Dying Patient and Spirits

[NewMexicoJohn]

Hey Brothers,

My name is John and I am in second semester at Santa Fe Community College. This week at clinical I had the opportunity to take care of a Hospice patient (39 year old Male) who was actively dying. I had taken care of him the week before and had gotten to know his family (most of whom were in attendance constantly). The client was on a PCA pump and his respirations went down to 5. He was getting close to the end so I was taking VS every hour since it seemed to make the family feel better.

All of a sudden Mr. X (the client) woke up, pointed to the ceiling, and said.........."Look Mama.......it's Maria........she is telling me to come............she's waiting for me"

Then he closed his eyes and went back to his deep sleep. His mother, sitting in the chair next to the bed looked up to me crying and said "Maria was my grand-daughter, his niece............who died 4 years ago, she was only six years old.

I got chill bumps all over and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. One of our instrcutors worked in Hospice for years and she has several FASCINATING stories that are similar. It really made me stop and think.

We also rotate through the Indian Hospital in Santa Fe and at orientation we were told about "spirit people" whom the native Americans treat with respect after one of their people die in the hospital rooms.

It really makes you think. I felt honored to have witnessed this and it made me appreciate how important it is for clients and families to have time to connect to the spirit part of dying.

Pretty cool stuff.

John

[corbinRN]

I work in a PICU and there was a little boy with cancer in there who was dying. I think that most chronically ill kids wait until their parents are not there to die because they feel that it would be too hard on them, but they don't want to die alone either.

So...this little boy was dying and his aunt was with him on this particular day. She was going to leave the room to use the bathroom only for a minute. She started to leave and he said, "no, don't leave." She said "why not?" and he said "He's coming." She said "what do you mean?" He pointed to the ceiling and said "you know..." and closed his eyes and died.

I get chills every time I think of this story.

[Bobylon]

It really makes you think. I felt honored to have witnessed this and it made me appreciate how important it is for clients and families to have time to connect to the spirit part of dying.

Pretty cool stuff.

John

Hey, John ..... yeah, it sounds as though it can be interesting at times .... we just started covering "Death and Dying" in class, and (thankfully) haven't had anyone die during clinicals....yet. Whether it's a result of chemical activity in the brain or actually something "beyond" is up for debate, I guess..... unsure as to what I believe, but am not afraid when that day comes (hopefully later than sooner )

[KarmaWiseRaven]

I seen this page about dying. And i have to tell you I work in this old nursing home in missouri it use to be the county poor farm way back when matter of fact we have our own graveyard attached to it and durning the cold winter months they use to store the bodys in the basement until the ground thawed. I have seen alot of sprits in that nursing home. I work the graveyard shift. Well anyways when someone passes we open the windows so the sprit dosen't get captured inside and yes i have heard my residents speak or see things and its very intersting and spirtual in away. And it really raises a question is there life ater death. As an aid we kinda get a crash course on dying and what to do when some passes. I have seen many die and the frist one is the hardest. But really you get attached to these people and its always hard to say goodbye. I wish you luck in this. And just know its a part of life and thats why we do what we do.

[NurseSpanky]

My wife works at a Hospice care facility and this came up in the interview process. She is just an admin assistant, none clinical, but they still brought it up. It appears to bequite common in her facility for the dying to see kids playing in the hall (Staff occassionally sees them as well!) and to not want to sit in a chair or the bed because there is some one there. There is also a dog that hangs around. ( Not real but spirit.) The staff sometimes sees dancing lights at the door when a death occcurs. Interesting stuff to say the least. There is alot we dont know or understand about what happens next. As a side note, I am prenursing after being a mortician since 1990. I've lived in a number of funeral homes through the years and it was not uncommon in some of the places Ive lived to have lights come on un expectedly in un used portions of the building and to have knocks at my bed room door. Never anything maliscious except things occasionaally being moved into my path. Interesting stuff. Oh I almost forgot to mention, at the Hospice facility, there is a flock of ducks ( real not ghosties:D) that come to the window of the dying person. That happens quite a bit. The families will comment " oh look at the nice ducks" and shortly thereafter the patient dies. Very interesting stuff!:uhoh21:

[hb4hikes]

I recall a few odd incidents when doing end of life care while working on a Pulmonary unit. I worked night shift, we did total care and when our patients died we did all the prep & took them down to the morgue. A man had just expired, we went in to prep him and he seemed to glow or emit some kind of energy perhaps a faint aura, the lighting in the room would get dim then brighter, like power surges but the lights were fine earlier in the shift, it was really erie. Other times, some of my dying patients would call out usually for "momma" shortly before passing. I have had similar experiences as noted above with the ducks but mine is with cardinals during the death of my parents (10 yrs apart) and different seasons.