Have any of you had an experience where you thought "time's up"?

[BeachBaby]

I just had my weekly phone call with my girlfriend. We got talking about work, when she mentioned how happy she was that I was no longer working for the law firm that I used to work for. Her reason?

I worked for a firm that had me regularly heading over to Rutger's Law Library in Camden, NJ, to do research. For those of you who don't know, Camden, NJ is one of the most dangerous cities in the US. It has been in "competition" for top spot with Gary, Indiana, and Detroit, Michigan, for years - and won the title once :eyes: . (Thankfully, I have since moved, and changed to a different firm in a different county. I'm not anywhere near there now.)

Rutger's Law Library is usually pretty well-covered by a police presence, to keep an eye out for attorneys and law students who are arriving and leaving - to make sure they are safe (the parking lot is a ways away from the library). On March 28, 2006, I came out of the library....and I had a ritual of standing on the top step, making sure there was a cruiser around, having my keys in my hand, and then VERY QUICKLY walking to my car. It was just turning dusk outside, but I could still see clearly. No cruiser - but I couldn't see anybody else, either. My car was in the front of the lot, so I just went for it.

I got so far as to put my key in the lock, when I felt it. A prick. It was the point of a knife. He grabbed me by my ponytail, got me to my knees, ripped my shoulder bag from my shoulder.....and then I heard the siren. He took off. I only saw the side and back of him. He never said a word to me.

For one brief moment, I thought that was it. I thought my time was up. Kinda makes a person look at life alot differently after an experience like that.

Have any of you had an experience like this, that lends a whole new perspective to your life, after the fact?

[redqueen]

1. Many times,

and far too early in life.

[BeachBaby]

7. Well you know what they say.....

"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger". I imagine that there is some truth to that. :)

[TZ]

2. Mmm not quite like that....

But once I was driving on a country road late at night in my little Saturn Sedan when all of a sudden I saw a deer in the middle of the road literally right in front of me..I slammed on the brakes and there was definitely a bit of the OMG..that deer is going through my windshield moment..I stopped literally inches from the deer. I rembember a moment when the deer and I just sat there staring at each other for a minute before it bounded away...I had to pull off the road after that because I started hyperventilating in reaction..I became very aware of how sometimes bad things can happen just like THAT! Especially behind the wheel..I am a MUCH warier driver now because of that...

[BeachBaby]

8. Ack. I know of what you speak.

It's happened way too many times, too. Shakes you up, and you never forget. :hug:

[Mollis]

20. That happened a few weeks ago to me

with a dog. Very scary.
First time I ever experienced that. I was going fast on a dark, unfamiliar road. Luckily I saw it's eyes glow and was able to slow down enough...then I swerved, which was a bad idea, apparently I could have flipped...or hit a car on the other side...but didn't hit it. Thank God...I would have been so sad if I had killed a dog.

[Iggo]

3. I was a bad guy for a lot of years.

My number shoulda been up at least a couple of times I can think of, and I was sure it WAS up a bunch more.

Also, when I was young, I used to do dumb things on bicycles and skateboards. Several times I thought "Oh shit. That's it."

[BeachBaby]

9. Maybe you're a cat.

;)

Thanks for your post. :hug:

[PassingFair]

4. I was almost abducted walking home from high school one afternoon.

Car full of men circled the block a couple of times,
then stopped.

2 of them got out of the back seat and told me I
was "going for a ride".

I SCREAMED and ran up to the nearest house and
started POUNDING on the door.

Luckily, a man answered, and let me in.
He must have been QUITE surprised at the
crazy-eyed teenager on his porch!

He drove me around afterwards, looking for
the car, but they were long gone.

[BeachBaby]

10. Jesus.

That is horrifying. I have to admit that your ending was kinda creepy, too. Did you know the man you got in the car with?

In any event.....thanks for your post. :hug:

[PassingFair]

13. I had never seen the guy before in my life!

He was a brand-new father, and his wife
(holding her baby) was the one who suggested
that he drive me around to look for the car
in case they were trying to grab another
student.

I didn't fear HIM at all!

He dropped me off at my house and I
called the police, but they only took
my info over the phone and I never
heard back from them.

[lizziegrace]

5. Just once

and it was medical. My daughter was taking horseback riding lessons when she was in middle school. Lelapin's dad was MIA (he was spending his time with someone else, I found out later) and though I'm deathly allergic to horses, I took her. I stayed out in the car while she rode in an inside arena. Enclosed spaces with horses are the worst for me.

I went in around the end of the lesson to give her teacher the check. I might have been in 2-3 minutes. I came outside, hit the cold, damp February air and started to spasm. We made it about a mile up the road when I handed Lelapin the cell and told her she had to call a squad. We were out in the middle of nowhere, but she stayed on the phone with the dispatcher until the squad arrived. My lips were blue, my nails were turning blue and I was terrified my daughter was going to watch me die on the side of the road.

I've was diagnosed with asthma when I was 2 and I never recall being so close to dying with it.

3 years later, we were at a Christmas food drive at church. A man there was wearing a Norwich Township Fire Dept shirt. I told him some of the guys there saved my life. He asked what happened and I said asthma. He told me the place, the time of night and the day that call came in. He was the driver. I told Lelapin and before I could stop her, she almost tackled him, hugging him. I asked him why at 38 years old and my first trip in a squad, why I could have sirens to go with the lights...

;)

I'm glad to be here.

[BeachBaby]

11. Can't you ever catch a break?

Good lord, woman. You, of all people, are overdue for one. :hug:

[lizziegrace]

12. If I ran off the list of things that have happened over the last 10 years

hell, the last almost 22 (having Lelapin almost killed me. I spent two days in the recovery room getting transfusions and hearing the alarms go off as my blood pressure bottomed out)...

Anyway, I try to keep looking forward because looking back makes me want to curl up in a ball and die. x(

[Aristus]

16. I'm glad you're all right...

:hug:

[lizziegrace]

17. Me too

I didn't want to die in front of my daughter out in the middle of nowhere. :(

She decided shortly after that she didn't really like to ride. Found out later she said that so I wouldn't have to take her. She LOVES riding. :( Yep, she's a keeper and she's been to hell and back too.

[XemaSab]

38. The simple facts:

I was on vacation in Fort Bragg, CA with my mom and my friend.

As soon as we got to the house, I didn't feel well.

I got progressively worse, and after two days I said "I think I need to go to the emergency room."

It was 9 at night, because going sooner is better than going later.

The ER was empty, and the Dr. took my sat reading. It was at 99.

I told the man I didn't feel so well, and he said "Well you're at 99 so there's nothing we can do."

I said, "Well, can you give me some oxygen?" and again he said there was noting they could do about that.

He gave me a few breathing treatments (like, one an hour), but they didn't help.

I laid there getting worse and worse, and finally I got really angry with the guy. By this point I had been there for six hours, and I was still feeling totally shitty. I told the guy I was feeling craptastic and could he treat me more aggressively. Really, I kept telling him that I felt HORRIBLE and he needed to do something. I told him that the oxymeter was broken and he needed to help me. I told him I needed more treatments, and he didn't buy it.

He said since I was 99% saturated there was nothing he could do. Finally he said that he thought I was suffering from ANXIETY and he gave me an Ativan.

IMMEDIATELY after he gave me the Ativan he had me admitted to spend the night since it was so late, like 3 AM.

Since the patients in the regular wards were asleep, and the ICU was empty, he had me admitted to the ICU, and he sent me down the hall from the ER to the ICU.

I was OUT before I got there.

The ICU nurses gave me CPR, and they ran an arterial blood gas check and I was at 65!!!!!!!!!!1!!111!!!

They saved my life.

Three things I have learned since then:

1) Oxygen is dirt cheap. Telling me I couldn't have an oxygen line was BEYOND stingy.

2) Ativan is contraindicated for patients in respiratory distress. It says so in BIG BOLD LETTERS in the PDR.

3) I met a woman (totally randomly, on the train from Chicago to Sacramento) who did trainings for pulse oxymeters (of all things). Her job was to go around and do trainings for doctors and other medical staff about proper usage. She said when sats are really low, the pulse oxymeter reads CO2 as oxygen.

Yeah.

I would have sued the LIVING SHIT out of Dr. Pabers, but I didn't have the energy or the motivation. x(

[XemaSab]

39. Oh, and it turned out the house I was staying at

had had a rabbit in it THE PREVIOUS WEEK.

Am I allergic to rabbits?

Hell to the yeah. x(

[1gobluedem]

6. Oh, that is so scary

I was driving to work very early on a pledge drive morning last spring, during a thunderstorm. Lightning hit a transformer about twenty feet in front of me and blew it up; the lines over the road and the pole were both blazing. If I'd been going just a little bit faster I would have been right under it. Luckily I was able to stop.

It still scares me when I think about it.

I'm glad nothing worse happened to you; what happened is terrifying enough.

[Z_I_Peevey]

14. First of all, glad you are still here!

My most recent experience involved some jagged glass on the outer window of a double storm window set, the removal of a window unit air conditioner, and my left wrist. Drove myself to the emergency room, planning first for how I'd pull over if I felt consciousness slipping away and second for how I'd convince the medical personnel it was not a suicide attempt.

Really focuses your attention, that whole expecting-to-die thing.

[Aristus]

15. Getting off that rattly old C-130 from King Fahd International Airport.

We arrived at the garrison at King Khalid Military City, and were met by a personnel sergeant from some National Guard unit. He was tired, dusty, and his uniform was frayed and tattered. Nothing of Hollywood war movies about him. I started thinking: "Man, this is REAL! I could get KILLED!"

Not even the Scud missile strike we took a week or so later ground it in to me as thoroughly as that dispiriting welcome to Saudi Arabia that I could get killed. And I was only 22. That was scary.

[Redstone]

18. Three major times. One at 14, with a blood disease, one at 19, falling off a helicopter

and getting shot, and one at 24 when I blew out an aneurism in my gut (luckily, I was in the hospital driveway when it happened).

Did any of them give me a new perspective? Not really, though they should have. I've been pretty oblivious all of my life.

Redstone

Oops, make that four times: I just remembered about when the guy tried to mug me in Philadelphia, and stabbed me in the thigh with what turned out to be a dirty knife...several surgeries followed to clean out the infection. I got lucky then, too; there was an empty booze bottle right at my feet and I brained the son of a bitch with it. He dropped like a stone (I still don't know if I killed him or not) so I was able to get to my car and drive to a suburban hospital to get my leg taken care of, with no police intervention.

[Bucky]

28. "off"?

Seems to me that being on a helicopter would be a lot more dangerous

[lost-in-nj]

19. Coming home from North Carolina we were on

95 late at night and had to stop for gas. I mean about 2am.

I went in to pay for the gas and get some coffee and stuff so we could stay awake.
My ex, 2 kids and mom were in the van and I went in the store.
There was young woman around 20 or so working the register. I was filling the coffee cup and 3 men walked in. 2 walked around the store the other stood right in front of the door... I went and paid with a CC so they wouldn't see if I had money or not and as I was paying I looked into the parking lot and I thought that would be the last time I saw my family. the 2 men walking around just kinda stopped and faced the cashier. I took my stuff, told myself I am going to at least try to get out of here
and proceeded to the door. The guy at the door didn't move so I went under his arm and walked out praying he didn't have a gun.
I told my ex to drive to the nearest phone booth so we could call the police (no cell back then).
I hope nothing happened to the girl
to this day I don't know if we should have stayed or not.

but I thought that was my last night on earth....

:hi: glad your ok....... that must have been terrifying

lost

[PaddyBlueEyes]

21. 9/11/01

The world collapsed around me. I laid there and waited to die.

[lizziegrace]

22. I'm glad you're still here

:hug:

[PaddyBlueEyes]

23. Thanks LG

but sometimes Im not.

[lizziegrace]

24. I know...

sometimes there just aren't any answers. It just is...

[av8rdave]

25. Just recently

it looked like there was a strong possibility I only had a few months to maybe a year and a half left. Thankfully, it turned out to be a false alarm. Does put a whole new spin on life in general!

It made me realize that the time to do the things you want to do is now. No more waiting until "the time is right."

I'm glad to hear you got out of your situation in one piece!

[Blue_Tires]

26. i almost drowned once...

but i guess it feels a lot different when you think it's at the hands of another person

[Bucky]

27. I had a cancer scare once

I was dating this girl and she found out I was flirting with her older sister. Trust me, you do NOT want to piss off a Cancer.

[KitchenWitch]

30. I know you meant this to be funny

But I am a cancer survivor, and I just found out that two of my family members have cancer yesterday. In both cases, it looks to be fairly advanced with a poor prognosis.

Pardon me for not laughing.

[Bucky]

31. I'm sorry to hear that. But for the record...

I was absolutely not making fun of cancer. If you read my post for what it is, I'm sure you'll see that.

But more importantly, you have my sympathy for what your family is going thru.

[KitchenWitch]

32. I know you were not making fun of cancer, the disease

But I needed to let you know that I was not amused either way.

[Bucky]

33. How come?

Honestly, from your post I got the impression you were miffed at me. I'm just curious at this point, cause it seemed like such an innocuous pun on my part.

[KitchenWitch]

35. I guess because cancer is not a joke

[Bucky]

36. Agreed

Which is probably why I didn't joke about cancer.

Your people are in my prayers.

[flvegan]

29. Twice.

Both were pre-impact instances in car accidents, you know when you realize that impact is going to happen.

According to everyone (cops, etc) I wasn't supposed to live through either one. I'm thankful every day that it was seen fit that I did so.

I'm glad that siren did the job for you.

[DarkTirade]

34. I've had two, but I was too young to really appreciate the first one.

First time involved falling in a pool when I was too young to know how to swim. I just sank right to the bottom. I remember looking around, being rather curious. I don't remember anything after that, but I'm told when the lifeguard pulled me out I was spluttering and crying.

Second time was on my way to Senior Prom. My ex was driving. It was raining so hard that it was impossible to see more than ten feet in front of us. We were on the highway. Suddenly three or four cars merged onto the highway driving ridiculously slow, even considering the weather in front of us, not a single one of which had lights on. So we didn't see them until it was too late to hit the brakes. Long story short (too late, I know), we ended up spinning out across three lanes of traffic on a road too slick for the other cars to stop easily, and with their visibility so impaired that it was unlikely that they'd see us in time anyway.

[FedUpWithIt All]

37. Yes. There is a point where you accept it almost. It is an interesting thing. n/t

[Lil Missy]

40. Yes, but not consciously.

I was in Intensive Care and unconcious for 4 days. Family was called in; I was not expected to make it.

Took me a couple weeks to walk again, and almost a year to eat.

[Tommy_J]

41. Its not too uncommon with motorcyclists

And yes it adjusts your life's perspectives

[DFW]

42. Two that come to mind:

First--about 20 years ago, Sabena still had commuter flights between Brussels and Düsseldorf, and I took them a lot.
they used really tiny planes. One of our guys, also from TX, was over assisting me on a job, and remarked that he
had never flown in a mosquito before. One day, I was on the first flight over from Düsseldorf to Brussels, and it
was very windy with violent gusts. Just prior to landing, a huge gust came up and flipped the whole plane 90° so
that the wings were vertical to the ground. I said, that's it, bye bye birdie. The Belgian pilot was an ace, luckily,
and at the last second managed to turn the plane onto a training strip that lay at a 90° angle to the main landing
strip. We all gave him a round of applause. ALL of our faces were still white.

Second--5 years ago, while in a mountainous suburb of Florence (Fiesole in case you know the area), I felt a twinge
in my shoulder while climbing a hill. As my mom had high cholesterol, and I knew that it might be a symptom of heart
trouble, I went to see a cardiologist just on a hunch. He said I might something, and could I come back in 2 days for
a stree-echo test. I said sure. Two days later I went in for the stress-echo test. Shortly into it, he stopped it,
told me to get my shirt back on and into his office please. I said OK, and thought uh-oh. He said he would call up
to the Krupp Klinik in Essen for me to get immediate admittance. I said wow, that serious? He said yes. I said, OK, I
was free as of the following Monday. He said no, you're not. Go now. Not Monday, not tomorrow, NOW. I did. I first
wrote out checks to my wife and daughters to empty out my account in case I didn't come back, and off I went, didn't
pass go or collect two hundred euros. They met me at the door and put me in a wheelchair to take me to my room. I said,
hey, I feel OK, I don't need this. The guy looked at the chart the cardiologist had sent up, and said, oh yes you do,
so sit down. I sat down.

The head guy at the Krupp Klinik took me the following morning, did the angiogram and immediately stuck stents into
two of my coronary arteries that were 99% blocked. I have low (115/75) blood pressure, so I had felt no chest pains to
speak of. The surgeon asked what in the world possessed me to seek out a cardiologist if I felt no bad chest pain.
I explained that my mom had high cholesterol, and I felt these twinges in my shoulder, and that I had read that they
could be symptoms of heart trouble. He said, well you just saved your own life. He showed me the "before" and "after"
images from the monitor. I had two arteries 99% blocked, and was a fatal coronary just waiting to happen. He called
me the luckiest man in Europe that day. I should have been brought in horizontal, and not necessarily breathing.

They summoned my wife and had us all meet with a dietician the next day, and I was told the new rules. I was given
the cardiologist's admonition: if it tastes good, spit it out. No more red meat, eggs, cheese ( :cry: ), ice cream,
shellfish, butter or coconuts. Plus, no more grapefruit, as it contains enzymes that block the effects of the statin
I now have to take forever. I do miss all that stuff, but my wife is a brilliant chef (along with brilliant in general),
and so I survive today, and, as of my last checkup a week ago, in good shape. April 29, 2004 is my second birthday.

[fizzgig]

43. only once where it seemed a real possiblity

i've had some horrific panic attacks where i've been convinced that i was going to die, but my logical brain knew it wasn't true.

the one time was about 18 months ago. i had gone out for drinks with my coworkers one night and, after i got home, i just came apart and the persistent passive thoughts of suicide became very real. i knew that if i did not call someone right away, i would make an attempt. i called my ex and, thank the gods, he answered. he came over and found me half naked on the floor in a fetal position. he took me to the er and i spent three days in the psych hospital.

our relationship had been a very messy one, but i'm so grateful that he was there for me that night.