Friday OT #1 - The Grim Spectre
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
2 big ones.
1 was when I got blood clots in my lungs and my oxygen was way down. And I even flew with them. I thought it was like a cold or something. Went to the hospital when I couldn’t finish a sentence without gasping. I knew it was bad when I got triaged immediately. Got ventilated before it was cool. It was not cool.
2nd one was when I was 16/17 and a car hit me on the interstate and I flipped my truck, though I landed right side up. Wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and the airbags didn’t deploy. That could’ve ended up badly. It was her 7th DUI and she finally went to jail over it. I always wear a seatbelt now.
1 was when I got blood clots in my lungs and my oxygen was way down. And I even flew with them. I thought it was like a cold or something. Went to the hospital when I couldn’t finish a sentence without gasping. I knew it was bad when I got triaged immediately. Got ventilated before it was cool. It was not cool.
2nd one was when I was 16/17 and a car hit me on the interstate and I flipped my truck, though I landed right side up. Wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and the airbags didn’t deploy. That could’ve ended up badly. It was her 7th DUI and she finally went to jail over it. I always wear a seatbelt now.
Does the last 5 minutes of many ISU sporting events count?
I've been shot with a bb gun because I was a stupid boy that grew up on a farm with other stupid friends nearby.
We used to have bb gun wars and try to launch aerosol cans out of fires at middle school parties.
A couple ofclose calls for injury but no NDEs.
Not near death, but when I was in middle school, my family went to DC for vacation. I was a little behind my family for some reason. Got to an intersection and had the white cross walk guy lit up. Started walking and some car ran a red light and almost hit me. I ran back to the side of the intersection where I started and waited for the next cycle.
The irony in this is the car speeds off and stops at the next stoplight.
The irony in this is the car speeds off and stops at the next stoplight.
I had a heart attack, a mild one in 2015. I was 44 at the time. I was at the hospital and getting ready to go in the operating room for a cardiac cath to see what needed to be done and how bad the blockage was. All was good until a priest came in and said a few prayers for me. I thought to myself, WTF, am I not going to make it?
In high school, I was woken up by a car horn while driving. The horn came from a car driving by me on the right side of the road going in the opposite direction on a narrow two lane road.
Driving drunk could have ended me and another life that night.
Never. Again.
Driving drunk could have ended me and another life that night.
Never. Again.
First time spinning a plane was exhilarating and an excellent learning experience. Not near death by any means as we had plenty of attitude and meant to do it for said learning experience. Most would freak out though.
Main one that comes to mind would be one time when we were driving back to CR from Wichita and between Lawerence and Topeka 70 is six lanes. State Patrol was finishing up a traffic stop or something on the right shoulder, we were in the far left lane. with a car in the middle lane. Middle lane car over reacts and moves into our lane, my wife was driving and got forced into (may have over reacted a bit herself) the median wall, side swipe that, lose control, spin 180 degrees facing on coming Friday of Memorial Day traffic slide clear across the three lanes into the ditch, stopping a couple of feet short of a bridge support.
Neither us or our dog had a bruise or scratch. Car was totaled but we were crazy lucky. The Patrolman just pulled up to our incident. Offered to show us the dash cam of it and we declined at the time, in hindsight I wish we would have watched it or asked to see if we could get it sent to us for later viewing.
Main one that comes to mind would be one time when we were driving back to CR from Wichita and between Lawerence and Topeka 70 is six lanes. State Patrol was finishing up a traffic stop or something on the right shoulder, we were in the far left lane. with a car in the middle lane. Middle lane car over reacts and moves into our lane, my wife was driving and got forced into (may have over reacted a bit herself) the median wall, side swipe that, lose control, spin 180 degrees facing on coming Friday of Memorial Day traffic slide clear across the three lanes into the ditch, stopping a couple of feet short of a bridge support.
Neither us or our dog had a bruise or scratch. Car was totaled but we were crazy lucky. The Patrolman just pulled up to our incident. Offered to show us the dash cam of it and we declined at the time, in hindsight I wish we would have watched it or asked to see if we could get it sent to us for later viewing.
Almost drowned when I was around 5. We were on vacation at Six Flaggs in St. Louis, swimming in a packed hotel swimming pool, dad was supposed to be watching me to make sure I stayed in the shallow end as I couldn't yet swim. I ventured into the deep end, dad was apparently checking out all the hot chicks, and I went under. Just remember lots of bubbles. started seeing stars and things were going dark purple, I think beginning to black out. Then a hand grabbed my arm and yanked me up. To this day mom still gives him sh*t for almost getting me killed because he was busy "watching bikinis."
Mt. Eulos in Colorado was my first 14er. Reached the summit okay and had no problem with the "skywalk in the sky". However, shortly after starting the descent I realized I had put myself in a position where there was nothing far below me and if I'd lost a hand or foothold it would have been curtains.
My dad has a lot. Almost drowned twice. A pretty serious choking incident. And a 10 day stay in the hospital with a staph infection from a bite from a boar.
I really don’t have one. I was in a car accident last year that was probably never going to kill me, but it is surprising that I wasn’t hurt at all. As I was spinning around on the road kind of ping ponging off things, I DID have a conscious thought wondering how it was going to end. When I think of how it could have ended, the possibility of death isn’t what bothers me, but I do think of how hard a major injury would have been.
I really don’t have one. I was in a car accident last year that was probably never going to kill me, but it is surprising that I wasn’t hurt at all. As I was spinning around on the road kind of ping ponging off things, I DID have a conscious thought wondering how it was going to end. When I think of how it could have ended, the possibility of death isn’t what bothers me, but I do think of how hard a major injury would have been.
Told the gf to calm down once. That was crazy.
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Just recently rolled my car on I90 up in MN, from where it 1st hit and ended up was at least 40 ft. Ended up on its wheels back and passenger window gone and windshield caved in. Turned out I was pretty much ok left shoulder was sore for about a wk but I went to work that day got one of the 1st responders to drop me off.
2. Was driving a 4 wheeler through some tall horse weeds and as it pushed the weeds down. It covered a wash out up. Drove over that and it flipped in I remember thinking this is going to hurt luckily it got stuck and I fell to the bottom it was about 7 ft deep I could stand up under the 4 wheeler.
3. Night skiing up at Afton caught a edge and it dumped me about 30 ft down in the ravine my head was between the snowmaking pipe and a stump. Was trying to gather my stuff up when a buddy came looking for me, I told him I'm ok but missing a ski, it was still up there stuck in the snow at about a 45 angle. That's how he knew where to look for me.
4. Xcountry skiing out to the Apostle Islands the ice had shifted and but 18 inches of water under the snow. When I broke threw I was sure I was dead, when I stopped knee deep I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack. Grabbed onto my buddy's ski pole and he helped pull me out.
4 was probably the scariest the rest happened so fast it was done before you knew it.
2. Was driving a 4 wheeler through some tall horse weeds and as it pushed the weeds down. It covered a wash out up. Drove over that and it flipped in I remember thinking this is going to hurt luckily it got stuck and I fell to the bottom it was about 7 ft deep I could stand up under the 4 wheeler.
3. Night skiing up at Afton caught a edge and it dumped me about 30 ft down in the ravine my head was between the snowmaking pipe and a stump. Was trying to gather my stuff up when a buddy came looking for me, I told him I'm ok but missing a ski, it was still up there stuck in the snow at about a 45 angle. That's how he knew where to look for me.
4. Xcountry skiing out to the Apostle Islands the ice had shifted and but 18 inches of water under the snow. When I broke threw I was sure I was dead, when I stopped knee deep I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack. Grabbed onto my buddy's ski pole and he helped pull me out.
4 was probably the scariest the rest happened so fast it was done before you knew it.
For living 67 years I really don't have too much. Guess God is saving it all up for the real thing, at some point.
The traffic accident ones reminded me of a time I thought maybe it might be bad, but was nothing.
Brother and I were coming back from Michigan on a Sunday morning. He was driving and I was in the passenger seat. Traveling on I-80/I-90 there in Indiana where you're basically in that horrible Chicago traffic, though it wasn't that bad at that point in the day.
An oblivious woman in a Pontiac comes flying by us in the right lane doing maybe 85. We notice one of her tires is so out of round that that car was bobbing up and down. There was no way she couldn't know something was amiss and she should at least slow down.
She gets past us then that tire exploded. She does a 180 and lands stopped directly in front of us in our/middle lane. Miraculously my brother gets the car stopped before hitting her. So there we are stopped in the middle lane of a major freeway. I instinctively grabbed my neck and bent forward for the inevitable crash that thankfully never came.
We were so close to this idiot driver's car we actually had to back up to have enough room to pull out into one of the other lanes - which we did, leaving her in the middle of the road...
The traffic accident ones reminded me of a time I thought maybe it might be bad, but was nothing.
Brother and I were coming back from Michigan on a Sunday morning. He was driving and I was in the passenger seat. Traveling on I-80/I-90 there in Indiana where you're basically in that horrible Chicago traffic, though it wasn't that bad at that point in the day.
An oblivious woman in a Pontiac comes flying by us in the right lane doing maybe 85. We notice one of her tires is so out of round that that car was bobbing up and down. There was no way she couldn't know something was amiss and she should at least slow down.
She gets past us then that tire exploded. She does a 180 and lands stopped directly in front of us in our/middle lane. Miraculously my brother gets the car stopped before hitting her. So there we are stopped in the middle lane of a major freeway. I instinctively grabbed my neck and bent forward for the inevitable crash that thankfully never came.
We were so close to this idiot driver's car we actually had to back up to have enough room to pull out into one of the other lanes - which we did, leaving her in the middle of the road...
Was taking coffee to a sick friend, negotiating the icy sidewalk in front of the shop, and trying not to spill it through the lids, right to where I was parked on the street. Just as I was on the edge of the curb to step out to the driver's side, a semi went by so fast, I never heard or saw it coming (running two red lights). When I looked up to see just what it was that whooshed by inches from me, he was already a block and a half up the street (highway that goes through town).
It occurred to me that my death would have been instantaneous, and that's probably what it's like, except the part where you get to think about what happened. One second you're here, and the next you're not.
Also once, when I braked to avoid a deer on a frosty, totaled the car as it flipped over and rolled down a steep ditch (gotta love southern Iowa). Car went over a fence post that took out the passenger side window (and probably a passenger if I had had one). Again, no time to process those moments, it's just afterward that we do if we get out of them alive. (BTW, had one bruise on my foot from the clutch pedal and that was it. Seatbelts, people.)
It occurred to me that my death would have been instantaneous, and that's probably what it's like, except the part where you get to think about what happened. One second you're here, and the next you're not.
Also once, when I braked to avoid a deer on a frosty, totaled the car as it flipped over and rolled down a steep ditch (gotta love southern Iowa). Car went over a fence post that took out the passenger side window (and probably a passenger if I had had one). Again, no time to process those moments, it's just afterward that we do if we get out of them alive. (BTW, had one bruise on my foot from the clutch pedal and that was it. Seatbelts, people.)
I had a motorcycle accident when I was 18. No helmet, wife beater, and shorts. Road rash is real. It took me a couple year to get back on one and I never went anywhere unprotected. I would still have flashbacks of the crash when I rode, which was weird. Not really close to death but if i would have landed a little different.....
That reminds of an awful experience years ago. Driving down Collins Rd in CR (busy road for those who don't know it), and I came up on an accident that just occurred. Motorcyclist turning left at an intersection got hit by an SUV. As I stopped at the intersection, someone had reached the rider and she had his head in her lap. No helmet. I read the next day that he died.
I about drowned when I was 14. My dad saved me. I was unconscious for a while but no brain damage or anything. I still have periodic dreams about it nearly 40 years later. The saying that "my life passed before my eyes" was very true in my case.
In 1987 or 88, my buddy was working on his Chevette and wanted to take a test drive. As his house was on the edge of town, we headed out on gravel to do a big loop back to the house.
On the hilly straightaway on the way back to town, he wound it up to 80, and while going over a small rise in the road, it lifted a bit off the suspension and started to get loose. He oversteered and we flew into the ditch sideways/backwards, and rolled maybe four or five times down a fence row.
It happened incredibly quickly and I remember the windshield breaking and when we came to a stop upright, I looked down expecting to see bad things, and looked over at my buddy expecting the same, but we were both virtually untouched (he had a slight bump on his head and there was a hole in the roof above his head where a metal fence post had punched through). Other than that, completely fine.
He was completely freaked out, and I was sitting there like holy ****, that was amazing, I can't wait to tell everyone what happened. In my odd reflections over the years, I sometimes wonder if I didn't make it, and the rest of my life has just been this alternate timeline, The whole thing was just that unlikely.
On the hilly straightaway on the way back to town, he wound it up to 80, and while going over a small rise in the road, it lifted a bit off the suspension and started to get loose. He oversteered and we flew into the ditch sideways/backwards, and rolled maybe four or five times down a fence row.
It happened incredibly quickly and I remember the windshield breaking and when we came to a stop upright, I looked down expecting to see bad things, and looked over at my buddy expecting the same, but we were both virtually untouched (he had a slight bump on his head and there was a hole in the roof above his head where a metal fence post had punched through). Other than that, completely fine.
He was completely freaked out, and I was sitting there like holy ****, that was amazing, I can't wait to tell everyone what happened. In my odd reflections over the years, I sometimes wonder if I didn't make it, and the rest of my life has just been this alternate timeline, The whole thing was just that unlikely.