"Three weeks later..."

I used to work as a bank teller in a really nice neighborhood. We didn't have any bulletproof glass or security because it was in a suburb. One day, I'm looking across the lobby at the glass doors leading to the parking lot when I see a man wearing a mask running towards the building. My heart immediately drops and I start saying "please be a joke, please be a joke, please be a REALLY bad joke!" It wasn't. The guy bust in, brandishes a gun, and yells "everybody freeze!" He sticks the gun in my face and tells me to give him the f****** money.

But wait, it gets worse.

You see, this was my half-day, I had just gotten in, and I DIDN'T HAVE ANY MONEY. I tried to stutter out "you see, I just got here, I don't have my drawer yet, I don't hav-" but he wasn't listening and was just yelling and agitated. There were two other tellers next to me, and they DID have money, so I glance over thinking maybe if they give the guy money he'll be happy and get the gun outta my face.

But wait, it gets worse.

The other tellers were frozen, shaking, and crying. Can't say I blame them, the only reason I wasn't a mess was that I was too focused on that gun. So they were no help at all. Luckily, they had their keys to their drawer and I thought F*** IT! Better give this guy SOMETHING! So I started pulling cash out of the other teller's drawer and stuffing it in the guy's duffle bag. It worked, he grabbed it and ran out. Everyone was shaken up and crying so the bank had a therapist come in that very afternoon. She comforted everyone and told us that statistically, something like that would never happen to us again.

But wait, it gets worse.

Three weeks later the same guy came running back into the bank with a gun. Even though he wore a mask, we knew it was the same guy because he yelled "let's do it again!" This time I had a cash drawer so things went a lot smoother. But it f**** with my head for a very long time after. They didn't catch the guy until 2 years later.

ChaseDonovan

This was an odyssey.

Nothing short of one. Naturally, he has some PTSD from it, because who wouldn't?

"That's disappointing..."

A very kind, hardworking kid I worked with at a restaurant decided to join the air force because he was born and raised in the town we were working in and wanted to see the world. Eight weeks after he leaves for boot camp he's in the restaurant visiting and we're all asking where he's going to be stationed. He tells us they stationed him right here in the very place he was hoping to escape.

That's disappointing, not bad- but wait!

We asked if he'd want to come to a party we were having later that week but he says he can't because his brother, whom he loaned his car to while he was in boot camp, drove drunk one night and totaled his car so he was without transportation.

That's kinda shitty- but wait!

We say at least he gets to have his beloved dog with him now since he's not going overseas or across the country, right? He explains that his dog was with his brother during the accident. He survived the crash by jumping out the window.

... But in his panic, he ran back into the road and was hit and killed by another car.

Gattarapazza

"On the way to the grandfather's funeral..."

My friend's brother was killed by a drunk driver. After finding out, his grandfather died of a heart attack.

But wait, it gets worse.

On the way to the grandfather's funeral, his sister lay her head on her mom's shoulder and never woke up again. Another heart attack.

alddieboy

The timing.

Grief can work its way through people very swiftly.

"So after about 20 minutes of agony..."

I recently went to the ER due to what turned out to be my appendix trying to kill me. By the time I was admitted and settled in a room I was in pretty serious pain, and all I wanted was drugs. Either enough to relieve the pain or just knock me out. Either was OK with me.

Well, first they needed to put an IV in. OK. But my veins are small and wormy, so it takes some skill to get an IV in me. The nurse jabs me 5 times in the right arm and gives up.

But wait, it gets worse.

Then she proceeds to stick me 5 times in the left arm and gives up again. Says she needs to get someone else to do it.

So after about 20 minutes of agony, another nurse shows up and gets an IV in me. And they finally give me blessed drugs.

But wait, it gets worse.

The next day, after my traitorous appendix is in a jar, I'm in my hospital bed and notice that the IV is now sticking straight up out of my arm. I think "I don't believe that's right".

But wait, it gets worse.

I get a nurse and point out the offending IV needle and she says something like "Wow, that's really swollen!". The angle of the needle had distracted me from realizing that my bicep now looked like it belonged to a weightlifter. I was swole! The needle had apparently punctured through the vein and the saline and antibiotics I was supposed to be getting had been going into my bicep muscle for hours.

But wait, it doesn't get any worse!

They fixed it and all was well. They finally found someone who could properly put an IV into me. And honestly, even with those minor issues I really appreciated how the staff took care of me. They were a great bunch.

afcagroo

"My local hospital..."

Didn't get together with the right guy until my mid-30s. Took 3 years for me to fall pregnant. Miscarried.

But wait, it gets worse.

Mum diagnosed with terminal cancer. I miscarried again.

But wait, it gets worse.

Miscarried again.

But wait, it gets worse.

Miscarried again. Mum dies. Went to a fertility specialist. Took almost a year to get the first appointment and they tell me I have multiple issues.

But wait, it gets worse.

They lose my file and can't see me for another year. Then treatment starts. Treatment fails.

But wait, it gets worse.

IVF treatment finally works and I'm pregnant with twins that have been genetically tested and screened for everything under the sun. Scans look great. I hear the heartbeats. I see them on the monitor. Doctor says there's only a 4% chance of anything going wrong. It goes wrong.

But wait, it gets worse.

My local hospital and IVF clinic aren't very communicative and my local hospital insists I walk around with my dead twins inside me for a week so they can "be sure themselves that they've passed." Then after that week they say I need to come into the hospital to have them removed. But oh great, there are no appointments. I have to wait another week walking around with them.

LumpySpaceEsme

Unfortunately...

...this is a reality for many women, and steps need to be taken to improve maternal health because this is unconscionable.

"A few years ago..."

A few years ago, my mother-in-law had a heart attack on the day that she retired at her retirement/birthday dinner. She needed open heart surgery and a valve replacement.

But wait, it gets worse.

Then, in the summer of 2019, my mother-in-law was walking when she fell and hit her head on the metal handle of the fireplace. She went to the hospital where they found that she had a brain bleed.

But wait, it gets worse.

They took her off her blood thinners to address the brain bleed. Good news, it worked!

But wait, it gets worse.

No blood thinners mean more chance of a clot and formed in her leg. At one point, we weren't sure if she'd lose it. Thankfully, a quick surgery resolved this.

But wait, it gets worse.

The hospital stay and medication changes aggravated her diabetes and she went into diabetic ketoacidosis. They finally leveled her sugar out.

But wait, it gets worse.

​Remember those blood clots? Yeah, more happened. These lodged in her brain which, needless to say, is a VERY bad place for blood clots. She had a few strokes. But they couldn't put her back on the blood thinner for fear of the brain bleed coming back.

But wait, it gets worse.

They found out that the source of the clots was that her heart valve that was replaced a few years prior was infected and damaged. (In fact, she was septic.) The valve was throwing clots throughout her body and it was only a matter of time before another clot hit her brain or elsewhere. She needed to go into open-heart surgery, but she was too weak from everything else. They scheduled the surgery date and worked to get her strong enough. Finally, the day before her surgery arrived.

But wait, it gets worse.

The day before her surgery, they discovered that her gall bladder was infected as well. If they did the valve transplant, the gall bladder would just reinfect it and it would need to be replaced AGAIN. So the gall bladder needed to come out first. Open heart surgery day turned into gall bladder removal day. Then we tried to get her strong enough for the open heart surgery.

Finally, she had her open heart surgery, got the valve replaced and got the leave the hospital.

But wait, there's more.

By this point, she had spent about 50 days lying in a hospital bed, unable to sleep (due to strange rooms and nurses waking her up to take readings), and mentally injured from the strokes as well as everything else. She couldn't just go home. So she had to go into a rehabilitation hospital for about two weeks to learn how to walk, get into a car, climb stairs, etc. By the time she left THIS hospital and came home, over 60 days had passed since her initial fall.

Oh, and just to add a bit more "worse," I was driving my kids back from visiting their grandmother, grandfather, and mother (since my wife all but lived with her mother that summer) in the rehab hospital. We were stopped at a red light when a medical transport van was unsure whether red lights are optional. By the time he decided to stop, it was too late and he slammed into the rear of my car.

Everyone was fine, but the bumper was damaged and I had to juggle both my boys (16 and 11 at the time) while managing the post-crash situation. The manager of the van driver promised to pay for everything if we didn't involve the police. I declined and insisted on getting a police statement. (Otherwise, what assurance would I have that they would suddenly claim it was my fault despite the fact that I was stopped at a red light with cars in front and to the sides of me at the time?) Just more stress onto an already stressful and hectic year.

As a postscript, I was looking forward to a normal year following that crazy summer. While at Rosh Hashanah services, a new guy was acting odd all day. Now, there's a tradition that "however Rosh Hashanah goes, your year will go." For example, if you take a long nap, you'll have a lazy year.​

So this guy was acting off but nothing majorly bell ringing. Until....

Things Got Worse!

Suddenly, my rabbi yells GET OUT like he's Gandalf telling someone that they won't be passing. I look to see why and new guy is running down the far aisle in a t-shirt yelling happy new year, his yarmulke flying off. By the time he reached the bimah ("stage" in front where the rabbi conducts the service), I saw that he had ONLY a T-shirt on. No underpants or anything. My poor eyes saw WAY too much. Can't unsee.

The ushers tried to get him, but they're older gentleman and couldn't keep up with him. He tried to get on the bimah, but my rabbi switched from Galdalf mode to professional wrestler mode, clotheslining the guy down the stairs. He was dragged off for the police to take away.

So, remember that, "how Rosh Hashanah goes, so your year will go?" I joked afterwards that I hoped this didn't mean that the next year would be crazy. That next year? 2020! Curse you, temple streaking guy!!!!

As a post-post script, my mother-in-law is fine, all things considered. She had some mental challenges that persist to this day due to the strokes, but she's getting better. Thankfully, insurance also covered most of her charges because the "amount to pay if you didn't have insurance" was over a million dollars!

TechyDad

As you can see...

...life can be punctuated by significant bursts of tragedy when you least expect it. How do we cope with that? The answer––speaking as someone who has a few "But wait, it gets worse!" stories of their own, is: You just do. And there's no way to prepare for things like this until they happen to you.

Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments below.