Redartz: This week's two questions are sort of flip flops of each other. You may ask; whatever do you mean? Well, rather than explain, let's proceed and you shall see..
1. Most of us here have at least several decades of activity under our expanding belts. Some of us a bit more so. In the course of those decades, we have probably had a few 'close shaves', that is, situations in which we managed to escape a fate which would have prevented us from adding any more years to our tally. Or, at least, we avoided a most unpleasant consequence. Our first question therefore is:
Have you had a 'close shave' that you'd care to share?
My 'close shave' tale took place in my Senior year of high school. I've notoriously always had a rather high threshold of pain, which is sometimes good; sometimes a problem. In this case it was the latter. I'd had stomachaches for a couple days, and even stayed home from school from the affliction. I didn't think anything of it, but my parents were getting concerned that I wasn't improving. So they hauled me off to the Emergency Room for a check, wherein the doctor determined that my appendix was just about to burst. Before I could even ask any questions, I was loaded onto a gurney and sped down the hospital corridor towards the Operating Room. But what actually shook me up- as we were heading into the OR, we passed a big Police Officer standing in the hallway. As I passed he looked down at me, took off his hat and said, "Good luck, son". Now I started to worry. Needlessly, as it turned out. The surgeon later told me he was afraid I'd rupture as he was removing the appendix, but it didn't happen, and a week later I was back home recuperating.
2. The flip side of that question asks :
Have you come close to a great experience, accomplishment or acquisition, but juuuuust missed out on it for one reason or another?
My tale: Not a huge miss, in the big scheme of things, but a situation where I still kick myself a bit. A couple years ago I stopped at a local garage sale (it was a Saturday morning, and I was on my way to work). Always on the lookout for some comics, I had noticed this particular sale had advertised having them. And yes, they had some; mostly a bunch of forgettable 90's miscellany. However, the fellow did offer one small box. He asked thirty dollars for it; upon opening it I was faced with a small stack of various comics from the 1950's; mostly humor, Disney, and kid's books. But there were also several vintage horror books, and the thing was, all these books were in pretty nice condition. Problem was, I didn't have the money on me, and I was running late to get to work. So I passed on the box, and left. But it didn't take me long to regret not getting that box. By lunchtime I went back, swung by the bank machine and crossed my fingers. Sadly, the box and it's promising contents were gone. It was frustrating then, and more so now that those vintage horror and humor books are drawing much greater collector interest than they once did. Oh well.....
There's my stories. What are yours?
15 comments:
Red, my father had a close shave with appendicitis much like you described. It happened before I was born but apparently he too had an emergency operation just in time. As for myself, this wasn't really a close shave but it still makes me shudder whenever I think about it - when I was about ten I was walking home after visiting the shop in my village when a car pulled up and the driver offered me a ride home. I'd never seen the driver before but I accepted the ride - luckily for me he was just a genuine friendly guy but what if he'd been something much worse? Whenever I think of that incident I'm appalled at my own stupidity!
I probably had some brushes with death that I wasn't aware of back in the first half of the 1990s, when I was often working with foreign reporters/TV news crews who were covering the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, but one real close call was in January 2008: back then I was still working for Croatian Radio on the weekends, which at the time entailed doing an 8 a.m. live news bulletin among other things. That meant I had to get up at about 6:30 and on that particular morning some freezing rain had slicked up the roads. Even though the snow plows had already passed and salted the roads, I hit a patch of ice and my car swerved out of control, hit the curb and flipped over. And ... I was perfectly fine. My sole injury was a small cut on one of my fingers from broken glass when I crawled out of the wreckage. The car, though, was totaled - but its safety features did their job, apparently.
Not sure about the near miss, but I was in a car roll-over back in my early twenties; me and two other guys basically walked away with no real injuries, so it definitely could've been a lot worse.
My close shave that's in keeping with the tone of the post is something I've probably touched on here or on the BABs group in the past--- but it's still the memorable one, so. . . .
There's a hugely long shaggy-dog story about how I was attacked by a 350 pound sow the summer after my Junior year of high school-- I'll leave most of that under the tarp for now. The immediate result was that I was driven to the emergency room by my co-worker with two 3/4" diameter holes in my right forearm that went pretty much to the bone (the sow's bottom two tusk-teeth), but for some odd reason hardly bled at all. The ANCIENT old doctor that was on-duty in the ER that day was clearly of the "ol' country doc" persuasion. Since it wasn't bleeding, he figured no big deal-- sprayed the two big holes with, literally, aerosol Bactine, and sewed them both shut. Let me point out here that pig-mouths are just about as filthy as animal mouths can get. It doesn't bother them.
The long muscles in my forearm were heavily traumatized from the attack, and my whole hand & wrist curled under from it. So I wasn't able to use it-- just kept it tucked close to my body and went home to recuperate. Now-- I was at home alone right then, my Mom & Sisters had gone off on a vacation trip to southern relatives for a couple of weeks. I was getting along okay, though, not really paying attention to my own condition. About two days later, I was trying to mow the yard with one arm-- and one of our neighbors walked by and asked what was wrong. She looked extremely concerned the closer she got. Turns out she was a former nurse, and nearly went into a panic when I gave her the run-down. "Have you LOOKED at your arm today??" I mean, yes and no-- I was 17 and utterly clue-free about LIFE. I looked down with a more critical eye and realized that my arm had swollen to nearly twice its size, was dark yellow, and that the swelling had traveled 'way up past my elbow-- almost past my bicep. "You've got to get to the hospital RIGHT NOW!! GO!! OR LET ME TAKE YOU!!!" I assured her, no, I could drive myself, and I'd go right now, but I'm sure it's nothing, etc. She stood there, though, until she saw me drive away-- obviously wanting to make sure.
The hospital was in the next town, about 6 miles away. I came strolling in. . . and the (different) doctor in the ER about had a cow when he saw my arm. Immediately opened the wounds, pumped antibiotics into me, used warm packs to get the wounds to drain--- all before I'd been admitted. I ended up spending about a week there in a private room. And I was told that if I'd been even an hour later, that tsunami of infection would have gotten my lymph nodes and likely killed me. . . and even if it didn't kill me, I probably would have lost my arm as a result. An hour. And I hadn't even noticed how badly it was doing until my neighbor happened to pass by and ask about it. Geeeeze. . .
HB
When I was a CH-47 pilot in Germany in the 80s, it's fair to say I was a few seconds from obliteration a few times, lol. But though I was scared from these events, the feeling passed soon enough and I also treated them as learning experiences.
I learned to fear via proxy. My good friend crashed his OH-58 into a hill outside Stuttgart one day in 1988. I was quite shocked emotionally and I then realized I was not immortal.
Regarding question two, I have many regrets which I've tried to just forget about. "Excelsior" is what I tell myself.
Good questions Red! Nice.
Colin- your trust of strangers back then was probably not uncommon. I recall being cautioned about such things as a child, but not nearly to the extent one sees today. Glad your driver was a decent fellow...
Edo- oh man, that freezing rain is treacherous. Driving in such conditions is no pleasure at all. It's shocking how quickly a car can fly out of control.
HB- wow, close call indeed! Funny how in youth we often feel nearly invulnerable. So did your Mom panic when she heard that you'd been hospitalized?
Charlie- I'd bet your time in service really did provide some hair raising moments. And losing a friend so young is crushing. As you noted, a harsh reminder of mortality.
And you have a great attitude regarding those 'near misses'. They make entertaining stories, but its better to focus on the positives that one has accomplished.
I've had a couple of close calls at work....I work on the highway and occasionally have to work on the road. Over nearly 34 years, I've had some near misses on the road, once narrowly missing being hit by an out of control car by jumping on a flat bed trailer (probably couldn't make that jump now) and several other scary events with distracted/sleeping drivers. I'm sure there have been others that I probably didn't notice.
Healthwise, I was having some issues about ten years ago that I attributed to "getting older." Went to the eye doctor (blurred vision was one of them) and he asked me how long I'd had diabetes. I had gone to the doctor with what I thought was a kidney issue the day before and had done a urine sample. When I left the eye doctor, I got a call saying that my blood sugar was over 600. The doctors said that was a close call and fortunately, I got it under control pretty quickly.
Graham- highway workers sure earn their pay. Glad you have good reflexes! And also glad your sugars are better. 600; wow. Diabetes can sneak up on you, I trust all our community here get their annual physicals...
Cripes-- oooookay Graham, it looks like yer motivating us to get caught up on our maintenance physicals. (Rassafratchit. . . ) Did your vision improve as you got your blood sugar under control? Or was that an unrelated symptom?
Man, there's nothing quite as unnerving as that "How long have you had [blank]?" question from a medical professional, when you had no clue you had [blank] in the first place. Or its very close brother- (from my own experience):
"What medication are you on for your arthritis?" (Upon results of an MRI for a meniscus tear two years ago--). Me: "Wait--- I have arthritis?"
And EVERY flippin' time I have my BP checked: Nurse/Doctor/Tech: (With subdued alarm)- "Oh. Soooo what medications *note the plural* are you on for your blood pressure?" Me: None. Not any. Nurse/doctor/tech: "You need to see a cardiologist right away." Me: I've seen one. He says my heart is in great shape, and therefore my always-high BP doesn't need to be managed with medication. N/D/T (not listening to a word I've said): "Mm-hm, well we STRONGLY recommend that you get checked out by a cardiologist-- you're BP is unusually high and there could be an issue with your heart. We can give you a referral to a cardiologist, if you like?" Me: *sigh* Yes, sure. Thank you so much. . .
HB
HB and Graham- I can sympathize with you both regarding the 'surprise mystery ailments'. Whenever the time comes for an EKG, it's always, "When did you have your heart attack?". And my reply: "What heart attack?". A question due, apparently to a chronic abnormality in the reading. It seems you can have one without even knowing it.
You'd think you would notice something like that.
Heh-- a late comment on the "near-misses" end of the discussion. SWEENEY TODD has been my favorite musical pretty much since I heard the cast album the first time in the summer of 1980-- and Todd has been my bucket-list/dream role for just about my entire adult life. Since properly aging into it, I have auditioned for three different productions, been called back each time (usually with a dozen or so other fellows). . . and each time came in second behind the person cast. (Although it's not a sour-grapes situation at all-- those guys were all EXTREMELY good, and nailed the role. Two of the three were nominated for local awards, in fact. The directors made the right choice--!)
HB
I’ve had my share of Vehicular Misadventures. Among them:
I got hit by a car while crossing the street when I was 14, and was lucky to walk away with some stitches to close a gash in my chin (from hitting the pavement) and a very mild concussion.
About a month after I got my driver’s license, I hit a kid riding a bike against traffic — technically, he hit ME. The kid was totally unhurt but his bike was totalled.
I’m embarrassed to say that in my late teens and early twenties, it was not at all uncommon for me to be driving my mom’s big-ass Mercury Monterey around town while under the influence of weed and/or alcohol. That I never so much as got in a fender-bender is an absolute miracle. I seriously get the willies when I think if all the times I could have wrapped that car around a telephone pole or killed a pedestrian. What an effing dummy.
b.t.
HB, my vision did improve considerably once my sugar levels began to drop and level off. It got a little worse at first but quickly improved. Took about a week.
Redartz, forgot to mention that I also noticed that my clothes were looser. Didn’t have a set of scales at my house at the time. When I went to diabetic doctor, I weighed and had lost 48 lbs in about six weeks. Don’t ask how I didn’t notice this....I was pretty big earlier and just didn’t take the time to get really deep into it fooling with work and family issues. I learned not to put off getting checked out.
B.t.- Sounds like you had a guardian angel watching over you! At least you had a big protective vehicle around you. I learned to drive in my Dad's Buick 225. What a tank.
Graham- man, that's some notable weight loss. Yes, it does pay to 'keep an eye on things' when it comes to health. Things can sneak up on you...
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