Non Gun Stuff...

[PegLeg45]

Guys (and M'ette) I'm going to get serious and morbid for a minute.  Please bear with me.  Please remember that no matter how bad it gets there are people that love and care, and that are willing to stand by you through anything.

When I was finishing up my education for this fine job, I spent a semester in a funeral home near the Cities.  We had a rash of suicides one month, and it bothered me more than just a little.  During a weekly meeting with the faculty I asked the grief counselor what could be so bad that death is the only way out.  His response was "So you don't understand it?"  "Good ... Because when you do it will be too late to save you!"

At 7:45 last evening I was sitting here at the desk, making phone calls for a couple services I'm working on, and having fun "multi-tasking" while typing about the Friends of NRA gun of the year.  About then the cell phone goes off, and it is time to go to work for another place I'm covering for.  That was six hours ago, trudging through ice and snow to the edge of a river, a stop at the Sheriff's office, a stop at a Police Department, and a 334 mile round trip to the Medical Examiner's Office in St. Paul.

I can't imagine how bad this person's problems must have been, and I long ago learned not to be too judgemental.  But, tomorrow morning a neighboring funeral director has to go and help an elderly couple plan services for their child.

There are always going to be bad times, and there will also be good times.  But, remember that there is always someone to help carry the burden when you think you can't do it any more.  Please call for help before you take the last step!

Thanks for listening.  It saved waking up the wife and/or dog.  Now it is time to try and sleep before a busy day tomorrow.

m58, I have been close and it is not good to even look back on!  The only thing that kept me going was knowing what my family would have to suffer thru while mine was over...never thought of it again.

FWIW

Richard

M58, thanks for posting this. We all joke and cut-up but we need a serious look at things from time to time.

Like Richard posted, I too have looked it in the face. But I thought back to how hard I fought to stay alive while laying mangled on the side of US Highway 41 five years ago when it would have been really easy to give up. I too thought of my family and turned around and walked away, never to look back. I had way too much to live for, then and now.
Times are tough....but not that tough.
I definitely understand the thought process and mentality that would take a person to that end, but it is no longer an option.

Just my 2 dull pennies on the matter.

[Teresa Heilevang]

I think that more people than you realize have "thought" about at one point of time or other. Or helped someone who was wanting to end their time here on earth.

As a mother, I can not even fathom how I could handle the death of my child let alone a suicide.
I hope I never have to find out.

I too can not imagine what is so desolate and bad that you could go ahead and take the final step in leaving.
Poor things.. It is the saddest way to die I would think..

( Thanks a whole helluva alot M58..   I was all perky and happy today until you came along.
( Jeminey Crimany ...just because YOU work in a funeral home .. ya don't have to drag me there with ya) 

  I'm  just kidding.. I'm glad you posted. And I am glad that I don't have to deal with that part of death like you do in my daily job. It would be so hard for me to not carry it around in my heart all the time and be sad.

[Timothy]

I have to second what PegLeg said. 

Four or five months in the hospital, nearly a year out of work, fifteen surgerys and pain for the rest of my life and the only thing that kept me going was the thought of what my being gone, would have done to my family.

I can't even remember saying a prayer for myself during the whole ordeal but I still have both my legs...

PegLeg, your a rock!

[Big Frank]

About 28 years ago I was electrocuted by accident and my heart stopped. There was no bright light at the end of a tunnel, and no angels or dead relatives waiting to greet me. It was just quiet. Quiet like you wouldn't believe. And since I came back to life I haven't been right in the head. I have chronic depression that was finally diagnosed 23 years ago. I've thought about killing myself lots of times but one day I promised my mom I wouldn't commit suicide as long as she's still alive. I wouldn't want to put her through the pain of losing a child. Not even her least favorite one. Once I had her take all my guns away and keep them at her house because it was so tempting to use one to end it all. Thanks to my meds I don't want to kill myself, and I have my guns back, but the depression is still here all the the time. Dying changed my life and made it a lot worse. If I believed in an afterlife I would be... dying to get there, ASAP. Since I don't, I plan on sticking around awhile. There are a few things I want to do while I'm still here.

[PegLeg45]

Thanks for the words, Timothy.

I should also mention that as much a role as my family played in me staying around a while longer, my faith played the bigger role.
I remember praying in my head not to be taken away from my family because I needed more time with them.
I'm not a preacher and I'm not going to get on a Bible thumping roll here, but I thought I needed to add that point to my earlier post.
There are a dozen people in Tifton, Georgia that are still scratching their heads as to how I survived. I should have bled to death before getting to the hospital. A GSP Trooper even had my wedding ring and a speech prepared to break the news to my wife (who ironically was already at the hospital, where I was headed because my uncle was having cancer surgery). The trooper was amazed when the ambulance pulled in and I was still holding on by a thread. He even came to visit me in the hospital and again after I went home, calling me the 'miracle man'.

I understand now what makes depression such a powerful enemy to many people. Because as much as I wanted to stay alive at one point, months later when the depression set in all I could think of was how much better off it would have been if I had just bled out in the ambulance. The doctor's put me on some mild medication for a while and it helped, but it was my family and beliefs that brought me out of my mental snake pit.


I have a small sticker on the back of my 'skid-lid' that reads, "Never ride faster than your Angel can fly".
I found out one morning that Angels can fly faster than 45 miles per hour.

 


P.S.
Thanks for letting me ramble on like this. It helps with the stress. My youngest son had an appendicitis attack late Tuesday night and had surgery to remove his appendix Wednesday. He's OK and home now, but it has been a stressful few days.

Thanks,
CG

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

I know you worried bout the Sons operation but don't sweat it. It's not like when WE were that age, 35 years later I still have a 6 inch scar where mine came out. If any one comments "That's quite a scar." I tell them Yes, but the guy who put it there is DEAD." I don't tell them he died of Cancer at the age of 84. 

[MikeBjerum]

I was all perky and happy today until you came along.

Pretty well describes my Thursday ... up until 7:34 PM ...

PegLeg,

Glad to hear things are going well for the little one! You are as  aware as anyone that "medical miricle" only goes so far.  Take care of him and enjoy every day!

[Rastus]

About 28 years ago I was electrocuted by accident and my heart stopped. There was no bright light at the end of a tunnel, and no angels or dead relatives waiting to greet me. It was just quiet. Quiet like you wouldn't believe. And since I came back to life I haven't been right in the head. I have chronic depression that was finally diagnosed 23 years ago. I've thought about killing myself lots of times but one day I promised my mom I wouldn't commit suicide as long as she's still alive. I wouldn't want to put her through the pain of losing a child. Not even her least favorite one. Once I had her take all my guns away and keep them at her house because it was so tempting to use one to end it all. Thanks to my meds I don't want to kill myself, and I have my guns back, but the depression is still here all the the time. Dying changed my life and made it a lot worse. If I believed in an afterlife I would be... dying to get there, ASAP. Since I don't, I plan on sticking around awhile. There are a few things I want to do while I'm still here.

Not to drift off too much here...but how is it you recognized the extreme quiet without a conciousness?  I'm not trying to be a smart aleck...I'm just wondering that if you were truly gone...how could you know it was quiet?

[Big Frank]

Not to drift off too much here...but how is it you recognized the extreme quiet without a conciousness?  I'm not trying to be a smart aleck...I'm just wondering that if you were truly gone...how could you know it was quiet?

I was still concious but my heart was stopped for awhile. I'm not sure how long. It seemed like a long time but it probably wasn't. I tried to scream for help but couldn't. I was completely paralyzed. And it was so quiet it seemed like there was no sound in the whole world.

[Rastus]

I was still concious but my heart was stopped for awhile. I'm not sure how long. It seemed like a long time but it probably wasn't. I tried to scream for help but couldn't. I was completely paralyzed. And it was so quiet it seemed like there was no sound in the whole world.

That is interesting and sounds consistent with what I've heard about electric shock.  My little sister resucitated a young boy who had been struck by lightening on the beach and there was paralysis.  A friend of mine has horrible melted burns on his hands from 440 cables he grabbed at work that were still live and he also experienced paralysis.  Electricity shuts off the data inputs and outputs from the brain. 

I know lungs and heart are said to be involuntary muscles, but they still respond to brain stimuli...how else could someone hold their breath?  I know it's weird, but I can slow/delay my heartbeats with concentration...even suspend them for a bit.  If I would remember just remember to shoot between heartbeats I'd probably do a better job of grouping my shots...I hear people do that and it's got to help. 

Do you think you had brain death?