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by Hellllllo Nurse

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Posted: Nov 14, 2007 04:36 PM

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Strange, but true story:

About twelve years ago, I was working nights as an LPN at an inpatient hospice unit. It was a quiet night. I was sitting in a patient's room with the patient and her family.

I will call the patient "Gladys."

Gladys was quietly actively dying, and her son "Bill" and daughter-in-law "Sue" were with her. I heard the phone ring at the desk. The CNA "Mary", answered it, took a message and met me in the hallway. She said "That was a weird call. It was some guy named "Harry." He said to tell Gladys that he'll be here for her in a half hour."

I walked back to the patient's room and relayed the message to Bill, Sue and Gladys. Gladys was non-responsive, so I leaned over and spoke the message quietly in her ear. The message didn't make sense to me, but I figured the family would know what is was about. Bill and Sue didn't say anything, but they gave me the strangest look. I went back to the desk.

A couple of minutes later, Bill and Sue came to the desk. Sue said "Are you sure the caller's name was Harry? The only Harry we know is Gladys' husband, and he's been dead for five years." Mary was sitting there, and read from the message log, confirming the message.

Bill said "That doesn't make any sense." Then he and Sue went back to Gladys' room. A little while later, Sue came to tell me that Gladys was not breathing. I went to check. She breathed two more times, and stopped. I assessed for signs of life, and wrote down the time of death and called the Charge Nurse, who confirmed it.

When we checked, we saw that Gladys' time of death was one half hour TO THE MINUTE from the time that Harry called. Mary said that his voice had had an echoing, staticy quality to it.

Was it really Gladys' dead husband calling to let everyone know her time was at hand? Who knows!?

We all talked about that incident for a long time after that.

Nov 15, 2007 12:42 PM - Oh jeez. creepy story!

while we're on the topic of phones and death..

I had a guy (captain gravity from a previous thread) whose family I got close to
in the time I knew him. After his burial we all went to lunch, and it turns out his son owns the restaurant, so the doors got locked and the afternoon was spent watching home videos on the TV over the bar.

This was last november, in the fall, and for some reason I'd taken my dad's car instead of my own. So a few hours (and perhaps I'll admit a drink or two) too late, I drove home. Dad's parking spot was across the street in a big pile of leaves.

I woke up, first in the house as always, the next day feeling a bit wonky from all the brandy 'n rolling rock.. and can't find my cell phone. I'm digging around in dad's car, in the leaf pile I parked it over, can't find it. Later on in the day I resolve to drive back to the bar, and find my phone in the driver's seat of my car.

So mine's not as creepy as yours, but I can't help but feel that the dead guy's last good deed in life was to drop off my phone for me

Nov 15, 2007 10:35 PM - i didn't find that story, creepy at all.
if anything, i was comforted by it.
i immediately knew "harry" must have been her beloved husband.
i love, love, LOVE these stories...
and believe every single word.
working in an inpt hospice, i see many of this phenomena.
ea and every time, i can only smile...

leslie

Nov 16, 2007 12:40 AM - Oh... geez...

is that for real????

-angelkea014

Nov 16, 2007 12:51 AM - Its ok....very interesting

Nov 16, 2007 01:55 AM - Yes, it absolutely happened. I have no idea who it was on the phone- if it was her dead husband, a wrong number, or what. But the caller did ask for "Gladys" and say he would be there in 1/2 hr- he did say his name was "Harry."
And yes, Gladys did die in exactly a half hour.

A number of other very strange and unusual things happened in the nearly five years I worked hospice, but some of them were so strange, and unbelievable, I don't even want to write about them here.

Leslie has experienced similar things, as she states in her comment above.

Anyone who has worked hospice for any amount of time is bound to witness things they don't understand and can't explain.

Nov 16, 2007 02:25 PM - That is a really cool story, Hellllllo. Very comforting. I think the veil between this life and the next is sometimes a really thin one.

Nov 17, 2007 08:18 PM - Oooh.. this gave me goosebumps.... I swear my Dad is ringing my phone.. there is never anyone there.. but the phone rings constantly.

Nov 17, 2007 08:59 PM - Thank you for the story Hellllllo.....very interesting.

Nov 19, 2007 02:40 AM - I want to share an equally strange story that I haven't talked to anyone about - still not sure what to make of it.
My dad passed away suddenly almost 3 years ago in January. The following Christmas Eve while my mom was home alone the phone rang. The male caller said "Hello honey, Merry Christmas!" My mother, ever polite responded "Thank you, but who is this?" He replied "You know who this is - it's Bill!" (My father's name). My mom managed to tell him she thought he had a wrong number before hanging up. It was a couple of hours before she called me to relate this.
Knowing it wasn't my father, she still takes comfort in believing it was a message of some sort. Me - I'm not sure what I think...