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I never had a near death experience but sometimes I wonder. I was driving in the night on the highway when all of sudden, I saw a slow car move to the front of me. I swerved to the right and barely avoided the other car. There was another car to my left so I had to move to my right. My heart continued to thump for the rest of the night. ~:eek: This reminds me of the movie The Sixth Sense. Of course I'm alive but that movie is creepy.
When I was 10 (or 11) I had a tiny surfboard, with no room for sail. You could be on it, with the stomac facing down. There were some straps you could tighten in order to secure the position, so you didnt slipped down. I did that (stupid I know) and I went floating around the boat. Then all of a sudden a little wave turned me up side down, and I was beneath the board - couldnt get out, because of the straps. I was drowning. Luckily, my father went to the cockpit for a drink, then he discovered me... Thank God for human thirst ~:cheers:
When I was about ten I was have a bike race with a friend on a bicycle path on the left side of the road, for some reason Io fell onto the street just as a carr was coming. The marks the car left on the street where still visible a long time after.
Ever heard of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome ?
http://www.sjsupport.org/
True death experience. Drops you dead by 33%. Your body reacts to a medication/drug you use in a severely lethal way.
http://www.sjsupport.org/htmldata/reactionphoto_1.html
My case was in 2001 april. 32 days of hospitalization with 13 days spent in intensive care unit.
Your whole skin tears apart, look as if you were one of those siege soldiers who had boiled oil poured all over. You can not see, you hardly hear, you can not eat, difficultly drink, nails fall, lungs get really hurt, all your mucus membranes take damage ending up with a drier life for you.
The post-SJS life is quite like taking the pill that takes you to another life. Like a movie slogan, but it is absolutely "forget everything you know" stuff.. Especially if your eyes got involved in SJS case, your life will be harder than ever. There is no cure for ocular damage (like severe dryness, all-time red, vasicularized cornea, full/partial sight loss, eye lid keratinization, ingowing eyelashes etc.), only comfort improving actions can be taken. You easily run out of energy, have problems with weight gain. Your joints and muscles are stiffer than ever, your nails may not be replaced regularly and so on and on...
Death is so easy to come, I was taught, that since that April I never overstate bad things happening. Life is not worth worrying for anything other than your very own existence.
*We were on a bus with my cousin..Bus driver takes a careless throttle, two taxis were barely able to avoid a crush with breaks and manevours.. I was telling her some chitchat..
Cousin : You just saw that we were nearly getting killed ?! We just avoided an accident !
Me : Oh..Well.. If it has to happen, let it be..
Cousin : ?!!
That summarizes my point of view after death touch ~:)
WOW! That happened? I feel sorry for you LEN.
yes, it did..Been 4 years since..
I'm sorry to hear that LeftEyeNine.
I think my ‘closest call’ was at a student demonstration with my cousin a few years ago. I was hit in the head with a baton by a militiaman in civilian clothes. Ouch...
Jeezus LeftEye that's pretty hardcore!
..
For me, so far, it would probably have to be balancing on the outside of the cargo hold of a really small boat in the middle of the ocean in the middle of the night in between Panama and Colombia, taking a piss. First off, I forgot which way the wind was blowing and pissed all over myself. More importantly, I scrambled back up on top about 1 second before a monster wave. 1 second later and I could have drowned or been eaten by the sharks... :dizzy2:
DA
I was put into hospital with stomach pains about two days after my birthday, the doctors just thought i just had a stomach bug, so they released me with pain-relief drugs.
That weekend me and my friends went into Town to celebrate me coming out of hospital two days before. I suddenly felt a blinding pain in my stomach, as two of my friends couldn't care less, one guy practically carriend me half way across town to where my dad was getting his hair cut. I rushed into hosital where i spent the three days laughing and joking with the nurses, putting a brave face on it all.
Then, despite my cheerful desposition, the surgeon decided to take me into the OR and give me an apendictomy. four hours later, after an operation that should have taken 45 minutes, the surgeon said to my mum.
"His appendix has been burst for three days, he shoudn't have lived this long, if he hadn't had an operation tonight, he would have been dead by tomorrow morning, he had 10 hours to live."
My parents and friends thought it was the bravest thing they'd seen, in truth i was a coward 'cos i didn't want to talk to my parents about it. Even when i was going to the operating theater, joking with the anaesthetists about 'gas chambers' and such, i was terrified.
I had about 3.
Nr. 1. I was in the car with my parents, in 2000. Driving to Hungary, in Romania. We were on the road, and a Opel Frontera avoided us with 1 inch. The driver probably fell asleep, cuz he went slowly to the side of the road, and nealry hit another car.
Nr.2. 2 years ago. I was playing in the sea. Then, a huge wave came over me. I did some spins underwater, and I couldn't get up because of a very powerful current. I think I stayed like this for about 30 secs...I was about to drown....I was feeling very dizzy.... After 10 more secs, I got up, and I think I rested for half an hour because my mom told me that I was very red, and my head was aching bad....
Nr.3. This year. In September. Huuuge wave, dragged me. Did couple of spins. Hit my friend in his back, I hit my head. Another number of spins. Then, when I was about to get up, I got hit by my friend... I remained much underwater.
Very scary for me..... :duel: :dizzy2: ~:eek:
I saw a long tunnel, and at the end the brightest light I have ever seen, and it kept getting closer. Good thing I dodged that train.
I'm very glad you pulled through, LEN.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeftEyeNine
I worked with a patient who was in a burn ward due to TENS. The ward had to be kept at about 100 degrees because she was a severe risk for hypothermia, since she had no worthwhile skin left to keep her body heat in.
She ended up losing her life and I remember how tough it was for her family. It's very nice to hear how well you did and about your new perspective on life.
Cheers, LEN.
Mogadishu, Somalia, 1993.
100 degrees?! OMG...Quote:
Originally Posted by Proletariat
Too bad she died.... :embarassed:
Me and some friends, on a trip to this computer cafe place, in a minivan. We're messing about, spitting out of the window at other cars. I pulled my head in, but little did i know, there was a large lorry coming the other way. If i had pulled my head in a fraction of a second too late, i'd probably be six feet under right now, pushing up daisies.
Yes, Prole, SJS and TENS are quite alike. I'm not sure if there is a noticable distinction between the terms tough..Quote:
Originally Posted by Proletariat
My intensive care unit was for 3 patients, however they restricted any access by neither a new patient nor even my mom. It was about 2 days suffering in agony, I was at the edge of going mad that I threatened to walk away in such an almost dead state unless they let my mom in. There was a severe risk of infection since there were nearly no skin left over the upper part of my body, so that they had restricted any and all access.
There are not much words how it feels like when it is burnt out, imagine the worst part of your body involved. Constipation added. There are also patients dying from pneumonia during SJS damage.
One professor dermatologist said that I was given a second chance by Allah. And I'm just evaluating that ~:)
Cheers ~:cheers:
i never had a near death experience...though my head nearly got flattened by the tires of a car, someone attempted to stab me with a knife and i nearly drowned or broke my neck a few times...and not to forget the ussualy nearly-get-hit-by-a-car accidents when i bike to school
I threw up almost non-stop when my appendix was about to burst, and I jumped a few feet when it finally burst, I had to be taken to the hospital and got operated on christmas day iirc. The pain was a lot less after it had burst though.Quote:
Originally Posted by ian_of_smeg16
The really stupid thing was that a while before it happened, I had gone to the doctor because of the pain, he said it was probably just stomach pain and didn't do any further tests, even though my mother had suggested it might be my appendix !
I still had 24h to live or something when I went into surgery, so it was a bit of a close call, but i wouldn't call it a near death experience. I was only 6 at the time though, hell of a thing to go through...
I almost drowned when I was sdomething like 4 year old. Don`t remember anything else than staring at the bottom and wondering whether I was going to meet "Seljords ormen", a Loch Ness(Nessie) like creature said to live there.
I suppose this is a bad time to remind people of the film Final Destination.....
getting hit by a car .It was only going like 20mph but it hurt and i saw it hit me i thought i was ganna die.
I don't remember how old I was but we were driving up to Central Vermont for Thanksgiving when the driver of the van fell asleep. We turned (very slightly) left and started to go off the road. I was pretty young and saw the whole thing. We went off the road into the median (grassy ditch between the north and south-bound bundles of lanes of the 4 lane highway). Luckily the car hit a concrete block of some sort and flipped over, a full roll back onto the wheels. Otherwise we would have continued straight into the south-bound lanes which had fairly heavy traffic, and us going 65mph or so and the others going probably between 40 and 70 (depending on how much they braked) I'd probably not be here.
I was on a hill this summer and I was on a farm and I filped on my atv and it landed on me I broke a couple of ribs and brused my sternum:dizzy2:
I was dead. I was pronounced dead for 13 seconds. My ambilicol (sp?) cord was cought around my neck when I was born.
Pretty crazy eh?:dizzy2:
I heard that such injury causes oxygen lack that results in the baby's IQ to halt or grown very low compared to others.Quote:
I was dead. I was pronounced dead for 13 seconds. My ambilicol (sp?) cord was cought around my neck when I was born.
It seems you are lucky, though..
I'm absolutely fine. In fact, I have a better IQ then most people, especially in my school..
Imagine that some of you are actually ghosts who are haunting these forums, and you think you're alive.
LeftEyeNine - if someone ever claims you are not a tough individual doesn't have a clue do they. That is about one of the hardest conditions to recover from - glad to hear that you did.
My wife developed some symptoms that they doctors initially thought was Stevens-Johnson's when she started to lose all the skin on her hands - but it turned out to be Toxic Shock Syndrome - scared the living hell out of me - thought I was going to lose her when I was rushing her to the hospital - blew out the tire hitting a crub when she started to hyperventilate. Lucky for the car that it was only 500 yards to the hospital since I drove it on the rims to the Emergancy Room.
My own personal ones - well one is related to being in war and the other well is from my own stupidity.
Redleg,
Well, it was all about I wanted to live (I remember barely saying the words on my death bed), and Allah let me.. If I grew any tough (people say that frequently, I'm not sure yet) , it was, is and will be all about standing the aftermath with a "Zen" smile.
SJS/TENS subject is a very interesting case, in both medical and legal terms. The support group is trying to speak up the word of it. However, the rareness of SJS/TEN (which is substantially growing out of this attribute by time) is the hard block in front of it.
I can summarize the disease as that I would absolutely would strive to save my bloody enemy, if any would be and whatever he may have done in anyway, from suffering it.
It might be the difference of location and philosophy - I don't equate tough to just physical strength - but to the will to live or accomplish something deemed impossible. In my book anyone that survives such a condition is one tough hombre worthy of upmost respect..Quote:
Originally Posted by LeftEyeNine
Redleg
Yes that might be, you sound absolutely rational. I don't get only physical strength either - just as you said.
However Islam teaches the will of Allah above the existence and the predestination of anything and everything. I must say that I was given a second chance and was left with the rest. Additionally, this does not conflict with my will to live. (I have to stop, 'cause I just started sounding like a boring mullah ~:) )
P.S. Glad that your wife did not suffer SJS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeftEyeNine
Oh the toxic shock was bad enough - it is almost as deadly as the SJS if its not discovered in time. She was lucky it was an extremely mild case.
But thanks for your sentiments.
Oh and no you don't sound like a boring mullah - you sound like a man who has had his faith in God confirmed. If it doesn't offend you - I just want to say - God bless you in your endeavors in life.
Cumleten..:bow: (same wish for all)
Apendicitis sucks don't it?Quote:
Originally Posted by doc_bean
Of all the dangerous and high profile work I have done, nothing is more dangerous than simply being out in the road conducting police business.
Case in point. It was around this time of year back in 2002. Where I work, one of the major roads winds near a large cliff which has mudslides and falling rocks every year when it rains. The road is two lanes both ways, running East to West with a speed limit of 55 mph.
Anyhow, the rain had come again and as usual the cliffside started crumbling into the outside eastbound lane. My simple task that morning was to set up a cone pattern in this lane, deviating all traffic into the safe inside lane. My fellow officer set up the patrol vehicle in the outside lane with his lights on to direct vehicles to merge while we conducted our work.
I took a stack of four or five traffic cones and I began walking and setting cones perpendicluar to the roadway, one step at a time, dropping a cone with each step starting from the shoulder and working my way to the center lane. I didn't stop, but just slowly walked and dropped the cones. A very simple task. I was walking along and just as I was about to continue forward, I stopped in the road for no reason at all. To this day, I do not know why I stopped. Instead of taking another step, I just planted my foot right next to the first. The second that I stopped, a huge delivery van sped by, right in front of my nose at 55 mph. He didn't even know I was there. If I had taken that extra step like I planned, I would have been dead for sure. I was only inches away! Why did I stop? I had no idea the van was coming.
I am not a religious person at all and I rationalize based upon fact and science, but I must admit that it was very odd and I had a distinct sense of a little extra help. Almost like a hand had stopped me and said, "not just yet buster".
So that is my near-death experience. I must admit, it changed my perspective just a little. Because I had no reason to stop, but I did.
Wow..a lot of good stories here. I'm sorry to hear about your condition, LEN.
At first, I read the title of the thread and kind of thought that I'd never had any. I've never even broken a limb. Reading the entries, though, reminded me of a few things.
1) I was walking to work the other day in the rain after having gotten off the bus. I'm kind of used to the way things work downtown, especially after having spent so much time there not long before this incident. Anyway, I stopped at an intersection and waited for the light to turn red. When it did change, I stepped off the sidewalk and headed for the other side, noticing but ignoring the "don't walk" image conveyed across from me. After crossing the median, something tapped my left leg from behind. I skip a little bit forward out of habit and turn to look at a car which was attempting to turn left (it had the green arrow) and only just stopped in front of me. I just kind of thought, "Whoops," and went on my way.
2) When I was young, I attended a semi-pro football (that's Canadian football) game with my father, which we'd do every once in a while. I remember getting out of my seat and standing...I think I was in the process of heading to the restroom, when I lost my balance and fell over the seat in front of me. The next thing I know, my father is holding me by my ankle while I hang upside down above a crowd of staring onlookers. I don't imagine falling down the rows of hard seats and concrete floor would have bade so well for a child, but it's tough to say if I'd have died.
There was also a particularly bad asthma attack, once, when I couldn't keep down anything I'd eaten because I was coughing so violently - it would all forced its way back up. I spent only three or four days in the hospital, though, I don't recall.
In a sense, none of these might qualify as a 'near-death experience' because they haven't impacted my life. I never stopped to think when things happened, I just kept going along with my business; even as a young child being held upside down by his father in a stadium, I only laughingly said, "Can you put me down now?" Easy come, easy go, right?
Especially if the doctors don't want to work late because of the holidays (or the hospital is understaffed) and don't care how the scars will look. I have some of the ugliest scars I've ever seen. When they needed to remove the stitches they discovered there was a 'knot' which shouldn't have been there that had grown into my newformed skin, I think half the people in hospital must have heard me scream, the pain was much worse than what my appendix ever caused...Quote:
Originally Posted by ian_of_smeg16
Ouch!Quote:
Originally Posted by doc_bean
I had those stiches which dissolve into your skin, so there was no need for the pain of taking them out......the doctors that examined me were rubbish, i mean it took them two weeks and three hospital visits to make them decide i had appendicitis, but the surgeons rocked, so did the anaethatists
There's been quite a few. I think I've used 5 of my 9 lives. ~;)
To name the funniest, I fell out of a rollercoaster. I think I almost drowned as a baby, and the amount of times my parents have threatened to kill me....
you fell out a rollercoaster ?!
:balloon2:
Damn right. Am I winning? I wouldn't think so.
Can't remember the name of the condition - but I have snored so loud that I have caused my heart to stop - not once but three times over the last 15 years. (Ie that is the stupidity mentioned earlier because I have refused to go see a doctor about it until just recently.)
:shocked: