Ways I almost died

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you remember wondering what would your mom do when she saw your lifeless body sunk in the bottom of the pool?

Yeah I guess not. You know why? Because this is not what a 3-4yo thinks about when they're dying.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Liar. A 4yo doesn't have such thought process.

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.

Of course they do. Well, normally developing kids do.

Well, someone tried drowning me when I was 21 and the last thought in my head while trying to get out was "my moms reaction to my lifeless body"

Nicely written but I'm not buying it.

And your brain was deprived of oxygen for a while, I'm guessing..

I don't know why everyone is giving this PP such a hard time about this. I remember being 3 and diving off a diving board with one of those "bubbles" of the 1970s on, being face down in the water, someone grabbing me and pulling me out. It was really, really scary, so the details- the bubble, the pool, the bathing suit I was wearing at the time - are etched in my mind. It is a personal flashbulb memory.

I also have a great memory, especially for major events as a child. The way that I know that it is a genuine memory and not something that someone has told me is if I remember the emotion that I felt at the time. I absolutely believe this poster that she was worrying about what her mother would think. That is absolutely the type of irrational thought that I would have been concerned about at that age, and because she remembers the emotions she feels I'm sure this is an accurate recollection.

[Anonymous]

When I was three or four I got lost at the grocery store and wandered in to the parking lot. A man tried to get me to get in his car. My dad saw me going off with the man and called my name, and I ran to him. No one confronted the man.

I believe I would not be here today if I had gone with the man.

And I TOTALLY believe the person who said their last thought was about how their mom would feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

PP who saved friend from drowning here, if you were really drowning there would be no screaming. You can't scream while you drown. It's very quiet.

True. I guess my memory is fuzzy. I do remember seeing him and trying to get his attention, but I don't remember if I was actually screaming. I know that I didn't realize my sister was anywhere near by, so I thought he was the only one there.

Also, someone made a great point that these are more "could have died" rather than "almost died." So I rescind mine in favor of people who actually got hit by cars, etc. Still a scary/fascinating/weird thread.

[Anonymous]

Meningitis at age two.

I don't remember it excet for one, kind of frozen still image of trees and my dad carrying me, and another frozen image of the hospital room. Those could just be my imagination though.

[Anonymous]

Each time we remember something, what we remember is our last memory of it, not the original event. Over time pictures, re-tellings, and the perspectives of others work their way into our memory and how we remember something. You can't strip away years of memories to only think of the actual event, you are always remembering a memory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Each time we remember something, what we remember is our last memory of it, not the original event. Over time pictures, re-tellings, and the perspectives of others work their way into our memory and how we remember something. You can't strip away years of memories to only think of the actual event, you are always remembering a memory.

I don't think this is true of traumatic memories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each time we remember something, what we remember is our last memory of it, not the original event. Over time pictures, re-tellings, and the perspectives of others work their way into our memory and how we remember something. You can't strip away years of memories to only think of the actual event, you are always remembering a memory.

I don't think this is true of traumatic memories.

I think it is. I think the differences is that traumatic memories are remembered through our senses more than through our cognition so a traumatic memory burns all the sights, sounds, feelings, sensations, perceptions etc... into our brain. But we are still remembering the memory of those sensations. The details of traumatic events absolutely do distort over time.

[Anonymous]

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.

I believe this poster may have an accurate memory at the age of 4. I have a very vivid memory of my mother thumb tacking plastic over a large window or sliding door in our family room. She stepped on a large tack and I remember the blood and such. I remember afterwards her laying in bed and how huge her toe looked bandaged up. I also remember "what" my mother was doing (2nd sentence above). I always assumed I was 4 or so and just recently I was going through one of my dad's old photo album and came across a photo of me at the foot of the bed where my mom was laying with her bandaged toe. I was about 18 months old and was holding a bottle. My memory of her "huge" toe was because of my perspective at that age. Never underestimate what your little ones are able to understand even if they cannot communicate it!

[Anonymous]

This thread is so terrifying to me as a parent of young children. The thought of them having an experience like any of those named is so scary.

That said, my near death experiences:

- Almost drowning at 4 (this seems to be a common one). Public pool. My older sister pulled me out.

- Being hit by a car at 11. It was in front of a crowd of middle schoolers who were across the street, waving me to come across and join them. I started crossing and was hit. It is a surreal memory. The shoes were knocked off my feet. I broke my nose. My dad, who worked nearby, came running down the street while I sat in the back of a police car. My sister witnessed the whole thing and was a mess. I couldn't talk about it for years. I was so embarrassed and ashamed. Even now it hurts to think about it.

[Anonymous]

My father tried to kill me. He was spurred on by my mother. Spent a few days recovering at home and in pain; no attempt to either take me to the hospital or to help me with my pain. I recovered and was okay, but there were follow-up attempts. I knew this wasn't going to end well for me, so ended up making my plans and sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night.

[Anonymous]

I have been reading this thread over the past couple of days, and have been reticent to post.

I didn't die, but I was with my best friend when she did. We were 16 in Nags Head, and a presumably drunk driver hit us both as we were walking along the side of the road. He/she was never identified. I ran for help (this was before cell phones). It haunts me to this day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two hits of acid and got into a friends car. Hallucinated that there was no air in the car and tried to get out while moving.

Lit my shirt on fire while cooking, still have a big scar.

Got drunk and lay down in a snowbank. I felt very, very warm.

You almost killed yourself from sheer stupidity. Big difference between almost dying from a real emergency, illness and just being stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two hits of acid and got into a friends car. Hallucinated that there was no air in the car and tried to get out while moving.

Lit my shirt on fire while cooking, still have a big scar.

Got drunk and lay down in a snowbank. I felt very, very warm.

You almost killed yourself from sheer stupidity. Big difference between almost dying from a real emergency, illness and just being stupid.

The OP did not specify that the experiences had to be virtuous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been reading this thread over the past couple of days, and have been reticent to post.

I didn't die, but I was with my best friend when she did. We were 16 in Nags Head, and a presumably drunk driver hit us both as we were walking along the side of the road. He/she was never identified. I ran for help (this was before cell phones). It haunts me to this day.

How horrible. I'm so sorry that happened to you and your friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Isn't the death rate for AFE over 50%? Glad you made it.