Near Death Experiences

[LLucast80]

When I was 22, I was riding my Honda 450 to work. A car changed lanes before he was past me. I remember a green fender coming at my handlebar, the world upside down, and coming to a stop with the bike on my foot. I had skin grafting on my foot, and some bone chips in my elbow, and recovered pretty well. When I saw my helmet, the whole top was mush. Now, many years later, I have lots of creaky joints.

When I was 45, I had a heart stress test. I passed the test with no problem and headed home. A mile away, I had all the classic symptoms: crushing chest, pain running down my arm, etc. I pulled over and called 911. After a couple hours in the cath lab, while trying to clear a blockage, they ruptured an artery. They ran down the halls to the OR, and put me out before we were even in the OR. That night, I was floating near the ceiling and looking down at my body. The body started to rise toward a bright tunnel. It was beautiful and welcoming, but I decided I wasn't ready, so I willed the body back down. The following week, when I woke up from a coma, I learned that the doc had pronounced me dead, so an intern was practicing with the paddles when my heart started barely beating. For the next 20 years, on a good day, I could walk about 1,000 feet. Then five years ago, I received a heart transplant an am now doing pretty well.

 

[Gonzo1970]

No better satisfaction than living to tell the tale.

Definitely.

Only few I have aren't actually Wrecks or Crashes... they're more of "Holy crap, I lived thru that?"

#1: Deer Creek Indiana to Buckeye Lake Ohio sometime in the 80's with a friend's cherry 1978 Cutlass - Grateful Dead show to Grateful Dead show - Need I say more? What a long, strange trip..."The Vial" leaked in my pocket, and after starting to feel "funky" I pulled over and to this day, I can't tell you Exactly where I was except it was on I-70 somewhere. Spent over 50 hours in a corn field with the car parked at a BP station... talking to corn.. Missed the Buckeye Lake show. Surprised I survived.

#2: 1972 Cutlass Supreme, 350 Rocket removed, 455 Rocket Inserted.. 16 years old.. Surprised I survived.

#3: 1978 Trans Am, 400 bored 30 over, full roller.. Bullet-Proof TH350 (and it was, I beat the tar out of that thing), 3.73 posi... beast of a toy in my mid 20's to early 30's while I was an idiot. Surprised I survived.

#4: 2000 Trans Am, WS-6 Ram Air, Hurst 6 Speed.. stock.. couldn't get another option on it. Traded the 78 for it. Never should have done that, but 35-40, doing 140 just giggling... Zero F's given. Surprised I survived. (And, I can say with all honesty, I only got pulled over once in that 2000 T/A for doing 117. Got a ticket for 85 in a 70 because the cop was young and loved the car.. I swear I woulda carded him for a beer.

-Gonz

 

[Gonzo1970]

I'm the one who is living my life, there is no higher power who plans anything. If there was I would be asking why are there innocent children dying all the time

Or the plethora of other questions.. "If you so loved the world, how could you ~insert unfairness here~"

Wrecks? Not so much. Unfairness? Tons.

-Gonz

 

[Gonzo1970]

When I was 22, I was riding my Honda 450 to work. A car changed lanes before he was past me. I remember a green fender coming at my handlebar, the world upside down, and coming to a stop with the bike on my foot. I had skin grafting on my foot, and some bone chips in my elbow, and recovered pretty well. When I saw my helmet, the whole top was mush. Now, many years later, I have lots of creaky joints.

When I was 45, I had a heart stress test. I passed the test with no problem and headed home. A mile away, I had all the classic symptoms: crushing chest, pain running down my arm, etc. I pulled over and called 911. After a couple hours in the cath lab, while trying to clear a blockage, they ruptured an artery. They ran down the halls to the OR, and put me out before we were even in the OR. That night, I was floating near the ceiling and looking down at my body. The body started to rise toward a bright tunnel. It was beautiful and welcoming, but I decided I wasn't ready, so I willed the body back down. The following week, when I woke up from a coma, I learned that the doc had pronounced me dead, so an intern was practicing with the paddles when my heart started barely beating. For the next 20 years, on a good day, I could walk about 1,000 feet. Then five years ago, I received a heart transplant an am now doing pretty well.

WOW... Having just recently when thru a MI, that's pretty crazy.

Mine was not painful at all. It was more of an annoyance. I'd had worse heartburn.

Turns out, Circumflex was 100% - That doesn't show up on an EKG, by the way... The only tell-tale was 180/120 BP.

The local hospital parked me in the empty ER for 6 hours, claiming they needed to free up a room. After that period of time, they walked me back to the ER and the damn thing was 80% empty.
I was PISSED... Then they say me in the ER Room for another hour..

I left. Never saw a doctor.. just techs that took my BP and EKG.

The next morning, it felt worse, so we drove to the other end of town to a decent hospital, and I ended up having the heart attack in the triage room.

Best place to have one, I guess... Trops only got to 1.5 because they were on it immediately.


Nitro headaches suck.
Better than pushing up daises.

Don't mess with chests, boys... unless its a females chest...

-Gonz

 

[blackonblack]

Interesting thread.

I was in a MVA with a drunk driver in 2003.

Police reports say he was traveling between 77-86mph when he t-boned us while running a red light through an intersection.

The drunk driver lived, though his passenger was ejected so far from the vehicle the police thought he was a pedestrian that had been struck.

Two people in our car died on impact, another after being airlifted to the hospital.

Myself and another were lucky enough to survive. I spent 3.5 weeks in the hospital, and had bone breaks in every limb of my body. Femur, ankle, radius, ulna, clavicle, scapula, two ribs, and my pelvis was fractured in 5 places. I am truly blessed and lucky to be alive. I made a full recovery.

The driver was a 18 year old immigrant with no drivers license, no insurance.

Usually the drunk driver gets off with a light sentence. Not this time.He blew a .16. He got 66 years, no parole.

Life is a fragile thing. It's easy to forget that.

 

[KCP]

doing 140 just giggling... Zero F's given. Surprised I survived.
-Gonz

Depends on the circumstances, I guess. I live in a country where I can do 200mph legally just 2 minutes from my home on the Autobahn and I can confess, a '18 C7 Grand Sport does pull a solid 190mph on a clear sunday morning. Guess how I know.........