Did I tell you the one about one time when I was working on a hospital ward as a nurse? I wore no cap that day, but was wearing a white uniform dress. I was covering over the lunch hour for another nurse's patient. He was an elderly male who was dying in a room across from the desk and had family members with him. I knew even though my own assignment was crazy busy, that I still needed to check on him. I had been told he wouldn't be living very many more hours, since mottling of his lower extremities was present and he was having regular apneic spells. I walked into the room, only to find the sun streaming in through the window enveloping him and the entire bed. It was one of those times where you can see the lit-up dust particles floating in the air, if you know what I mean. I didn't speak, just quietly tip-toed in. He heard me I guess and turned his head toward me. All of sudden, he smiled and cried out in wonderment, "an angel!" You may not believe this, but he died right then and there. I stood for a minute, rooted to the spot, thinking he had mistaken me for an angel because of my white uniform and blonde hair. Then I wondered if I didn't have someone walking beside me from another world or dimension that he could see and I couldn't. I guess I will never know. I walked up to his bedside still in shock, took out my stethoscope and listened for a heartbeat. There was none. I was astounded and of course, it was something I will never forget.
Another late evening, after dark, when the hallways were vacant and the visitors had gone home, a lady patient I was caring for started telling me she had just had her deceased relatives come to visit her. She was ecstatic and described to me in fairly vivid detail who all she talked to. Although I held her hands and marvelled right along with her at the excitement of it all, the whole idea rattled me. I talked it over with my nursing partner and we both had seen enough TV shows to know it could mean something ominous. Even though everything about her had been normal for the entire day, we decided she would bear close watching. I called her doctor as a safeguard and told him what had happened. Sure enough, as the night progressed, her vital signs became more and more erratic to the point that I did indeed have to carry out the orders the doctor had given, should she take a turn for the worst. I had told him of her odd circumstances and to my relief he had no misgivings or qualms that my suspicions were not correct. He did not argue whatsoever or make me feel like I was blowing her condition out of proportion. If he hadn't listened to me, I think she would have headed somewhere else besides earth on that night. It was uncanny.
Quite a long time later, I sat with my aunt as she struggled to pass away. I had arrived at the hospital back home as her family member and not as a nurse. Some of my family had been to see her in the afternoon and she was talking and laughing. It was supper time when I got there and the minute I walked into the room, I recognized the signs. She had the distinctive breathing pattern associated with dying....the death rattle. She was no longer conscious. I stayed with her during the night, since she and my uncle had no children of their own. He was terribly unwell himself and the kindly hospital powers that be allowed him to be admitted into the bed next to her. He slept off and on and worried about her all night. She was turned and attended to by the nurses regularly during those long hours. She was working really hard with her breathing and it was a sad thing to watch. Come lunch time the next day, my Mom and I talked my uncle into leaving the room to go eat some lunch downstairs in the cafeteria. When we returned, there was the tell-tale light I had seen before surrounding her and the hospital bed she lay in. There were the shining dust particles floating through the air. She never regained consciousness, but within minutes of our return, she gave her last breath, along with a sound that was almost like an exclamation of relief as a final noise. My uncle was devastated and immediately showed the one and only display of anger I had ever seen on him. He was standing up, holding onto his walker. He picked the walker up and slammed it down on the floor and asked, "why did I go down for lunch?" Awwhh...it was such a sad day.
I know from other experiences with those who are dying that they seem to develop a sixth sense or something. They sometimes wait until family leaves the room, or hang on for longer than seems humanly possible while they wait for a certain loved one to arrive. Unfinished human interaction and touch needs to be attended to before they can go it seems. Although I have always heard, "when it's your time, it's your time"...I do wonder...are things really as random as we think? Unexplainable happenings always give all of us pause to wonder about the very nature of life's miracles.
Another late evening, after dark, when the hallways were vacant and the visitors had gone home, a lady patient I was caring for started telling me she had just had her deceased relatives come to visit her. She was ecstatic and described to me in fairly vivid detail who all she talked to. Although I held her hands and marvelled right along with her at the excitement of it all, the whole idea rattled me. I talked it over with my nursing partner and we both had seen enough TV shows to know it could mean something ominous. Even though everything about her had been normal for the entire day, we decided she would bear close watching. I called her doctor as a safeguard and told him what had happened. Sure enough, as the night progressed, her vital signs became more and more erratic to the point that I did indeed have to carry out the orders the doctor had given, should she take a turn for the worst. I had told him of her odd circumstances and to my relief he had no misgivings or qualms that my suspicions were not correct. He did not argue whatsoever or make me feel like I was blowing her condition out of proportion. If he hadn't listened to me, I think she would have headed somewhere else besides earth on that night. It was uncanny.
Quite a long time later, I sat with my aunt as she struggled to pass away. I had arrived at the hospital back home as her family member and not as a nurse. Some of my family had been to see her in the afternoon and she was talking and laughing. It was supper time when I got there and the minute I walked into the room, I recognized the signs. She had the distinctive breathing pattern associated with dying....the death rattle. She was no longer conscious. I stayed with her during the night, since she and my uncle had no children of their own. He was terribly unwell himself and the kindly hospital powers that be allowed him to be admitted into the bed next to her. He slept off and on and worried about her all night. She was turned and attended to by the nurses regularly during those long hours. She was working really hard with her breathing and it was a sad thing to watch. Come lunch time the next day, my Mom and I talked my uncle into leaving the room to go eat some lunch downstairs in the cafeteria. When we returned, there was the tell-tale light I had seen before surrounding her and the hospital bed she lay in. There were the shining dust particles floating through the air. She never regained consciousness, but within minutes of our return, she gave her last breath, along with a sound that was almost like an exclamation of relief as a final noise. My uncle was devastated and immediately showed the one and only display of anger I had ever seen on him. He was standing up, holding onto his walker. He picked the walker up and slammed it down on the floor and asked, "why did I go down for lunch?" Awwhh...it was such a sad day.
I know from other experiences with those who are dying that they seem to develop a sixth sense or something. They sometimes wait until family leaves the room, or hang on for longer than seems humanly possible while they wait for a certain loved one to arrive. Unfinished human interaction and touch needs to be attended to before they can go it seems. Although I have always heard, "when it's your time, it's your time"...I do wonder...are things really as random as we think? Unexplainable happenings always give all of us pause to wonder about the very nature of life's miracles.
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