Remember the time you almost/could've died?

I remember once when I went through a mild earthquake, and because I'm living up at 18th floor at that moment, the tremor was very significant. First earthquake I've ever experienced at that.

However, I was asleep when it happened, and my house mate had to bang on my door to wake me up. I remember he shouted, "GET UP, IT'S A FUCKING EARTHQUAKE!! WE NEED GET TO THE BOTTOM FLOOR!". Being fast asleep at about 12.30 AM, in my half awakened state I responded, "SHUT UP! GO DOWN YOURSELF AND LET ME SLEEP". Back then, sleeping > life. I was half awake.

He continued to bang on the door till I woke up a couple minutes later. I changed out of my sleeping attire with my casual speed, and we TOOK THE ELEVATOR DOWN. Hey, it's 18th floor. If the building was to collapse, we would have better chances with the lift.

Anyways, everything calmed down half an hour later and I went back to sleep. The end.

According to others, the building shaked for about 5 minutes or so. The danger lies in the fact that my apartment building is quite old and it may not be stable enough for a quake.

So, any near death experience yourself? Comedic or dramatic ones included.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hey let's go to the bottom floor so that 18+ floors of apartment building can fall onto our heads! Basically a lose-lose situation there if something were to collapse. I guess I have been in the car for several near misses, which as far as I can remember, is the closest thing to almost possibly dying that I've been.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Hmmm, I think I can remember, it being Wednesday of this week.

I wake up, 11h45 AM. Stingy pain in the lower right abdomen... I'm guessing they're just cramps and they'll go away, so I get up, watch tv... Around 1PMish I start going to the bathroom, try to shit or puke it out... nothing works, pain is getting increasingly stronger... so I finally call a friend of mine to take me to the Emergency.

Around 2PM, after puking like 6-7 times outside my GF's appartment complex, waiting for my friend, he finally gets there and takes me to the hospital, which is just about FULL of people waiting in the... well waiting room. Since I am in so much pain, they actually let me through before everyone else, and set me in a bed along a wall for another 4 hours, while giving me Morphine to calm the pain. By 9PM I was operated for Apendicitis (spelling?) and I am released from the hospital the following morning.

The day after, I read in the local newspaper that our emergencies are overwhelmed and over 225% full (which explains why they left me in the hallway for 4 hours)... And since and apendice that goes untreated for a while risks bursting and contaminating pretty much every organ in your body, that episode scared the shit out of me.

But here I am, 3 weeks off from work, can't lift more than 10 lbs for 3 weeks, but at least I'm alive and well. I have never in my life been in such pain as I was Wednesday... and I hope to never have to suffer that much again. Ow.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Nothing too drastic, but I've avoided several potential car accidents by either moving into another lane in time, or just decreasing my speed a bit. Other times have involved being in a car as well, except with a friend from high school who drove.

How ya doing, buddy?

I created a near-death experience once back at school. It was P.E., and we were using Javelins.

Nothing bad happened in the actual lesson, just at the end when we were all clearing up. I was carrying my javelin back to the school building from the playing field. As I started to go up the (fairly steep) hill from the playing field up to where the school building was, my javelin touched the ground and got stuck in it. If the person behind me had been walking maybe an inch or two to the left, it would have gone in his neck.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I almost killed myself on the way to work one day (back when I had my car). I'd stayed up the entire night playing PSO. By the time I realized what time it was, it was already 5:20am. I was going to call out and go back to sleep, but I thought I could handle it... I went and got ready, got in the car, and started driving. I started falling asleep a few times. I rolled down all the windows and turned up the music, but I fell asleep again. The last time I fell asleep was when I was coming off the ramp going towards Tyson's Corner in Virginia. I woke up to find myself mere inches away from a large truck. I almost flipped the car over trying to get away from it...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I was about six and we were at one of my parent's friend's house. They had a pool in the back, and one of the kids thought it would be funny to push me in to see if I could swim. I couldn't and I nearly drowned, as it was lucky that their oldest daughter saw what happened from inside (all the adults were inside, most of the children were outside) and quickly came to my rescue. We were supervised by a couple of teens so I probably would have been saved anyway but I was definitely not having a good day after that.

FELIPE NO

I was 10 when I was at my grandfather's place for Easter. He was grading his lane (taking gravel and spreading it along the road). My brother and I were riding in the bucket, as we always did. The problem was we were screwing around too much. My hand was on the hydraulic pipe, keeping my balance, and my brother gave me a shove. My hand slipped and down I went.

The front-end loader hit me in the back and went over me. I did a couple of somersaults underneath, and the large rear wheel apparently scraped my arm as it passed me (I don't remember that much of it clearly). I was on my back behind it, and I was thinking to myself "I have to get out of the way in case it comes back" but I couldn't move beyond rolling back and forth.

My grandfather loaded me in the bucket, got me to their car, and drove me to the hospital. I wasn't actually feeling that much pain at the time, until the car hit a bump on the road, and then it was agony. They X-rayed me at the hospital and came to the conclusion that I had a badly bruised back out of the incident. For three days I was in the hospital, while they had me sitting in a wheelchair, and were trying to get my legs to work again. They would hold me by my arms, my legs would slowly lower due to gravity, but then when they touched the ground, they would reflexively jerk back up and I would cry out in absolute pain. I don't think I've ever felt anything that hurt more in my life then that.

They sent the X-rays to another hospital, since they couldn't figure out what was wrong, and were immediately answered by "immobilize him completely, his back is broken." I spent 3 and a half months in the hospital in a body cast, and the summer in a plastic brace. They told me I would never run or jump again, let alone walk without problems. If it had been 1 vertebrae higher or lower, it would have snapped the spinal cord, and I wouldn't be doing anything from the waist down. As it was, the spinal cord was bent back on itself in an "S" curve, and they had straightened it out and strengthened it with pins.

Lucky for me, I was young when it happened, and my body healed up completely. Not only can I walk normally, I can still run and jump with 0 side effects. The doctors were as confounded as I other than, I healed better than they ever thought would happen. I know I took my brace off in August myself, to feel what it would be like...it was the wierdest feeling walking without that thing, like my back was made of rubber. Now though, I'm all good.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Minus almost being hit a couple times from jaywalking, I almost blew myself up once with a 40mm HE grenade.

Well, I was on the range, and we were firing M203's. I've never fired one before that, and I never got taught on it. Anywho, about 30min before firing, they briefed basically everyone again on how to use it. Open. Put it on safe. Load. Aim. Fire.

When we got to the range to fire, I opened the M203, loaded, and then closed it, THEN I put it on safe, the M203 was pointed at the wooden half wall infront of me at the time. The Corporal watching me gives me this cold look after realizing that I put it on safe after closing the M203 and says "Shit, I know someone who did that once, and it went off, oh well, just hit the tank."

Basically, when you load the 40MM HE into the M203 before putting it on safe, there is a chance that the firing pin might strike the primer on the HE grenade hard enough for it to go off. Putting it on safe prevents that.

So ya...... that's what happens when you get almost no sleep before a range shoot, and you're taught how to use a weapon only moments before firing =/.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've had two seperate medical doctors tell me that I was going to die, unless I got a new kidney and possibly new liver. I was saddled with a failing kidney and a enlarged liver. Since I didn't think I'd have a serious chance with a operation of that magnitude, I more or less chose death. I'm kind of disappointed that it didn't happen actually.

Anyway roughly ten years before that incident, a major flood happened in my area. Everyone in the general area caught a staph infection that had gone airborne. To make the story short, I didn't completely get rid of it. So for ten years or so I carried it around inside me. No real major health issues, but I was prone to illness. Then my sophmore year of high school I got mono. Which weakened my body with enough toxins building up that caused my kidneys started to fail, which were already under a lot of stress from the staph. An enlarged liver followed soon after.

Sadly, I don't have any weird "death experiences" stories, because I was asleep pretty much the whole time. Too tired from mono. Best way to die imho. I don't really know how or why I made it through. Neither do any of the doctors I've seen. But over the course of about six years I got better, and now I'm in prime shape. Guess I'm too stubborn, or it just wasn't my time. I could complain, but I'm alive so there'd be no point. All I have to say is that adversity builds character.

Incidently, and against the advices of the doctors/family/friends I made up what I missed of my sophmore/junior years of high school. My senior year was almost nonexistent since I was only missing 2 and a half credits. Took a year off before college to fully recover. Probably prevented me from suffering a relapse at that point.

Most amazing jew boots

I remember a time when I was 16 years old drowning in a pool after diving from the board. The woman I was seeing at the time tried to save me but I almost drowned her. Wow, that's both embarrassing and depressing .

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

When I was 2, I drowned in out backyard pool and was in a coma for almost 2 weeks. My dad was suppose to be watching me but he just crammed me into a floatie ring and went to do laps, I ended up out of the floatie and face down in our jacuzzi for who knows how long. My dad, after his workout, realized what had happened, took me out, I was blue and not breathing so he gave me CPR (which didn't work) and they up called ambulance. I ended up in a coma at the hospital for a little under two weeks, I think everyone expected me never to wake up or to wake up permanently retarded or something from lack of oxygen to the brain. I'm still a little skeptical on the last point.

I was also in a car accident in January. I didn't almost die but I could have, my car was really messed up.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The time when I almost died was when this girl I was working with for a history project got three plastic forks, taped them together, and stabbed me in the throat while I was face down in the cafeteria sleeping. Nothing permanent happened but WHAT IF IT WAS A REAL KNIFE?! Also, I called her up last summer and ruined the ending to the Harry Potter book. Strangely, after all that, we're good friends now.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Sadly, it seems that if I'm going to die prematurely, it will probably of something stupid.

I've had a couple close calls falling asleep at the wheel, which is damn scary. One time I almost rear-ended a car at a reasonably dangerous speed, only to swerve into the shoulder at the last second.

Also, I've almost been hit by cars a couple times on my bike.

Nonetheless, I survive to this day. Somehow >_>

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I almost died 2 weeks ago. Death usually ain't a funny thing, but since I survived, I laughed it off.

So, two weeks ago, there was a double Bauer hour, i.e. 2 new episodes of 24. It was awesome, but I almost did not get to enjoy it. Here's the story:

It begins the week before. After last week's episode of 24, FOX previewed the double hour, which would begin at 8pm. This instantly concerned me because I have a night class, Fundamentals of Technology Start-Ups, which lasts from 5:30 to 8:30. Holy crap! Great class, but nothing, and I mean nothing, can get in my way of watching 24. (The x-men 3 trailer, which was weak but enticing anyway, was also going to air during the hours.) So all week I was plotting on how to get out of class. Since I didn't want to skip it, I e-mailed the instructor over the weekend that I had an "extracurricular activity" that I would have to leave class one hour early for... so I wasn't lying at all.

So I went to class. The instructor announced that he would end class an hour early. "WUT?!?!?" This instantly brought smiles to many students in the class, including myself (so one could see who were the avid 24 viewers.) So I figured I could go with this. Nice! but, as 7:30 approached, he was no where near done. He went on for 15 more minutes on account that class started at 5:45 because stupid students came "retardedly."

So I was out of the room at 7:45, and from the distance I just saw the purple shuttle (which goes to my apartment) leave the stop at the corner. Holy fucking shit! The next one was coming at 8pm! That's too late. So I had less than 15 minutes to get back to my apartment from the technology advancement building (which is where the class was, which is just down the road from my apartment, but across a somewhat major highway). I began to scurry down the sidewalk at a decent pace, making good time.

Then suddenly, I got to the highway intersection. I hit the pedestrian signal to cross, but instantly realized there was no way i can wait for my turn. I had less than 5 minutes! "There is not enough time!" as Jack Bauer would say. So I played a life-and-death game of human frogger to cross the highway. Now, this wasn't terribly difficult nor all that dangerous. You could see the cars coming from a distance and there was enough leeway to make it through if I went fast enough. I got across rather quickly and thankfully unscathed, but then I had to cross one more road to get to the corner the apartments were in. This is where I could've died. There were cars coming in from both sides, which i was aware of. Once I [thought I] found an opening, I proceeded (less than 4 minutes now).

"Ahhhhh!"

Fracking cars from the highway turning right onto that road came in at ridiculous speeds. One car came in, and I had to jump back to avoid being hit (wearing all black didn't help). A second car screeched its brakes as I decided I was stronger than the car. Ultimately, I got across, with the biggest sigh of relief. Ever.

I continued to speed-walk to my apartments. 3 minutes left. 2 minutes left. In front of my door... it's locked. I stumbled for my keys. I get in. 1 minute left. but it's all good.

A few seconds later, the greatest show on television began.

FELIPE NO

When I was 7, I was biking around my block and didn't notice a neighbor's car pulling out of the garage. Good thing the driver saw me and immediately braked when I was behind him. His wife went berserk and screamed at me, but I can't blame her for doing that.
-
Two years ago, the flu spreaded everywhere, especially in my school. Since I never got the flu shot, I ended up being sick for two weeks. I had a 106 fever and couldn't stop coughing. I thought I was going to die because none of the medications were helping at all. Fortunately a few days later, a really nice doctor finally found me something that worked.
-
Last year, I nearly got hit by a train, which would've been an instant death. I was leaning on a pole and reading a text book while waiting for the train to come with two immature boys playfully fighting each other next to me. Just when I was about to put the book away, one of the boys accidently pushed into me and I nearly fell over the ledge if I hadn't grabbed on to the pole to pull me back. My book fell on to the tracks and five seconds later, the train ran over it.

I was paralyzed with fear and shock. There were no witnesses, nothing at all. The two boys ran out of the station because they probably thought I was going to kill them. After the train left, I also left the station and went to a nearby park. I sat there for hours thinking about the event. After that day, I started appreciating my life a lot more.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I wouldn't call it a "near death" experience, but this was the most painful day of my life.

I am lactose intolerant. I had has some lactose-based product (some kind of cheese, I think) and as usual, I had a slight stomach ache and loose shit. Nothing too unusual. However, it didn't stop there. Over the next few hours, the pain in my stomach became increasingly worse and worse. I vomited a number of times, and for a while, pretty much the only thing I could do was lie in the bathtub, vomiting and dry heaving. Eventually, I had to go to the hospital, and I was barely able to walk from the intense nausea, which at one point left me writhing on the floor, pretty much paralyzed. They gave me an injection of anti nausea drugs, and a bunch of suppositories (NOT FUN) to take in case it kept getting worse. It took another day or two of sticking pills up my butt before things calmed down. I have no idea what made the reaction so ferocious, but it was pretty awful.

I have two stories where I literally though I was going to die, but this thread doesn't seem to be the appropriate setting for them (it involves alcohol and underage drinking).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm an idiot when it comes to crossing the road. I pressed the button at the crossing and without even registering began walking straight out into the road where a car was coming about 40mph. If my friend hadn't been there to pull me back I would have been knocked down. Felt so unreal.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I guess the closest I've ever come to such a situation was one day when I was riding in an acquantaince's car. He was my aunt's boyfriend at the time, and the proud driver of a piece of trash.

I was riding in the back this particular day. We were turning off the highway, when suddenly the door I was sitting next to flew open. I fell out the car, even though I was wearing my seatbeat. The driver stopped suddenly, so I was dragged a few meters... but somehow I only got a few scratches (and no apologizes... = ( )

Though I often tell it as a story I can laugh at ("Hey, remember that time I fell out the car!") I can't help but think what might've happened if there was someone driving nearby... or better yet, what if I'd gotten sucked under the car I was riding in. I imagine that it probably wouldn't have been pretty.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

So, driving to my school, I take a two-lane farm road that everybody has decided means let's not go the speed limit, ever. Having endured 3 years of this shit and being tired of people refusing to get out of my way, I headed to school one day while it was raining.

You can see where this is going.

So, a few county utilities trucks were driving ahead of me on the road, and one moves onto the shoulder for me, sensing that I was in a bit of a hurry to get to class. Cool, I think, one down, 3 to go. Except the next guy didn't seem to see me. So, like any sensible meat sack I decided that my class was worth more than my safety and began poking my head out to the left of the car to see if there was any traffic coming. We were on a curve going right, and I didn't see any headlights up ahead, so I figured I'd be good to go. Just as I began pulling into the opposite lane, I see headlights in my eyes, and I jerked the wheel, sending me hydroplaning off into a muddy field. I pulled a complete 360 before coming to a stop. After I got out, the utilities guys stopped to make sure I was okay. One of them walked past a steel telephone pole and looked down at the ground where my tracks were. Then he looked up at me, shook his head, and held his hands out about 3 feet apart.

They said those poles were buried ten feet deep into the ground with a concrete base, and if I had hit it, the pole wouldn't be going anywhere. One guy told me that the last time they had to repair a line on a pole like that, the guy that collided with it ended up with broken ribs and legs, spinal problems, and a whole world of hurt.

I guess death is always a possibility in situations like that.

Most amazing jew boots

It was 4 or 5 years ago, I was speeding and it was raining. I was trying to pass a truck when it suddenly changed to my lane, I tried to avoid it but I lost control of my car and crashed against a tree, fortunately I was ok but the car was seriously damaged.

I was speaking idiomatically.

One time I got depressed locked myself in the bathroom and wrapped the bag from the TP 'round my neck...pulled so tight I almost passed out...I was dumb I don't even remember what it was about.

Most amazing jew boots

Let's put this simple:

Glass table + 8-years-old-me jumping around = serious cuts all around (almost lost a finger) and a small scratch on my neck (thankfully).

FELIPE NO

I nearly drowned in a pool when I was like... 5? I don't recall. how old I was but I was too little for the deep end of the pool. A diving ring some kids and I were tossing around when towards the drop off for the diving area and they made me go get it. I thought I could reach it with my foot, so I was clinging to the edge of the pool and made my way to the ladder. I lost my grip and went under like twice before my dad dived in and dragged me out. I was shaken but otherwise fine.

This other time doesn't seem like I could have died, but about two years ago, I was in a nighttime science class at my college. Suddenly, a van crashed through some concrete barriars and literally flew down the stairs that ran along side the building I was in. It crashed around 100 feet from the street. The scary part was, if the proffessor had decided to have given us a break even 5 minutes earlier, I (and quite a few other students) most likely would have been on those stairs walking down to the nearby coffee shop.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I simply ran over a gas line with a lawn mower, luckily, there wasn't a spark generated :lolsign: ..

Jam it back in, in the dark.