Have you had a brush with death and then learned something meaningful from it?

[Lady Dragonheart]

I just got out of the the hospital after having a series of serious heart attacks and was told how rare my chances of survival up to this point was by many doctors and have learned a lot about both myself and what I want out of life from this new perspective.

For those that know me, I'm mostly alright now. Stress and my own family genes were the majority of the cause of everything (which my parents actually kept that vital information from me until after my procedures -.-'' ), peppered with some bad habits like my social smoking, liking of coffee, taste for red meat, and having a high-energy/high-starch diet to get everything that I do in a day done...

Currently, I can't walk but am relearning how to, and I'm permanently disabled now with extreme levels of heart disease (parts of the heart that are dead from either the strain of the attack, being resuscitated, or from the time it took to get my major heart arteries functional again (which was five days, since they had to deal with a small brain hemorrhage and couldn't work on my heart until my brain was taken care since the heart procedures require a large amount of blood thinners)). I also wear a "defibrillator bra" called a "Lifevest" pretty much 24/7, except when I shower, in case I have a dangerous arrhythmia or another heart attack. It's temporary, though, until a more permanent solution is found from my team of doctors over the next few months.



Anyways, I also lost a lot of money from whole ordeal between the expenses and all of the work that I do having suddenly being missed out on in a liquid market economy. I've realized that I don't live for myself enough and that there are many things that I want to do instead of being tied to working (even from home) and being tied to an extremely tight schedule that never let me travel or visit places and people that I wanted to, or spend time with my beloved like I want to, having adventures out in the world and doing considerably more of what we like without being confined to work and other things that tie us down.

So, I learned that I need to consider myself more and not-so-much my plethora or jobs and responsibilities. I also learned that I simply cannot handle tremendous loads of stress anymore (especially now >.< ) and I need to make managing stress and easing my stresses a significantly greater priority.

Have you had a serious encounter with your own mortality that gave you a new view of yourself and/or the world?

[Sanguiris]

I got dehydrated while taking a piss and fell down on my back and my head just missed a metal pin sticking out of the wall.

Just drink enough water is what Ive learned

[Kasierith]

Life's a bitch and then you die.

[Darkeon]

Been there, saw some stuff that left me curious. Wasn't particularly a life-lesson though.

[Blueobelisk]

To be honest I thought the lesson you would have learned would be about making better choices and not about enjoying life. Now I'm not sure how to respond to this thread.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I almost suffocated to death once. Didn't see no light, didn't see my life flashing by. It just taught me to be more careful when I have items in my mouth.

[King Shark]

When they say "duck and cover," you fucking duck and you fucking cover.

[Deleted]

I did, once or twice. Can't really say that I learned anything from it, though.

[Independent voter]

I'm glad you're still with us Lady Dragonheart.

I've had near misses a time or two driving on the highway which would've killed me, but I never gave those instances a second thought.

[Deleted]

I learned to look both ways before crossing the street. S'pretty meaningful.

[Lady Dragonheart]

To be honest I thought the lesson you would have learned would be about making better choices and not about enjoying life. Now I'm not sure how to respond to this thread.

Well, aside from cooking a lot of red meat, minor smoking (which was more of a social thing than a habit) and drinking lots of rich dark coffee (stepping down from 2-3 pots per day to 1-2 cups per day, also stepping down to decaff), and eating more veggies and drinking more water and juices while monitoring stress better all aren't difficult to do. That is why they aren't stated so heavily in my OP. They were just vices that are pretty easy to shave from my life.

I can't do anything about my genetics, though. Genetics being the majority of the reason for my attacks. Something that both of my parents who have had serious heart issues in their pasts, never told me until after the entire ordeal.

[Skulltaker]

I lost several patients, and while you don't get used to it, you kind of numb against it. The first time I heard someone exhale his last breath was with a 21 year old cancer patient. Won't be able to forget the sound, and it will always remind me of how fragile we are.

[Moratori]

I almost drowned when I was 10 because I couldn't swim.

Didn't change my view of the world but I'm scared of being in water now if it reaches further than my knees if I stand in it.

[Celista]

Oh no! I am so sorry to hear about that! You're so young to have to undergo such an ordeal like that, too...we don't talk about heart disease in young to middle aged people enough, nor in women. It's often depicted as a gendered disorder when it's not.

I'm glad you're still with us.

[Baneth]

I've been stabbed, tazed by a police officer, been in over 2 dozen fights, had a mugger pull a knife on me, been attacked with a baseball bat and various other weapons, hit by a car on foot on a bike and totaled my car in an accident. Was in an ATV accident in the mexican desert, where after going full speed over a dune, the atv flipped midair and landed on top of me, which scraped the a good portion of my flesh from my knees (could see the bones and cartilage in some places). Set on fire by an ex girlfriend. Had a man attack me in a bar, by breaking a bottle over my head, then proceeded to try and gouge my eye out with said bottle.

That's off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.

Hell, I even drowned as a kid and stopped breathing for about 30 or so seconds.

What I learned: Were all going to die one day. Whether you're rich or poor, we all die in the end. So to live your life in fear, is a waste. Go out and do what you want. Fulfill your dreams! See the world! Eat crazy exotic foods and meet new people in a distant land. Live. Your. Life. Because in the end, we all die. But when that day comes, can you truly say you lived a life worth living? Will you be happy when that day comes, and your life flashes before your eyes?

[Lady Dragonheart]

When they say "duck and cover," you fucking duck and you fucking cover.

Are you saying that you didn't duck and cover when someone told you to "duck and cover" before?

[Kasierith]

I lost several patients, and while you don't get used to it, you kind of numb against it. The first time I heard someone exhale his last breath was with a 21 year old cancer patient. Won't be able to forget the sound, and it will always remind me of how fragile we are.

My first lived 26 minutes. Mother decided late term pregnancy was a good time to do heavy drugs, and came to the hospital when baby stopped turning or responding; numerous blood clots forming that the unborn child couldn't clear away, and emergency c-section followed by ACLS, but well.. the take away point basically came down to how little our physical lives are worth as the world turns.

[Zethras]

I became aware of how life and death worked at a very young age, lost my maternal grandfather when I was 2. One day he just wasn't there, and I remember wanting around the house looking for him, and he was just, gone. About a year and a half later, a friend I had at montessori school was killed by a bull mastiff.

After those two incidents, and some reflection in my young adult life about them, I realize where my pseudo Nihilistic views come from.

[Celista]

My first lived 26 minutes. Mother decided late term pregnancy was a good time to do heavy drugs, and came to the hospital when baby stopped turning or responding; numerous blood clots forming that the unborn child couldn't clear away, and emergency c-section followed by ACLS, but well.. the take away point basically came down to how little our physical lives are worth as the world turns.

I always wonder if hospital staff manage to tell someone directly or indirectly that their drug use caused their child's death. Does the mother ask or care?

[King Shark]

Are you saying that you didn't duck and cover when someone told you to "duck and cover" before?

This is our first day in ground operations in Iraq, we're all settled in and it's around lunch time at our little HQ operating base; we're all eating and a mortar shell (dud) came landing in right outside the gate, and skips along the ground right in the middle of the courtyard. About 2 or 3.... inches from my feet.

Everybody else is in full "Marine combat motivation fuck shit up mode" and I'm standing here staring at this unexploded ordinance like "well... fuck." A Marine tackles me, yelling "FUCKING GET THE FUCK DOWN DOC!" He's got on full gear and I don't. It hurt. I was very unhappy with that Marine.

But I did learn to duck and cover.