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Whether it's hearing terrible news, waiting for news, giving birth, or just waiting for the time you can finally clock out of work, we all know what it feels like to have time drag on and on... or simply seem to stand still altogether.
After Redditor Jayraffe1 asked the online community, "What was the longest one hour of your life?" people lined up to share their tales of agony.
We're sorry if this article is a personal attack to all you clock watchers out there!
"Ambulance took me away..."
Giphy
I had a very bad car accident a decade ago. It was freezing and the car started slipping, we went off road, car did a few tumbles and came to a stop on the driver side leaving me suspended above my mom in my seatbelt. The window next to her was broken and I woke up screaming.
Managed to get my seatbelt off and stand up in a messed up sideways car. Wanted to wake up mom, reached for her head and felt something wet. My hands we're covered in blood. She was softly moaning but not responsive. Had to wait 45 min for ambulance, could not get out of the car (my wrist was broken and a opening a car door upside down is soooo heavy)
Ambulance took me away without mom cause she needed more help and they had to cut the car open. I had to wait ALONE in ER for my mom with no news.
Longest hour ever.
P.S.: She's fine now and me too.
"Do not recommend."
Cluster headache - only time I've been in enough pain where I really would have preferred to die. If that ever becomes anything more than a once a decade experience I'm offing myself. It hurt to much for me to do anything - I just collapsed and let out a high pitch whining noise for a while. I couldn't even think, I can't even remember anything besides pain. Do not recommend.
"You ever been..."
Giphy
You ever been stuck at a dealership or mechanic with a dead phone battery? It suuuuucks. There's nothing really around and you have to wait until your car is fixed.
"I thought..."
Waiting in the ICU waiting room for the doctors to resuscitate my grandfather. He didn't make it but that hour was the longest hour of my entire life. I thought it had been 4 hours but turned out it had only been one.
"The last hour..."
The last hour of labour, pushing yourself inside out whilst various people in scrubs shout at you full in the face like the Drill Sargent from Full Metal Jacket.
Seemed to me to last about as long as January lasted this year.
The day of the Boston Marathon bombing I was at the doctor's office with my elderly mother waiting for her to be examined by a specialist. We were waiting in the exam room for a very long time & finally the doctor showed up & apologized for being late. She said she was listening to the news & that there had just been a bombing in Boston at the finish line & she asked if I knew anyone in the marathon.
I could barely talk when I told her that my ex had taken my daughter to see the finish ( a tradition for them, they went every year). I tried texting right away, but I couldn't get a signal inside the building. I had to wait until my elderly mother (who was using a walker) was done with her appointment, back in the car, & we were out of the garage before I had cell service. I felt like I was under water the entire time. Finally I got a text back from daughter. They had been standing under the flags at the finish line, right where the bomb went off but they left 20 minutes before it happened. Even after I saw her text saying that they were okay that feeling of being trapped under water stayed with me until I made it back home & saw them both with my own eyes. Yup, definitely the longest hour I've ever experienced.
"When my oldest..."
Giphy
When my oldest son was born. He wasn't breathing well at all and we instantly had a horde of nurses and doctors in the room, and they took off with him out of the delivery room to stabilize him.
My wife's BP was crashing and she was having serious complications as well, including needing a ton of stitches that took at least 45 minutes, while she was barely conscious.
I have never felt so helpless as a father seeing the two people I love most in this world in distress and not being able to do anything about it.
"I sometimes wonder..."
When I had to save a kid from drowning. It was probably like 2-3 minutes but that kid flew out of the water after I grabbed him and somehow immediately started breathing after like 3 compressions. I somehow had the foresight while rescuing to blow my whistle so the head lifeguard noticed and handled everything else.
But holy f*** it felt like forever, then afterwards I was so hyped from adrenaline and yet so tired. Time felt like it stopped. A bunch of different people kept coming to talk to me and I was staring at a wall running through what just happened repeatedly.
I sometimes wonder how their family is doing and if they remember it. That kid was an all star though. Next day he runs into the office asking if I wanted to play soccer.
"The week she died..."
My mother died of lung cancer in November.
The week she died I had booked off work to spend time with her, but by that time she was already in hospital for pain. On Monday I drove to the city she was living at and in hospital in. it's about an hour away and while driving, I just knew that week was when she was going to die.
Probably shouldn't have been driving while crying.
"In the emergency room..."
Giphy
In the emergency room, getting x-rays and getting a minor artery in my hand sewn back together. I was just a kid, and losing blood fast.