JCC What's the Closest You've Ever Come to Death?

I flew out of Seward Alaska in a single engine plane. The pilot flew into some clouds and panicked because he forgot where the cliffs were.

 

Once in downtown London, I stepped out into the street looking to my left because, yeah, I'm American. No cars. In mid-lane I looked to my right and saw a phalanx of cars speeding toward me in the lane I was in! Stupid, man, stupid! I ran back to the curb and felt the wind and heat of the vehicles as they sped past, inches from destroying me.

Once in a flooded creek in central Texas I tried to save my large friend from drowning, and almost got pulled under myself. I let him go and he floated to the opposite shore, but the horrified feeling of struggling helplessly against an unrelenting rush of super-powerful water has never left me.

I've actually had several water-related near-drownings. Once inner-tubing down the Guadalupe River, a short but potent waterfall rolled me over and pummeled me over and over again, keeping me submerged until I came up at the last possible instant to gasp for breath. And once in San Marcos, I leapt off a rope-swing from a tree overhanging a 40' waterfall, and landed flat on my back on the surface of the water! I was stunned/paralyzed for a good minute while I sank underwater and struggled to retain consciousness. Terrifying.

I've had multiple insulin reactions and survived only by the intervention of my lovely wife. Once, years ago while still in high school, I had a severe insulin reaction (basically a dream state with uncoordinated muscles and no reasoning ability) while driving, and crashed into my elementary school announcement sign, splitting the timber posts in half; the sign fell over and smashed into the windshield of my car, showering me with glass. Mr. Griffin, my former elementary PE teacher, got me out and fed me orange juice till I recovered from the reaction. No other injuries, amazingly. I could have crashed into another car or a pedestrian just as easily. I've actually had several of these near-catastrophic scrapes related to insulin reactions. But that's enough for now.

 

Yep. This is one reason I feel incredibly lucky to be married. My wife has literally saved me from coma and probable death more times than I care to remember. Before I changed my insulin doses a few years ago, I routinely had bad middle-of-the-night reactions that I would have been powerless to stop -- had it not been for my attentive and perceptive lady person. Given the danger inherent in taking this life-saving medication, I feel compelled to suggest that you should at least have a roommate who knows what to do when your sugar drops!

 

I was almost hit a couple of times by cars because I ran out into the road when I was a small child.

I almost drowned when I was around seven or eight (I don't remember my exact age) I didn't know how to swim so I was a flotation device that was open in the back. I was a little too heavy for it and floated to the opposite side of the river and either as I was trying to encourage the current to take me back or something I fell out/off. I remember crying for help and I was rescued either by one of my older sisters or a woman that happened to be at the river and heard my mother screaming that her child was drowning or saw me fall and go under.

These two I didn't realize until much later how dangerous my actions were.

When I was about ten or eleven for Memorial Day my family went to a series of small waterfalls for lunch and to get our feet wet in the fresh mountain water. I got angry with my younger brother because he had done something with my can of Root Beer than took the last can so in childish fury I decided that I was going to climb the Falls by not using the stairs and pathways but to sort of free climb through the woods. at the third waterfall I debated jumping across the two rocks at its mouth to get to the other side when two couples on the opposite side came across the same way I was debating. The first young man and woman made it across safely but the second girl slipped and almost fell I'm not sure how far but it was more than ten feet to the pool below. Her friends managed to grab her arms so she didn't fall but that changed my mind about crossing there.

Then when I was fifteen or so about November I decided to take the family dog for a walk and one of my younger siblings (I don't remember which one) we started in the woods near the house and followed a stream up the hill to a culvert which we followed across the road and through some more trees to some small waterfalls. I was walking on the ice and my feet broke through the ice I think three times, my left foot went through ice twice and my right foot once. It didn't occur to me until later that we were VERY lucky the ice didn't completely break on us.

I sometimes struggle with impulses that aren't safe for me and others.

Spoiler

The only time though when I was afraid I was going to die was when I took too many pills in a fit of anger and had to drink liquid charcoal to stop my system from absorbing them. I didn't want to die and was afraid I would

 

Yikes! Glad you're still with us, Misty... and everyone! This whole thread has been a revelation of the genuine humanity hiding behind funny usernames.

 

Sounds expensive! Is that an internal device that's implanted surgically?