Have you had a near death experience?

I was called out to a supermarket in Hemel Hempstead to look at a line of freezer cabinets on the shop floor where the frozen food was reported to be melting.
When I got there it was obvious the system was short of refrigerant. I went around with a leak detector to find the leak and there it was in case No3. I shut the case valves down and found the leak was on the expansion valve.
I found it impossible to reach in and tighten the valve nuts so I decided to climb into the case. This was a bad mistake, I had not considered that the case was full of refrigerant gas and that this gas R502 had narcotic effects.
I woke up in hospital with an oxygen mask on my face. This is where I stayed for 10 hours. I was finally released the next morning after lots of paper work and feeling that I had been to one hell of a party the night before.
When I next went to the store one of the women came up to me and said " that was a close one, we thought we had lost you there " Apparently one of the women I new had seen me in the cabinet and had made some sort of cheeky comment. I had't responded so she thought something must be wrong, as I always liked a laugh with them. It took four of them to pull me out of the cabinet and I shall say now, I will always be greatful to these ladies for saving my life.
Have you ever had a near death experiences ?

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

Many, I am severely allergic to a lot of things it came on gradually so I never know what I will react to next, before they gave me epipens I had 4 experiences where my heart slowed to a stop and I stopped breathing. I don't recommend it to anyone but I can conform there is a bright light and luckily it flashed blue and was attached to an ambulance !

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

Haha, good one Julie. Thirty years ago I almost died due to a serious illness but slowly recovered. It does wonders for putting things in perspective!

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

I've had a few of 'em Bob!

One of the worst ones was in the desert of Abu Dhabi.

We were working at a tank farm, (oil storage tanks), and our job required one person inside and to put film cassettes in position and retrieve them after exposure - I was an industrial radiographer / inspector back then.

Anyway, the contractor had problems with the extractors and cooling fans so it started to get very hot inside.

I was asked if I could continue when the generators packed up and like a fool I said yes but made certain demands, like having a safety line and a helper sat by the entrance manhole to keep an eye on me.

I went inside and it was incredibly hot and difficult to breathe but I managed to climb the ladder and place the film cartridge then got back well away for the exposure as we were using Iridium 192.

After exposure, I went over to retrieve the cassette but by now I was soaked through with sweat and, as I reached the ladder I felt myself stagger.

The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital in Abu Dhabi - I'd been unconscious for almost three days and apparently my heart had stopped on the way in to hospital.

It took a week to recover from that and my weight loss due to fluid loss had been very severe.

I was very dizzy and disorientated for two more days after coming round.

There have been others, mostly between 1973 and 1984, once in a helicopter crash but that's over-dramatising as it was controlled - it just hit the deck hard! stevmk2

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

I had an out of body experience - does that count? Wasn't near death tho just off my head on LSD. A those wild & wonderful hippy days. :b

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

I've had a few from my rock-climbing days. The one I remember most was a fall from 70 feet up a limestone rock face. As it was a relatively easy climb, I didn't have a rope. The climb was actually easier than I thought and I flew up it in a minute or two. As I went to pull myself up over the top, a meter wide and meter deep piece of rock (the piece I was pulling up on) came away from the cliff and fell to the ground. Everything slowed for me and I pushed myself backwards away from the piece of falling rock, did a very gymnastic 180 degree turn so I was facing outwards from the rock face, shouted "BELOW" to my friends so they could get out of the way of both the rockfall and me, actually started thinking about the quickest way to the hospital from the crag, and, miraculously, landed like a cat on the soft grass beneath the crag without a scratch. I do not know to this day how I avoided injury, but I can still remember every elongated second of the experience. When you consider that people die from tripping off a low kerb, I was incredibly lucky.

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

Jodie, the very thought of taking anything like that would put the fear of death in me. I'm actually glad you are alive and kicking to tell the tale.

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

Some really scarey experiences here. Glad you have all lived to tell the tale.

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

Had loads of out of me head experiences too jodie but I do know the difference between them and out of body experiences!
Could expand on that - but I won't! stevmk2

Re: Have you had a near death experience?

MickB your experience is amazing!!