1- 4yr old daughter wandered away at a movie theater.

2-feeling my heart stop twice in the ER (med induced) and seeing more and more docs around me then hearing something about a 'crash cart'. I looked at my wife and apologized for every bad choice I ever made with my body.

Kids are #1.

Biopsies are a solid contender as well. Especially when the doctor's office calls on a Friday at 4:58PM on your home phone, leaving a message like "We got the results of your/your wife's biopsy, you need to call us ASAP. Click." (so all you get is *that* cheerful message and they are now closed for the week end). F#cker$. All good both times, but still...
(if you are a doctor and catch your staff doing it like that, please kick them in the ass for me)

When my wife had to have a caesarean section, because our girl was breached. Everything went well, and shes four months now. The anxiety that caused almost put me on medication, lol.

The day I left for Iraq in 2005, what a horrible feeling it was to leave my friends and family.

The sound of my dads service van, the studded snow tires, the sound of the sliding door. He was always on my ass about something, I was always in trouble when he came home. I consider him one of my best friends now, it took a lot of me growing up first.

I'm chuckling as I read about the weekend warriors who put themselves in a position to be hurt or killed and that is the most scared they've ever been.

Try waiting in the exam room for the doctor to tell you whether or not the chemo is working. Yea, I've been scared.

Interesting to see all the Scuba threads.


meh, snorkelers are on the surface and you always have air..........try deep penetration cave diving sometime, where you CAN'T get to the surface.

me in mexico.

https://vimeo.com/114802443


Sharks don't scare me, irresponsible divers do.


I've been spelunking in semi-dry caves in New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Belize up to 400 feet below the surface with tight squeezes to squirm through, High anxiety and was more mental fear of getting trapped that deep underground.

Rappelling down through underground New Zealand water falls, now that was a rush.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QjFSkzxc5Tc#t=37


Biggest Cliff in Costa Rica was a 165 foot drop on the rappelling rope.

Belize Waterfalls

mentally, you have to trust your gear and people around you, the rest is anxiety saying "what if you get trapped underground...?"

Life is full of What If's though

When my son got a grape lodged in his throat. He was five, we were at a school orientation event and one of the teachers had a plate of fruit out; grapes happen to be a favorite of his. We were talking to his sister's new teacher when I kinda notice something "off" about him out of the corner of my eye. Took me a second to register the fact he was choking. Ex-wife doesn't handle tense situations well, so I had to do my best to stay totally calm while getting the grape unlodged. I'm glad I've had training, as I'm sure that took over because I was totally freaking out on the inside, scared for my son. Thoughts of what if I can't get it out, what if I lose my boy were running through my head...so many thoughts in what was really just a couple of seconds.

It scared him, too, but the second it was dislodged, he reached for more grapes and started popping them into his mouth, rapid fire. That part was actually kinda "funny," and it took me physically removing him from the room to get him to stop--me just telling him to stop wasn't registering for some reason. His throat was a bit sore after that, but he was all good other than that.

Check out my first post on page 1.

Being the person who is actually going through all this, it isn't as scary as it happening to a loved one when you have no control of the situation.

Tet 1968 Pleiku AB Vietnam.

I think the worst scenario is when you have time to actually comprehend what is going to happen.

.

SCUBA Diving in Monterey at Monastery Beach. Got caught in a down welling and was drug down to 140 ft before I could get out of it. Looked down and saw nothing but back.

Routine MRI for shoulder pain I'd had for years showed a dark spot high on the humerus. That lead to lots of paperwork marked, "STAT." Asking which oncologist I wanted to use. Full body scans looking for other spots. Ultimately, a CT guided needle biopsy would decide my fate.

"Don't worry, you'll be sedated," from the original doc changed to "Local anesthesia only. We need you wide awake so you don't move," from the guy who did the procedure.

Take pictures. Mark the spot. DO NOT MOVE! Insert tube into shoulder. Take more pictures. DO NOT MOVE! Insert tiny melon baller. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Sounded like I was grinding my teeth, but my jaw wasn't moving. More pictures, more crunching. Thanks. Have a nice day. Your oncologist will call you next week.

The scheduler for the oncologist called. Said it's probably best to bring someone along. After waiting in room full of very sick people, my wife and I met with the doc. Biopsy was negative. Probably just a bone defect that had been there since birth.

Odd thing about the whole affair was that after the soreness from the biopsy went away, the pain that had started this whole mess disappeared completely.

Back when I was about 14 and living in Hawaii at Hickham, AFB I figured surfing would be fun. Some of my neighbors were all 18 and 19 year old boys and one of them said I could go out with them. They let me borrow a HUGE board and we went off. They liked Dillingham AFB as there are no locals there since it is a military base.

I was trying to stay with them assuming one of them would give me some tips. We paddled out about a mile to the good breakers. They all caught a wave and were gone. I figured now is the time to stand up. I went a few feet and fell off and the board was gone. There I was alone and long way from shore. Fortunately I was 14 and in great shape and a good swimmer. I swam all the way to shore and kept switching styles to use different muscles. I finally got to the beach and drug myself out of the water gasping for air.

One of the boys walked over about then and asked where the board was. I told him I could not possibly care less I just almost died out there and that board was the least of my worries. It was a while before I could walk back to the car and wait for them. They found the board and I never talked to them again. They did not really want to hang with a 14 year old.

It did not really sink in that my life had been in danger until I climbed out of the water and could hardly work up the strength to stand up. I was just mad at them for leaving me alone and I think that anger kept me going.

Kids definitely changed how I view fear. When I was younger the horror movies were A night mare on elmes street, or Phycho or whatever.

Getting chopped up into a million tiny pieces seems like a super fantastic party compared to the prospect of losing a child.

That's it, most of my moments have happened so fast they are over before you have time to be scared. The Eagle and the helicopter took a few seconds so I had time. Others, it's just over and you look back and think how lucky you are.
Or in some cases I was just to dumb to be scared.

I wished! My scariest moment took several minutes to play out. I knew if I didn't do something fast I was screwed. I friend of mine, a dive buddy, told me another friend of ours died when he got caught in a down welling at the same spot a few years later.

I was in jail in Culiacan Mexico and the American Consulate called up, he told me I could be there two years legally. I was worried.

(More water fears.)

Trying to surf by myself in Hawaii at dusk. Small 4-6 waves. Only one other couple in the area who didn't want to be bothered. All the times I tried I never was fully able to stand up and cruise, and every wave was gone where the moment should have been.
But dang it, this time it was supposed to happen. It never did.
Got flipped and rolled. Rolling and rolling. Panic.
The odd part was that I'd swam since youth, almost drowned many times before, and considered myself a worthy food offering to the ocean.

Another time in Florida I borrowed a boogy board and swam out to a distant sandbar where dolphins were playing.
Got about halfway there when they disappeared.
Uh oh. Dolphins scatter whenever great white sharks are around. Better get my butt back to shore now.
Pushing it at 90%. Keep going. Keep going. Keep swimming.
BLAM! A huge black object jumped high out of the water not five feet in front of me with tremendous power.
Dolphin.

One of the things I do for fun and for my own knowledge to sharpen my skill is to put on an annual pumpkin patch. It has grown into a little fair of sorts, with rides, food, and karaoke. We might have 1,000 people there on a weekend at any given time.

We have a lost child protocol. The call sign on our walkies is "Avalanche". That means cover the exits, ask the name of any child leaving the gate and cover the stage and big slide. One evening I had to call avalanche. That poor, poor father. I still remember the terror in his eyes. We located the child in about 5 minutes and I comped them free cotton candy. The little girl was maybe 5 and had herself a ball. You think the parents are terrified. Try being the guy in charge. I think I aged a few years myself.

1976 in Boston riding my ten speed at dusk. Yellow cab turns in front of me at an intersection. I T-bone him he hit and ran, never found him. My right down handle bar went in my bag and came out next to my belly button. For a few seconds i was aware of what happened, and knew i just died. I was 22 y/o. Woke up in a Catholic hospital 3 days later in ICU. I lost my right nut, several feet of small intestine. I was told that i was given the Last Rites. I was told I'd never have kids. I have two naturally.