Story Weekend: Close Calls (and a Giveaway!)
After a few week break for family emergencies (all is well) and too much work (and play), Story Weekend is back! As a matter of fact, I think we should do a giveaway to celebrate our return. How about an Advance Reading Copy of The Silent Sister, which won’t be out until the fall? On Tuesday June 24th at 10pm EST, I’ll use a random number generator to pick someone who contributes a story this weekend. So, what is your ‘close call’ story?
If you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve contributed. As always, there are a few “rules”:
▪ The story must be true
▪ Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge. Happy writing!
I found a lump on my breast in 2001, lump that didn’t show up on the mammogram. The surgeon said he was 100% sure it was noncancerous, and wanted me to wait 3-6 months to see if it went away. Thankfully, I insisted it be removed immediately, which meant in 3 weeks as I wasn’t a priority. My lump doubled in size between the time I discovered it during a routine BSE. After the lumpectomy, he told me I didn’t have cancer. He called three days later to say I did indeed have early stage breast cancer. I then had a bilateral mastectomy and 6 months of chemo. If I had waited 3-6 months, I probably wouldn’t be here today, hoping to win an ARC copy of The Silent Sister.
Good for you for going with your gut instinct and insisting on treatment. I hope you remain clear x
Thanks Jill. I picked the right time to be assertive for the first time in my life and I haven’t stopped since.
Good. Its a bit sad that we have to do these things and even sadder when your life depends on you having the strength to be assertive.
After getting money from a cash point, I went to a shop. I noticed a man behind me. The shop was closed so I turned round to go to the car park. The man did the same. So I walked around awhile but he continued to follow me. I rang my mum and told her, loudly, where I was. The man then turned round and walked off. I found security and reported it – they said there were men following women from the cash point and then mugging them but the phone call obviously frightened him off. A very close call indeed!!!
As a young mother of two, twenty-one months apart, I was aware of how quickly children act and react to any situation. My son was ill, I was rocking him and looked up to see my daughter, wearing a wet cloth diaper, stoop to pick something up off the floor. Before I could get out of my chair I saw sparks coming from a wall plug. She found a hairpin and had tried to “plug” it in. Its imprint was burned into her little palm. Our doctor assured me that she was okay, that her guardian angel was on duty because it could have been a different outcome if she had not been grounded. She was wearing little red, rubber-bottomed tennis shoes.
When I was 19 some friends and I went on a hike up a mountain (small one) on Lake Superiour. Up was ok because there was sort of a path. Down, we took the other side which was rocky and overlooked the water. I lost my footing trying to make it over a gap and slipped, but caught a thankfully strong branch of a small tree. I clung to that and my friends hand, until I got the courage to trust her boyfriend to help me. It might not have been as bad as it felt, but looking down at the water from about a 3rd story of a building high up and having to rely on somebody else was pretty scary. Lesson, never hike in flip flops, even if they’re more comfortable than shoes.
A little over sixteen years ago, my family and I were traveling to Virginia to visit my parents. I encouraged my mom to purchase a carbon monoxide detector as she had just installed a new gas furnace. She agreed to install the detector which never registered any toxins during our visit.
A week later my mom called me and told me that the detector’s alarm was triggered early one morning, and my dad called the fire department because the CO levels were registering so high. After the firefighters came to my parents’ home, they told my parents that the furnace had a significant leak and without the detector, they and my sister might never have woken up.
When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter I started bleeding heavily at 18 weeks of pregnancy. My husband and I thought it was yet another miscarriage (we lost 3 babies at 16 weeks, 22 weeks and 7 weeks- all boys). At that time we were blessed with having our 1st daughter born during my 3rd pregnancy. My husband was already trying to figure out in his mind how to tell our 4 year old that there was a problem. I had placenta previa and normally it works itself out but in my case it did not. Thankfully, after many weeks of bed rest at 35 weeks my 2nd daughter was born healthy but she had to spend 1 week in NICU.
My husband and I had been married for about a week and a half when we drove to his families Christmas about 3 hours away. Everything was fine until we were about 40 minutes from home on our way back. We hit black ice on a curve and our car completely spun in circles. On one side of the road was a huge drop off and the other side was a solid rock wall. (And a car was right behind us). I’ll never know how we didn’t either slam into the wall, fall over the cliff, or get hit by the car behind us!! Good thing my hubby was driving, I would have freaked out and probably gotten us killed.
My close call is when I was in a car accident when I was 15. It was right across from the house, it was a pedestrian vs MVC(Motor vehicle collison). My friend and her dad had just dropped me off on the opposite side of the house, I went to the back bumper of their car to see if cars were coming I stepped out too far and was hit. I was rushed to ER but had to be transfered to a hospital in the States(I’m from Canada). I could of died because my GSC went really low and I have a head injury now and was only in hopsital for 3 days. I’m lucky to be alive people say. I was out cold for probably 18 hours.
My close call happened some years ago when my husband and I were in a real estate office. We were sitting at a desk looking at listings. The office had a large tinted picture window in front. Suddenly,as we were looking at the listings
the window exploded and glass went flying everywhere. We all took cover under the desk. The window blew out because someone with a rifle shot it out. The police came right away and inspected the scene. The officer asked us who was sitting in this chair. My husband was the one sitting there. The officer told him he should be dead because the bullet went right through his chair! We were so grateful no one was hurt. We just had glass in our clothing and hair.
When I got married I was really ill and the doc insisted it was wedding nerves. Four weeks after the wedding I had major abdominal surgery. I had severe endometriosis and several large lumps were removed, and my appendix, and my womb had to be moved. As there was a lot of damage to my ovaries and womb, the doc suggested a hysterectomy but I refused. I then went through a surgical menopause but discovered 12 months later I was pregnant! I have had a hysterectomy and my ovaries removed since, due to further damage and lumps in my bowel, but I nearly didn’t have my beautiful daughter!
Having finished work after a very long and busy day, I couldn’t wait to get home. I collected my bag and got to my car, usually I drive home straight away, something inside me told me to wait a few minutes.
I sat in my car and made a phone call to home, finished the call then drove off, when I got to the roundabout there had been a nasty accident, luckily no-one was hurt but the cars involved would have been write offs.
I truly believe a guardian angel was looking after me on that day, as if had left when I should have, I’m surel I would have been involved in this accident.
My story is in a way my daughters story. When Alex was 14 she was on Work Experience and one day got up at the last minute and was in such a panic to get to work on time she got off the bus and ran straight across the road. There was a car overtaking the bus and it hit her she bounced onto the bonnet then onto the windscreen breaking it before falling back onto the road. The car wasn’t going very fast and was in no way at fault he just didn’t expect her to suddenly appear from the front of the bus. She managed to escape with cuts and bruises (and a lecture from the police 2 weeks later) the poor man though his car was wrecked his children in the back were so hysterical they had to miss school and he had to miss work to look after them. It was the thing every parent fears most and I know I was very lucky that the outcome wasn’t worse. Lucky for me my 5 children seem to have managed to make it to adulthood with just one ‘heart attack causing’ event each 🙂
One evening about 30 years ago, I stepped into the shower and as soon as I turned the knobs to
start the water, I thought I felt a little ‘tingle’ in my hands, but thought nothing of it. I then reached up to
turn the shower head towards me, and my hand just ‘stuck’ to it and all of a sudden I felt a huge electrical
shock going all the way down my arm, my side, my leg and then into my foot. I tried to break away, but I
couldn’t. I couldn’t speak, much less scream for help. I remember thinking to myself, “Oh, no!! I’m going to
die! Lord, I don’t want to die!” Then, I heard a loud voice say, “LET GO!” and my hand dropped down and I
ran out of the shower, screaming, “I’ve been shocked, I’ve been shocked!” I was taken to the hospital, but my
heart never went into “A-Fibs” and I had no damage to any part of my body, not even a slight ‘burn’ mark. The doctor
couldn’t believe it. He said I was a walking miracle. When the electrician came out, he tried to turn off the water, and
was literally thrown back across the bathroom from the voltage coming through. He said that there was a short coming from the light fixture on the ceiling of the shower and it had run down into the shower head. He said that since I had been standing IN water, I should definitely be dead. But, I know it was God Himself that saved me that day, because there is no other explanation for the ‘voice’, nor that fact that I am still alive to tell this incredible story.
I spent several weeks in the hospital on bed rest with my second pregnancy due to placentia previa. I woke up around 5 am on a daylight savings time change weekend and realized I had not been given my medication to prevent preterm labor. I got up to go to the rest room and began to bleed…HEAVILY. They prepped me for an emergency C-section delivery and saved me and my child.
When my son was two he wasn’t feeling well. I thought it was just a bug. After a long night of his moaning and thrashing around I took him to the E.R. (it was Thanksgiving). After waiting an hour and watching the Dr.visiting with friends I was fed up my child was sick and no one seemed to care. Finally I told the nurse we needed to be seen or I was going to leave. After two hours the Dr. saw usturned out my son had an appendicitis and it burst while we waited. If I had gone home he would not have made it through the night
After having my 3rd baby boy, I went back on Remicade to treat my RA. The first infusion went fine but the effects didn’t last long enough to hold me the 8 weeks until the next infusion. So at the nect infusion Dr. Z increased my doseage by 100 mg. Thirty minutes in, my throat all of a sudden closed up, I couldn’t catch my breath and started coughing uncontrollably. The nurse asked if I was ok and I could only shake my head no as I grabbed my rescue inhaler. The nurse acted quickly, stopped the Remicade and started me an IV of Benadryl. All ended ok and I still have an allergy and will never increase doseage on Remicade again!
Oops forgot to say, thanks for the chance to win!
Back in 1997 ( in Holland) I used to sell memberships to a book club door to door. One morning I rang the doorbell to a guys house and he invited me in. I sat down and started my sales speech. Meanwhile I could smell a faint smell of marijuana which in Holland it’s legal. He got up and all of a sudden I had this bad feeling something was going to happen. He walked up to me with a phone line in his hands and said “I’m going to show you what happens to pretty girls who wake me up early in the morning,” but I was prepared since I had the feeling already, pushed him really hard against the wall and THANK GOD the front door was unlocked and I managed to run out. I had just gotten my first cellphone and called me supervisor and the police and turned him in.
I’m driving home after working an evening shift 30 minutes from my house. The back roads are dark and I’m very tired. Suddenly, a deer bursts from the woods and runs across the road. I slam on my brakes, and THANKFULLY no one rear ended me (no one else was on the road!) and I didn’t hit the deer. I shudder to think about what wouldve happened if someone was behind me or if I was a few seconds ahead.
While my sons and I were at a family picnic, our friend came up to me and said, “Don’t panic. But Matt has a fishhook in his cheek.” I reached over to take it out (my first instinct) and he said, “Don’t! If you remove it, it will rip his cheek open.” Now I was panicked. I called my husband, who was working, and told him to meet us at the hospital. Doctors safely removed the hook with no scarring though Matt no longer fishes. One ‘bad’ hook was all it took!
When I was a teenager my family went on vacation. We pulled a small cargo trailer. We were on an interstate in the third lane when our back tire came off the trailer. It hit the back window of our station wagon. Two of my sisters were sitting in the seat that faced backward. My Dad was able to get the car over to the far side of the road without anyone getting hurt. My sisters were OK. We continued on our way. It was a miracle that no one was hurt!
Nature is definitely getting back at us in NJ. A few weeks ago I went out with the garbage after dark, something I will not do again. I was looking up at an upstairs window of someone’s condo and when I brought my eyes down in front of me there was an adolescent black bear. I did what came natural. I threw the garbage at him and ran as fast as my wonky knees would take me only to stop short after a few steps when I looking down I saw a skunk! Luckily she had seen the bear too and simply joined me in running away.
A large tree in the yard near an amateur radio antenna was struck by lightning and the bolt traveled into the house through the antenna feed cable. It was not connected to the radio but the bolt jumped about an inch gap to a nearby file cabinet, leaving two dime size holes where it entered and exited the cabinet, without damaging the contents. From the cabinet it jumped to a power supply on top of the cabinet, destroying it. the charge went out through the house lines without damaging the radio but after damaging the kitchen light and setting off a bathroom fault interrupter outlet. The jump to the cabinet ignited a nearby phone wire and the flaming plastic dropped onto a blanket covering some old paintings, setting the blanket on fire. My son, in another room, observed a glow in this unoccupied room and alerted me. I was able to remove the burning blanket and called the fire company as a precaution. If we were not home we would likely have lost the house.
My husband is a marine. When I was pregnant with our first child he was called to go to Iraq. He didn’t meet his daughter until she was 3 months old. When he was close to getting out of the marines, he was called up again to go to Afghanistan. I had just given birth to our third child, and was devastated by this news, ready for him to be out! He went through all the training (he would get stopped lossed, that’s how close he was to being out) and we were preparing for him to leave. Then, right before he was to leave, word was passed from higher authority, due to the troop withdrawal in 2011, that his platoon would not be going over!!!
It was 3 years ago when our area was in the tornado season. A tornado had touched down a mile from my place and uprooted trees, took off roofs which luckily no one was injured. The next day I was shocked to see all the mess the tornado had done and was thankful I wasn’t hit.
I had ran my errands, came home and ate then took a shower. I had just gotten out when I noticed the weather changed and it became dark and windy. Sitting in an oversized Tshirt, watching TV I heard what sounded like a train going through my yard. BOOM!!! A very huge tree had smashed over the top of where I was sitting, pictures were flying off my walls, rain pouring in, branches hovered over my place. I’m in a Tshirt. I need to get dressed fast! I panic, alone. I moved my large TV away from the wall, unplugged everything. Called 911. It’s busy!! I call again, and again and again!!. Finally, someone answered and I said a tree fell on my roof and it’s caved in!! She asked if any electrical wires were hit. No. No wires. She can’t help. I drive to my friend’s and spend the night. I was shaking, thinking, “how could a tornado hit twice in just about the same area?” It does. I’m just glad the tree didn’t make it all the way to the floor. That was a close one. I’m always afraid of tornados now!!
A few months ago, I was driving in the far right lane of a major Dallas freeway undergoing heavy construction on my way to see my grandchildren in another town. A construction dump truck in front of me all of a sudden took a hard left turn across the rest of the freeway landing on top of the temporary concrete barrier and two cars. The elderly couple going east were killed instantly but the other driver, a father of 8, was spared with only minor injuries. I don’t know if the dump truck driver had fallen asleep and jerked awake to cause him to turn but I was so grateful to have been behind him and not beside him. I sat there in shock but so very thankful to be alive.
Thanks you so much for this opportunity to win an advanced copy of The Silent Sister! As a senior in high school I was dating someone who had graduated the previous year and insisted we get married as soon as I graduated. I reiterated my plan to attend college. He suggested I commute to a local campus rather than move 2 1/2 hours away. I cannot adequately describe in words my refusal to even consider his plan, but I felt I was being “cornered.” He broke up with me by “attacking” me with a spiteful verbal rage… Time proved I had truly “dodged a bullet,” as he perpetrated domestic violence for many years to come. Listen to your gut instinct…
When I was 15 something so horrible happened to me that I can barely manage to share it. I was at my very first party when a man pulled out a gun and pulled me in to a room. Long story short, he raped me. It’s taken me years to recognize this as a “close call” rather than a tragedy. It obviously effected me but I didn’t let it break me. I am so lucky to be alive and now I have a passion for helping teenage girls and women. I could have ended up dead and when I think about that, I am instantly thankful for my life and the people that surround me.
Jess, what a terrible thing to endure. I love that you’ve turned a horrendous experience into something so positive.
When my 2nd daughter was about 8 months old, and my husband was still away serving in the Army, I went to the the doctor because I thought I had strept throat. The physician instead found a mass on my throat. After several referrals, and a biopsy (which actually caused the mass to shrink to almost nothing, plus the pain went away), they found it was benign and that I did not require treatment at that time. Ten and a half years later, all is still good! Thank you!
These days it is almost unnatural to not have your drivers license while you’re still in your teens. I’m 28 and still don’t have mine, which most people don’t understand, but I ask them to look at it this way: when you’ve worked in a hospital, you see a lot of what happens when people don’t know what they are actually doing. Not only that, during my 3rd time driving (I agreed to try learning at least) the vehicle behind me was following so close that when we had to stop for a train, he’d pushed me on to the tracks.. With a train, that can’t stop, coming towards us… On my 3rd time driving! Somehow I managed to turn the vehicle enough that we were at the very edge of the tracks and escaped any damage that could have happened. Now, I did agree to keep trying to drive, but my reason of being scared of every other vehicle out there is actually valid now. There’s only so much defensive driving you can do if someone else is being stupid 🙁
How bizarre that I was writing my comment at the time that you’d posted yours! It must have been terrifying for you. I don’t understand why the two drivers I saw would put themselves in that situation voluntarily! (I’m 32 and I still don’t have my license!)
Cue Twilight Zone music! This reminds me of the many times two novels are published at the same time with very similar stories. It happens!
Last week I was on the bus in a queue of traffic that went over a level crossing. Two cars ahead of me had stupidly stopped on the railway tracks to wait, but while they were waiting, the barriers started to come down because a train was on its way! I don’t know how they managed to find space to move into, but fortunately they got out of the way before the train was due.. I don’t know why people take such risks with their own lives for the sake of getting home a few minutes earlier – I’d rather be 10 minutes later than not get home at all.
Several years ago, my then teenage daughter arranged to meet a boy she had met in a chat room at a local service station. As an overprotective mum I insisted on driving her there. The boy did not arrive I the car he described as his dad’s but two men did!
The sky was clear and the sun was out. I was home breastfeeding my 2 month old baby and my husband was at the tennis courts not far from where we lived. All of a sudden I hear the siren (we lived on an Air Force base). Sirens mean take cover, but as I looked out the window I saw no reason to move and thought they must just be testing the siren. Then everything changed in a few seconds, complete darkness outside, I ran with baby into the cupboard, then heard the rain coming down really hard, then I heard the front door open and a terrible crashing sound. Afterward, (it just lasted maybe 5 minutes) I slowly came out of the cupboard and went toward the front door area only to see the tree from our front yard had come through the roof right above the front door and was dangling in the foyer area. As I’m standing there my husband comes out from the front bedroom. He said he had seen the tornado at the courts and had outrun the tornado in the car and was coming in the door, had just shut it and the tree came crashing through the roof seconds behind him. He was so lucky.
many years ago while living in los angeles some friends thought iy would be cool to go to vegas for my birthday.
we got reservations at a high floor in a really cool hotel.we were going to drive out there after work on friday.. i was working a warehouse job and at the last minute on friday we were told a big order came in and we all had to work that weekend. goodbye vegas. the hotel we were going to stray at was called the mgm grand. and that weekend it burned. many lives were lost.
I was house sitting a friends home as a teenager and decided to take a shower. I got undressed and was about to get into the shower when all of the sudden the smoke alarm started going off. I quickly put a towel on and went to see what was happening when I noticed the basement door open and a large screw driver laying on the steps. I ran to my car in my towel and drove home. I brought my brother back with me to check the house. Someone had broken into the house and the smoke alarm must have scared them away. Thank you angels!
Three words – Boys. Are. Fearless. My son has had many close calls – falling off couch face first trying to get off, walking into the pool (ignoring the stairs and not knowing how to swim – good thing his sister was there to catch him), standing on his riding toy and falling off backwards hitting his head on the ground, tripping over his feet learning to run and plowing into the carpet (nice rug burn), running from the bathroom at bath time (slip and slide time) to show bubbles, and many more to come. I can only imagine!
After losing my grandson in July of 2009, I went for my pap smear in October and was informed that I had a polyp on my uterus. The doctor cut it out and sent it for analysis, it came back negative. Two days later I received a call and my doctor told me that unbeknownst to him, my sample was sent to Boston for a second opinion, they said cancer. A third opinion from the Mayo Clinic concurred with Boston. My doctor rearranged everything so that I could have my surgery before Thanksgiving of 2009. Luckily with a complete hysterectomy and several lymph nodes removed and checked I am cancer free. I thank God everyday for the diligence of my doctor and the keen eyes of the people in the lab.
I used to drive from MD to PA almost every weekend to see my boyfriend who was stationed at AAFB and with these visit came partying. One weekend I drove back with very little sleep and fell asleep behind the wheel. I jolted the wheel when I woke up and did a 360 in the middle of the road. I stopped on the side of the road just as if I pulled over, I looked to my right and saw the cliff I could’ve went down, looked in the rear view mirror and saw an 18-wheeler come over the hill – both were close calls. I’m so very lucky things ended the way they did.
When thinking of close calls, I always remember April 19, 1995. This was a horrible day in our history.
I was taking my brother to a rehab facility in Oklahoma City. I live about 10 minutes from there in Moore. I should have been in Norman a few more miles south of Moore.
After dropping him off, I started driving back home and remembered there was a gas company downtown. I needed to pay it, so I began to drive there. My bill receipt was stamped 8:58 am. I hopped in my car and drove off. I remember thinking that I didn’t know the YMCA was there. I drove past the Murrah building. I questioned to myself, Why are there so many elderly people walking across the street. This all happened in seconds. I must not have hit any red lights. I pulled on to the Interstate and boom… I thought it was a Sonic Boom. My son´s birthday is on the nineteenth and we had his party on the weekend. We were discussing how they had out flawed them. Living near Oklahoma City and Tinker AFB, we grew up hearing them. I just thought they were doing something they were not suppose to. It was when I got home and turned on the tv I realized how God had helped me get out. It was very strange that I didn’t get turned around(I still do) and gave me all green lights. God definitely had his arms wrapped around me and lifted me to safety.
I meant to write that the Bomb went off at 9:02 am. It was a very close call.
The Random Number Generator picked Nicole Long to win the Advance Reading Copy of The Silent Sister. Congratulations, Nicole! And thanks to everyone who contributed these truly heart-stopping stories. I am glad you are all here to tell the tale! xoxo
Before the storm. Ive just finished reading it and I liked it.