Driving on the Autobahn while I was stationed in Germany. From Hanau to Heidelburg is a heavily trafficked area, and there was no ability to live out my “drive as fast as I want” fantasies. Aside from the traffic, a HMMWV, 2-1/2 ton truck, Dodge van, CUCV, or VW Transporter can really only ever go so fast. (Actually, I took the Dodge van from Hanau to Grafenwöhr once, and it really, really could move. I’m not sure how fast, as the speedo has the typical maximum 85 mph markings that were common at the time.)
Barium enema. I had an emergency appendectomy and this was how they did the imaging. Having my gut stuffed full of liquid until it couldn’t hold anymore was the worst experience of my life. I’ll take childbirth or getting the shit knocked out of me over it anyday.
Yarster, we have a Doberman and she frequently hurts us by accident when we’re playing with her. She’s just incredibly fast and strong. I’m impressed by imagining what she is truly capable of.
Congratulations on saving your dog!
Surgery to get my nose straightened and air passages opened after badly breaking my nose in an accident. The anesthetic made me ill. My face hurt like an emmeffer for days. The crowning glory was when they pulled the gauze out. I had, in error, thought my nostrils were packed with gauze. No. My whole entire nasal sinuses were packed with gauze. As the doctor pulled on it and I felt it unspooling up inside my head, I thought I was going to lose my mind.
Lingual frenectomy. Since tongue-tied babies used to have their tongues clipped without local anesthetic pretty routinely, I didn’t think it would be a big deal. I had mine done at the dentist’s office when I was 16 or 17. I had seven stitches under my tongue. I expected it to be sore when the numbness wore off. It was horrible. I wasn’t given any sort of pain medication afterward, either. I just tried to sleep to get away from it.
Oral surgery without benefit of anesthesia. Dentist missed a root when doing a root canal (it was behind one of the other roots on the x-ray), and it abcessed. I remember a fiery pain in my gums where the incision happened and really can’t think about it to much without becoming nauseated.
Being housebound for three months after foot surgery sucked, too. Lying around on the couch watching movies and playing video games sounds like fun until the cabin fever sets in.
Pancreatitis. It started off as a fairly uncomfortable stomach ache. It ended up with me being fed through a tube for six months as the doctors cheerily reminded me that there was a chance I’d be on it for the rest of my life, so I might as well get used to it. First there was a nasal tube, which made me constantly feel like there was something in the back of my throat - because there was - then eventually they cut me open and stuck one into my side. Worst six months of my life ever. You’re biologically alive, but you can’t call it “living”.
Being in restraints while coming out of anesthesia. I was in restraints for a very good reason; I don’t dispute that. I was absolutely helpless and completely unable to act on my own; I was totally at the mercy of people I didn’t know and it was the most helpless feeling I’ve ever experienced. Pissed me off, too.
I had to read your first sentence twice (“Wait- did that say what I think it said?”)
Props to you for your willingness to try and taking one for the team, as it were.
Mountain climbing (hiking, not rocking climbing).
The sunny weather turned into freezing rain, with zero visibility. Everything I was wearing got soaked and there’s nothing blocking the wind on the top of the ridge.
Our party included people who weren’t in the best of shape so it took forever to get to shelter.
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Another vote for severe depression related to job loss. It was awful, but I never got so bad that I was suicidal. I welcomed sleep because it took me away from my problems, and nothing I did eased what I was going through when I was awake.
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Leak testing following intestinal surgery. It was a basic ‘drink this dye and we take an x-ray’ type of procedure, which by itself wasn’t too bad. What was bad was I had an abdomen full of nitrogen because of the laparoscopic surgery, I had to lay flat on a hard surface, and I was miserable from the bloat, and the radiologist had just taken an unannounced 45 minute break. I was ready to strangle him when he finally sauntered in.
The upshot was when the abdominal gas finally made it’s way out on post-op night #3. I’m not lying or exagerating in the least when I claim I had a nearly constant 20 minute long farting session in the middle of the night. That was guy-cool…
Wearing my hiking boots for the return trip from Cairo back to Charlotte so I would have more room in my luggage for all the stuff we bought while in Egypt. “How bad could it be?” I remember thinking, “They’re really comfortable boots.”
The “really” wore off somewhere over Southern Europe. The “comfortable” wore off somewhere over Scotland. And I still had 7 hours or so of air travel ahead of me.
Could you not take your boots off on the plane? I hardly ever wear my shoes when flying, just a pair of slippers in case I step in something yukky.
Yeah, I can’t imagine wearing shoes on a plane. I carry really thick socks for planewear when I travel, because I do get very cold.
Do you walk all the way through the airport in your socks? Or do you stow them in your carry-on at the last minute?
I usually take mine off after I sit, but then I have these gigantic foam rubber boats in the way of my footspace.
I take mine off too, and carry a thick pair of clean socks in my carry on.
Being unemployed for 5 of the 10 months between university and my first real job (the other 5 months were temporary, menial jobs). I had no real idea how that gets you down.
I don’t fly enough to understand why wearing shoes on a plane is uncomfortable, but don’t you want to have shoes on in case of emergency? (serious - no snark 
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When I was 20 or so I had to work late one night and be up early the next morning to continue the project. Why go home and sleep, I thought. Why not stay up all night! By about 8am I was so out of it and loopy that the boss made me go home because I was a danger to myself and others (did I mention we were using somewhat heavy machinery?).
I think that was the first and last time I ever tried that little experiment.