Mon 27th Feb

[irwcustom]

Cheese and tomato on rustic brown. A hot cross bun.

Has anybody had a near death experience and has it changed your live, views on life etc as a consequence?

Nearly died yesterday - some * head in a Merc decided that he was going to overtake coming down a steep hill - a very steep one with another one that meets this coming down the other way just out of my village. Missed me by inches. Solid line down the middle of the road. I bet he was in a hurry for a really important reason too:rolleyes: . 60 mph each ..... head on - no question ...I would have been a gonner.

Another time my 'friend' at college was pretty much that driver when I was passenger. He hit the car he was overtaking, but again my life flashed before me.

I think it could well change my attitude - or refresh it so that I never waste a minute. Sorry to get 'heavy'. I think it's important that we don't take life for granted though - right? Your views or experiences?

[Big Mike]

Only 5:30 AM. No idea what I'll do for lunch yet.

Had a couple. biggest was my burst appendix. Never presented like normal, so it was a scary and painful deal.

[digisequencer]

Just had a cappuccino. Other grub will follow when I´m home... something...


Um... Well, I had an alcohol-induced experience with death.
Was back in School, in the 11th or 12th grade, not sure. We were in Prague and I tasted vodka-lemon for 1st time - at a room party where you had to mix your drinks yourself.
I had no idea of how to mix it, never had anything stronger than wine before. Thought the name means 3/4 vodka and 1/4 lemon....
It tasted well, and I emptied 3 1/2 long drink glasses in 1 hour - and then my classmates decided to go downtown. My luck that they tried to get me with them - although I was usually the outcast, the oddball, the outsider.
Last thing I remember is sitting in the tube, patting my mate Caroline on the shoulder saying "You´ve got to promise to take good care of me".

Then. Nothing.

I awake. It is dark. And silent. I realize I am lying. Horizontally. Touch my surroundings: oh I am in a bed. I look around, find my little walkman-speakers on the windowsill: oh I am in my own bed. Even better. More and more I realize it looks all too normal. I go to the bathroom, feel a bit wee from my stomach, but that´s all.
It later turns out (I had to twist a few arms to get a puzzle of that story from all my mates) that I collapsed downtown and they had big problems getting me back (wont tell all embarrassing details).

Only this: I was lucky that I went with them and that they got all that stuff out of me. When later the sun shone I saw that my skin all over my body had a blue shimmer ! (That´s where the German expression comes from I guess, saying you´re blue means you´re drunk)
If they hadn´t been there for me, if they hadn´t insisted on me coming with them I would not be here to post.

Since then I definitely know my alc limits and *do* respect them.

ps. glad to hear you´re okay Darren !

[CAFeathers]

I have no idea what will be for lunch yet.

I have come close several times. The most recent was in 2003 when I aspirated during surgery on my left foot. My overnight stay in the hospital turned into a 7 days.
My outlook on life has changed. I think I am a much better person having gone through this.

[Donk70]

Pizza burger and a iced tea.

I didn't really come close, but I could have.

When I worked at Panasonic, we had a test booth that we used to visually check the quality of the phosphor prior to the electron gun going into the neck of our projection tubes. This was done using a vacuum pump to suck out all the oxygen and using an electrode to supply power to the tube (low wattage, 8.5 milliamps). As a supervisor, I was responsible for taking a random sampling 3 times per shift. One day as I was concluding my samplings, I almost forgot to turn off the power prior to disconnecting the electrode. After a sigh of relief, I shut down the test booth properly.

A few weeks later, one of my employees was doing her sampling and forgot to turn off the power prior to disconnecting the electrode. She died in the ambulance on her way to the hospital.

[bleujazz3]

Cheeseburger with pickles and chips.

My near-death was 28 years ago when I was working for the then HELCO, (Hartford Electric Light Company) on one of those large utility structures that carries 7000 Volts across the landscape. Mind you, not the local ones you find in your neighborhood, the big ones. I was painting the structure when my harness slipped and the paintbrush touched the live wire. I burned my left hand and arm all the way up into the armpit. It blew out chunks of my left hand near the thumb and index finger where I was gripping the brush-pole. Third degree burns on my left arm.

I spent 5 weeks in the hospital recovering from my burns. I had to give up playing guitar for over 2 years until I felt comfortable gripping the guitar again. I still get the "willies" when I talk about it, which isn't very often.

My life didn't flash before my eyes, but all I remember was the echo of the explosion in the distance as I regained consciousness, which was a couple seconds laters. Don't ask me how I survived, I don't know how I did. :eek:

[J.B.]

Almonds


I've been in six serious car accidents but there's one that still amazes me to this day.
It's winter and I'm driving to town with a buddy and his girlfriend. This guy's driving like a total @$$hole doing 90km in a 50 on ice covered roads. Naturally I'm scared sh!tless bitchin him out the whole way but I eventually stopped because he's one of those guy's that will only go faster if you say something about it. So we get to town and do whatever and we start heading back. When we got back to the same road I was complaning about( middle of nowhere) I had actually cooled off a bit.... and I'm having a smoke ..... listening to the tunes...... and then the trucks back end swung out and we were heading straight for some rocks!!!!!! I forgot to mention this earlier..... the truck had no seatbelts because his bull mastif chewed them out.... anyway the truck rolled end for end 2 times and on it's side 3 times. After the first roll on its side I remember seeing his girlfriend fly out the back window into the box and then on the road......and when it stopped I went out ( hit my head too many times). The girlfriend woke me up and pulled me out as the truck lit on fire. Dude is still in the truck and all of a sudden he jumps out of the smoke like a minute later with a smile on his face???? He seemed to think it was pretty funny. I would have pounded him if I was able but I was pretty F'd up. His old lady was giving it to him good though.
Too bad it's not cool to drive safe! I've been real lucky to survive 6 accidents but I know 4 friends to date that haven't. Makes you think about giving you teenagers your car keys!!!!

J.B.