimming parallel to shore and was able to get out of the rip and then ride the waves up on to the beach. I was totally exhausted. There was a point when I realized that if I wasn't going to drown, I had to save myself because no one realized I was in trouble.

[nuxvomica]

18. Another tornado encounter here

I was driving on I-95 from Dover, NH, to Concord, MA. It was a sunny day but where the road is high, I was looking off in the distance at a sky that was black and boiling. I can remember thinking it reminded me of the sky in The Wizard of Oz. I drove right into it and the rain came down in sheets, visibility was zero and I nearly hit a truck I was passing. At one point, the wind and rain eerily stopped but leaves were blowing around me. By the time I got to my hotel, my hands were hurting from the white-knuckle steering, and I was thinking maybe I'm too old to be driving if a rainstorm shakes me up that much. Once I settled into my hotel room, I turned on the news and they had a video of a truck in a tree. I swear it was the truck I had almost hit! On the news they said it was a tornado and I decided maybe I wasn't too old after all.

[XanaDUer2]

19. Good story! Glad you're ok!

[Mad_Dem_X]

20. Just a few weeks ago

Four o'clock in the morning, I went down to watch TV with my husband because I was having trouble sleeping and my throat was bothering me. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. My throat had completely closed up, and I couldn't inhale or exhale. My husband called for an ambulance, and they took me to the hospital (I had resumed breathing, but it was tough). Turns out a swollen throat was one of the side effects of a medication I had been taking. The whole thing was frightening.

[XanaDUer2]

21. Thank goodness you're ok

[Aristus]

22. I was once robbed at gunpoint.

Before I got into medicine, I worked in a bank. We got robbed by a guy who demanded all the cash, and then pulled his gun out when we told him that the stuff out of the cash drawers that we had just given him was all there was.

He herded us into the back room and told us not to come out for five minutes. By the time we did, he was gone.

No one had gotten hurt, but I was more frightened during those few minutes he was in the branch than during the whole time I was in the Gulf.

[XanaDUer2]

25. Scary shit

[Iggo]

23. A month ago, when I got out of the ambulance and into the emergency room during my heart attack.

Before that, I knew I was in trouble…shortness of breath, palpitations, a small but very focused pain in the sternum. And I thought, we’ll get to the hospital and they’ll be like, “if you don’t start taking care of yourself, you’re going to have a heart attack.”

But when I got to the ED, shit got real. All of a sudden I’m looking up and seeing a half a dozen heads around me with one of them saying very loudly, “Sir! You’re having a heart attack!”. That’s when I thought, “Oh shit! I’m actually dying RIGHT NOW.”

Won’t forget it soon, I tell you what.

[XanaDUer2]

24. Glad you made it nt

[Iggo]

27. Thanks!

[mr715]

26. Slashed my face on a soap dish

Cleaning up dog pees, I pressed the mop into the bathtub to get rid of the waste. The mop slipped, and the force from pushing propelled me forward in the porcelain tile soap dish, shattering it and slashing my face across my forehead.

Lots of blood and was all alone with just the dog.

Got fixed up, luckily had a great plastic surgeon and minimal scarring. I just look tough.


Ooo also that time I was a kid and got stuck in an elevator with my mom. Definitely thought I was going to die.


MR

[XanaDUer2]

28. I pushed up a washing machine top

And it bounced back and just missed my temple

[mr715]

29. The doc brought the nurse over

when they were checking me out and pointed out the visible facial nerves and stuff.

It was unpleasant. Of course I assumed I'd have bad scarring at the time, so I was also nervous about being like the phantom of the opera.

I also saw a bear while camping. In the moment, I thought I was going to die but in retrospect nah, the bear just ran away. But I'm a cityboy.


MR

[CrispyQ]

30. I raced a train when I was 17 & two weeks out of high school. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm lucky I'm here. -nt

[XanaDUer2]

31. Glad you are!

[Runningdawg]

33. Tonsils ruptured at age 40 in 2000

After the original visit with the surgeon on Friday, who wanted to wait until Monday and after a few bags of IV antibiotics, I had to call him in the middle of the night. My fingers, toes and eyelids were blue. He said GET HERE NOW.
I woke up just I hit the trauma room and the shocked faces of the team since I was usually one of them. I knew it was bad, but it didn't really hit me until they slapped the gel pads on to be able to shock me. Then the trach kit to open my throat. They can't get a vein for an IV, so one of my friends who was an anesthesiologist, stepped in and hit one in my foot. 3 days later I woke up in ICU.

[XanaDUer2]

34. Wow

Tg yur ok!

[mvd]

35. Car crash in 2018

My mom and I were going to pick up a prescription for my sick dad and we had a violent crash. The car wasn’t usable anymore but my mom and I luckily just had minor injuries. Crashes are quite scary.

[XanaDUer2]

36. Glad you survived

I remember saying your road is dangerous with no sidewalk area

[mvd]

37. Yes it is

People have been killed walking along the road and there have been quite a few accidents.

[wnylib]

38. Major abdominal surgery

I was in the post op recovery room where patients are hooked up to monitoring devices while regaining full consciousness.

I have chronic chest congestion due to multiple allergies, so I always sleep on my side or stomach to prevent phlegm from my chest from rising to my throat. Never on my back.

So, there I was, flat on my back, groggy and drifting in and out of consciousness. I heard a voice call out sharply, "Wnylib! Wnylib! Cough and breathe!" Had no idea where I was or who was yelling my name. I attempted to cough, but it was feeble.

Again, the voice spoke sharply, "Wnylib! Cough and breathe!" I had no strength to do it. The voice called out, "Wnylib! Do you hear that beeping? That's YOU! Cough and breathe NOW!"

I heard machines beeping like movie scenes in an emergency room. My eyes were half open. I vaguely saw a blond-haired woman standing to the right side of my bed. The voice and the beeping made me feel some urgency, so I gave all the energy I could muster into coughing. Gave 2 coughs and breathed. The beeping stopped. The voice said, "Good. Keep breathing." I focused on the in-out rhythm of breathing. The blonde woman left my bedside.

When I was conscious enough to be wheeled to the regular recovery room, I saw the nurse's monitoring station and machines. The voice I had heard came from an intercom inside that monitoring station. The blonde woman, I guess, was a nurse who had come to start me breathing if it became necessary.

[XanaDUer2]

39. Happy thanksgiving!