Ways I almost died

[Anonymous]

1990: In Germany (was there for summer break; Dad was stationed there at the time). A lovely summer evening, an after dinner bike ride. Hit by two speeding motorcycles riding side by side. Totally their fault. Broken right femur with blood from the bone leaking into my system, crushed left ankle, pelvis broken in three places. Three months in the hospital, eight surgeries, one year of physical therapy, a year of college missed. Screws, pins, and rods holding me together. If I were a horse they would have shot me. Agonizing pain. My ankle is still fucked. Never skied or played any contact sport again. No high impact exercise. Still have nightmares about it.

2010: Pancreatitis from gallstones. My high threshold for pain causes me to ignore the warning signs/pain flares. Passed out on the floor; rushed to Georgetown Hospital ER. Hooked up to IV for a week before they could remove my gallbladder. Glucagon and digestive enzyme levels totally fucked. Props to Georgetown ER... they saved me! Always knew that ER would come in handy one day (I live a mile away).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 4 years of age at a public pool I decided to cross under the line separating the deep end from the shallow end to see what the deep end was like.

I was not aware that under the line was not an incline to the deeper end but an immediate drop from 3 ft to 6 ft. I sank way over my head and bobbed up. People were around me but did not hear my weak, half-choked cries for help. Everyone was busy doing their own thing.

I saw the life guard far away sitting in a chair on a tall white wooden platform. He was not looking my way. I tried to wave to get his attention but I was just one of many people in a pool. He did not look my way. He was looking down at his feet at the people under him.

After several times going under and coming back up I could not stay afloat anymore. As I drifted under the surface I opened my eyes and saw the sun shining above me as I sank lower.

As I was drowning I thought to myself, "I guess this is what it is like to die. Mom will be really sad." I was sad not because I was drowning but because my mom would be heartbroken to find my lifeless body in the pool. I always tried to spare her feelings. Once, when hit in the head by a rock by a mean neighbor kid, instead of going home I went up the road to a neighbor and washed the blood off so mom would not freak out.

I was now beginning to run out of air. I could hold my breath no more. As I resigned myself to die, I saw two arms come at me and a pair of hands grabbed me and lifted me out of the water. It was a girl of about 14 years.

I was so happy I wasn't going to die. I said aloud "You saved me!"

The girl laughed and walked me under the depth divider and put me back in the shallow part of the pool. I thanked her and told her again she saved me but she just laughed and walked away. I was a little angry she did not seem to believe me, that she thought I was playing a game.

As fast as I could I made my way to my mom. She was sitting with my dad and my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Mom offered me something to eat.

She had no idea what had just happened to me, and at 4 years of age I could not put into words how to tell her that I had been one breath away from death.

Memory like an elephant. Amazing.

Do you have a UTI or something you're so crabby?

My friend and I got off a high set of train tracks (not trestle-height, but not jump-off height either) and two minutes later a train came around the curve.

+1 Itchy vag pp?

[Anonymous]

Had a reaction to anesthetic post surgery and stopped breathing, and they couldn't find a pulse. Spent a few minutes outside my body then came back! This was in a third world country so no speedy resus equipment or team

Got caught in a whirlpool in a massive river and was pulled many, many feet underwater. Was held under for about 2-3 minutes before the whirlpool weakened and released me.

While out jogging with headphones on I stepped in front of a speeding sports car driven by a 19 yr old running a red light.

A couple severe asthma attacks / allergic reactions with laryngeal edema - somehow survived them all!

Hitchhiked with someone who turned out to be very high on drugs and crazy and drove as fast as his van could go down a mountain road (no brakes).

No near death experiences in the last ten years which is a good thing as I have used most of my 7 lives!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Had a reaction to anesthetic post surgery and stopped breathing, and they couldn't find a pulse. Spent a few minutes outside my body then came back! This was in a third world country so no speedy resus equipment or team

Got caught in a whirlpool in a massive river and was pulled many, many feet underwater. Was held under for about 2-3 minutes before the whirlpool weakened and released me.

While out jogging with headphones on I stepped in front of a speeding sports car driven by a 19 yr old running a red light.

A couple severe asthma attacks / allergic reactions with laryngeal edema - somehow survived them all!

Hitchhiked with someone who turned out to be very high on drugs and crazy and drove as fast as his van could go down a mountain road (no brakes).

No near death experiences in the last ten years which is a good thing as I have used most of my 7 lives!

AND? Were you crushed? Run over? Or did it not even hit you? You're leaving out crucial details.

[Anonymous]

I know this sounds crazy but the second my son passed I died with him for at least 2 min. As I watched him take his last breath I felt my stomach rise up, kind of like when your going downhill on a roller coaster. Then I saw my DH in the corner of the room from an above view (like I was walking on the ceiling) and I could also see my MIL pacing back and forth in the hospital hallway, also from above. Then I felt a huge drop and felt like the wind was knocked out of me and realized I was sitting again next to his bed. Very hard to explain, but I KNOW I left with him for a split second and God or whoever plotted me right back down. It would of been too easy to have left with him, I had to stay and raise my other kids.

[Anonymous]

When I was about a year old, I got some food lodged in my throat and started turning blue. My mom panicked and ran outside screaming for my dad. My 15 year old sister grabbed my from my high chair, held me upside down by the foot, and whacked my back until the food shot out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost drowned by being pinned under a kayak in rapids.

Wow, I'm glad you're OK. It's always so sad and preventable when people die like that.

Thank you, PP! My friend was trying to dislodge the front of the kayak from the rocks (I was sitting in back, and hitting them had made me fall out) and then realized I wasn't coming back up, so he jumped out, grabbed my shirt while steadying the kayak and pulled me out. My hero!

[Anonymous]

I was camping on a Wilderness course, a big storm took down 3 full size trees one night in our camping area. One tree even pulled up a stake from one of the tents. None of the trees fell on any of the 5 or so tents. Truly amazing, but they were right there.

Another time, we got caught in a big downpour rain, away from our camp (on a wilderness course). We were at a lecture which started before dark, but ended after dark (suddenly) due to heavy rain thunder and lightning. We did not have rain gear to go to the lecture. We (12 students in the group) were starting to get hypothermic, no one could hear us because of the heavy rain and thunder. We huddled together, finally after 2 hours someone heard us and helped us find our tents. By then it was the middle of the night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds crazy but the second my son passed I died with him for at least 2 min. As I watched him take his last breath I felt my stomach rise up, kind of like when your going downhill on a roller coaster. Then I saw my DH in the corner of the room from an above view (like I was walking on the ceiling) and I could also see my MIL pacing back and forth in the hospital hallway, also from above. Then I felt a huge drop and felt like the wind was knocked out of me and realized I was sitting again next to his bed. Very hard to explain, but I KNOW I left with him for a split second and God or whoever plotted me right back down. It would of been too easy to have left with him, I had to stay and raise my other kids.

I am so sorry. No parent should lose a child. I could see how someone could have an out of body experience like that under such circumstances.

[Anonymous]

A lot of these are scary and upsetting experiences, but not true "I almost died" ones. Those involve bodily violation or illness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents used to drive drunk with us. One time, I remember my father was so drunk, swerving all over a dark and winding road that my mother made him stop and switch with her. She was so drunk that she turned on, and then couldn't figure out how to turn off, the windshield wipers, so she just drove with them on, even though it wasn't raining. My little sister and I were clinging to each other in the back seat. That was the worst, but no means only, time.

Almost drowned in a pool when I was four. My mostly deaf great uncle didn't hear me screaming, but my older sister did and pulled me out.

Attacked by a dog when I was eight. Ended up with nothing more than a whole bunch of stitches, but the dog certainly could have killed me.

Stories like this enrage me to no end, not only putting your own children in danger like that but subjecting them to that kind of fear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds crazy but the second my son passed I died with him for at least 2 min. As I watched him take his last breath I felt my stomach rise up, kind of like when your going downhill on a roller coaster. Then I saw my DH in the corner of the room from an above view (like I was walking on the ceiling) and I could also see my MIL pacing back and forth in the hospital hallway, also from above. Then I felt a huge drop and felt like the wind was knocked out of me and realized I was sitting again next to his bed. Very hard to explain, but I KNOW I left with him for a split second and God or whoever plotted me right back down. It would of been too easy to have left with him, I had to stay and raise my other kids.

I am the 19:30 poster who mentioned the out of body experience and mine was very similar to yours - I too was looking down at the room from the perspective of the ceiling watching people move about. It was almost like being caught between being dead and alive - your body doesn't have the resources to live (for you emotionally and for me physically) but you haven't yet died. You are the first person I have heard who described it similar to what I saw and experienced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Had a reaction to anesthetic post surgery and stopped breathing, and they couldn't find a pulse. Spent a few minutes outside my body then came back! This was in a third world country so no speedy resus equipment or team

Got caught in a whirlpool in a massive river and was pulled many, many feet underwater. Was held under for about 2-3 minutes before the whirlpool weakened and released me.

While out jogging with headphones on I stepped in front of a speeding sports car driven by a 19 yr old running a red light.

A couple severe asthma attacks / allergic reactions with laryngeal edema - somehow survived them all!

Hitchhiked with someone who turned out to be very high on drugs and crazy and drove as fast as his van could go down a mountain road (no brakes).

No near death experiences in the last ten years which is a good thing as I have used most of my 7 lives!

AND? Were you crushed? Run over? Or did it not even hit you? You're leaving out crucial details.

It was truly a matrix moment that happened in incredible slow mo and involved some kind of divine / supernatural force. I was hit but not crushed or run over. I was run over another time by a little old lady in a parking lot but that was just my leg!

[Anonymous]

Amniotic fluid embolism with delivery of my DD. Lost nearly half of my blood supply. Heart stopped twice/code blues called, kidneys and lungs stopped working. On life support for 3 days. In ICU for several weeks.

[Anonymous]

I had postpartum hemorrhaging and lost over two liters of blood. I obviously don't remember much because I passed out but it appears the quick response of the doctors is what saved my life.