What's the closest you've been to death?

I guess I ask this because I have had multiple NDEs in my life. Lately when I am on a high roof with no traction, I feel like jumping onto my head for a fast kill. But I wouldn't because I love my wiife and she would be devastated. Plus I have no life insurance for her.

As far as my close calls, here they are:

When I was younger I had my stomach pumped for the only time. Drank all the liqour in town it seemed. Anyways, my buddies drove me to the hospital in the bed of my bro's truck. I had pissed myself, then was puking blood, then I passed out. When they drew my blood, I had a 0.52 BAC. The nurse was shocked when I woke up. The left me in the hallway to die probably. She told me in her eight years, no oone ever woke up from their coma after a 0.45. I was emboldened so i ripped the cathater out of my stick and tried to walk out to smoke a cigarette. She didn't like that and stopped me. I was way to wobbly and I went back to my gurney like a whipped pup.

A few years later I was working on a roof and I had just started my new job. There was a beehive inside the eaves of this house. They were buzzing in and out and I didn't want to get stung, but I was equipped for wasps and hornets. I went back to truck and grabbed my spray. Come to find out you don't do that to a beehive you can't see. I sprayed and a cloud came out. Queen Bee sent pheromones out to kill. It was freaky as hell but I calmy walked across the roof to my ladder. All the while I was getting stung to crap, I made it down my ladder and proceded to run a block. They followed and I got stung about a hundred times. EMS came and I went to the hospital. I was picking bees out of my beard for days. I even had to get an epinephrine shot in my butt a couple days later because I was puking up yellow bile non-stop. To this day, I may be fatally allergic to bees or built up and incredible tolerance according to the docs.

That's all I got as far as being clinically ND. What has ATS chit-chat got?

a reply to: harvestdog

I have one but don't have time to tell the story right now. Will post again later. Good idea for a thread!

I've had a gun pointed at my head. When the trigger was pulled it just went "click."
That was pretty damn close.

a reply to: skunkape23

That was divine intervention? Holy crap, I've had Mexican Mafia pull guns on me, but never tried to shoot me. My sister tells me the same story. Almost, unless you want to elaborate. She says she was sleeping in her bed in an apartment she shared with her best friend. She woke up to see her friend's boyfriend over her with a gun in her face. I can't rember if he pulled the trigger or not.

a reply to: harvestdog

Mad heat stroke at a Cub Scout camp when I was a nipper saw me in febrile convulsions, and I slept for three days.

Then when I was at high school... Knives drawn on me, shot at, quite a lot of blunt force trauma to the skull... Nothing since adulthood really. I guess the hair and beard and general appearance of "I might just tear off your face and eat it", have reduced the likelihood of my being crossed, which shows that on a primal level at least, intelligence is rife, rather than rare.

On the wrong end of an M60 machine gun! 78 rounds later still here IRA lol couldn't hit a barn door

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Thank you Mr. Wide-Eyes for the compliment. Please come back and share your story. I bet it's great.

a reply to: redchad

How close were they hitting? Were you behind a berm? I'm sorry, I'm a little ignorant of the IRA even though I'm Irish blood and you'd probably hate me.

When I was a baby.
Born 28 weekss and spent six months iin a incubator.
My family was told I would not likely live but I said nope and did.

No near death experiences myself, knock on wood. I play life very safe. But I have come close to killing a few other people accidentally before. Usually in the car. One time I was going down a city street at 40mph (speed limit was exactly 40mph). I see a basketball bouncing into the street and start slowing down. I make eye contact with the kids about 10-12 years old and think, naw they wouldn't be stupid to still run after their ball after seeing me coming, so I don't stop completely. Nevertheless, going about 30 now, they decide to run right out in front of me. In the process now of slamming on my brakes, I beep my horn. After I did that, and let them finish getting their ball, they flip the bird at me.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Mr. TrueBrit, It seems you have the same force field as me. ATM, I've only got the goat, but even that looks mean. I never got brutalized by my people as much as nature. Alcohol and bees are a recipe.

a reply to: boymonkey74

Hell yeah, tough baby. Was it an incubator like what I have for my chicken eggs? No windows, totally dark? I don't know if I could've stood that!

I was 18-19 mos old, had only been walking and climbing a couple months, when i decided to climb the tailgate of a trailer that was in the driveway. It was the kind that was made out of a pick-up bed. Anyway....when i pulled myself up the gate when i found out that the latch wasn't latched completely, resulting in the gate slamming me to the cement driveway, where the back of my head hit the edge. Busted my head open like a grapefruit. My foot caught in the hinge of the tailgate, resulting in a broken leg also. So at 18 months old...in the ER with a smashed in head and broken leg.

This is my earliest memory.

Another time, when i was about 6 yrs old, i got too close to an Appaloosa mare that was nursing her foal. She nipped at me, catching me in my neck. Her bite pulled the flesh away, exposing my carotid artery. Thankfully there was enough flesh hanging that my step-mother was able to sew me up. She was a trauma nurse during the Korean War.

Then there was the time i passed out at work, only to wake up in the coma ward 3 days later.. Turns out that i had heat stroke, and was severely dehydrated. The doctors told me that they had to use 7 bags of saline in their quest to revive me. Because of this incident, i now have difficulties functioning in temperatures over 85*F

I try to take things easy these days.

I am in no hurry to temp death a 4th time.

a reply to: WP4YT

Yep, and if you had hit them you would be at fault! NDE for them and they didn't even realize it. SMH. I wouldn't be surprised to see an eulogy soon for them if the dart out in front of cars.

a reply to: harvestdog

See nature, by comparison to mankind, has been kind to me, such that she is my refuge, the bosom to which I have fled for succour in times of great hardship. I spent some time living outdoors during my early adulthood, and never once did her many minions scorn me, or attack me. Her greatest excesses of fury have never once given me cause for fear, because she is not malicious. Mankind however, is a raging (word I cannot repeat on this website). Give me the most awful storm, the most violent snows, the least hospitable winds though and I will flourish.

I am winters child, and nature therefore holds no fear for me. Although... That may be because I am more part of the animal Kingdom, than most people I know lol!

Wow. Lets see...

Almost drown more than once, hit by a drunk driver while parked and he was going 55 or more, a few pretty serious car wrecks as drivet or passenger, been in more than one tornado, have had a gun drawn on me twice ... I am sure there is more.

But what I have learned is, dont fear death, live life. It is too short to just hide in the basement scared.

My time will come when it is time.

When I was still a teenager I fell asleep at the wheel and drove my car over a small cliff...

Woke up airborne on the way down.

Incredibly I was not injured and neither was my dog who was also in the car.

Was homeless at the time and had just gotten a job working the night shift.

This happened in Carbon Canyon, CA in the 70's BTW.

a reply to: occrest

When I was less than two years old, I was running around a park with sand under the swings. There was sand on the walkway. I came running, slipped and busted my head on the corner of one of those metal benches. Still have a scar on mt eyebrow and I was a toddler when I got it.

a reply to: Murgatroid

Well that seems semi-tame. How high was the cliff and were you and the pooch strapped in?

a reply to: harvestdog we were at the time manning a cordon protecting the fire service who were putting out a house fire. Only the fire had been lit to lure us out to ambush us which they did. I was stood next to a soft armoured Land Rover when they opened fire funny coz I remember watching the tracers spinning of the fence behind me when the penny dropped as I did under the Land Rover lol.as for the Irish I love them well most of them been to Southern Ireland since, great people great country shouldn't let a few religious fanatics spoil everything. Forgot to add I've got Irish blood lol