Has a patient ever described a Near Death Experience to you?

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Has anyone ever had a patient who coded and came back and described a near death experience? I have several patients who coded and came back but none of them remembers anything about their eperience.

I was listening to Art Bell last night and the show was about NDE's: patients floating above their bodies during a code or on the OR table. It is very interesting.

I have two.

My best friend coded during a tilt-table test when we were in our early 20's. She said she remembers being on a hill, with beautiful green grass and blue sky all around. She could feel the breeze in her face and was so happy. Then she heard her sister calling her name (the docs had brought her sister, who's a critical care RN, in during the code) and so she went back.

And then, just a few months ago, I had a patient whose family had found her in a coma at home, brought her in, and bloodwork showed her hgb to be less than 3. We started blood right away, and as she was coming around, she grabbed my hand and told me that she had been in the most wonderful place. She said all the people were dressed in silver and gold, and there was beautiful colored glass on the walls with light streaming through. At this point, she didn't even yet recognize her family, and she made it sound as though she had just returned. Talk about those hair-raising shivers on the back of your neck! I still get all quivery just telling that story...

Next?

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i guess people really have to have something to believe in even if it is no belief i know this guy who says that science has or will have an answer for everything...but he puts down people who have faith in God and God has been around longer than science....i think it is an ego thing...you know that your belief is real and that your life is better for you having that belief...you are to be envied....God bless

You know I have gone over this and over this with my 16 year old, starting about two years ago when she announced she was atheist...I don't personally feel that having faith in a higher power or belief that there is something after death has made my "life" any better, I do however feel that there is some continuation of consciousness after death which has I guess to some extent releived any anxiety I may have had over dying.

I took it to this level for my daughter

I asked her if she felt that animals had a spirit or souls she thought they probably do, I asked her if she thinks that Nature was an accident, does she beleive that trees and grass and the atmosphere have purpose, she felt that they do serve a purpose(photosynthesis)so I aksed her if it is possible Just possible not probable or a certainty that there could be a Consciousness that links all these things together? Could it be that after a person dies their "soul" could become a part of that consciousness? She considered all of these things and thought that this was possible. I said that is what some people call God, some call it The Mother, some call it Holy Spirit, it doesn't matter what you call it or how you feel it, but if you feel it!

I also used this little tidbit with her...She continued to say she doesn't believe in God so I said you know what Fish may not believe in water but it is there all around them keeping them alive everyday, you don't have to believe in something for it to be true

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My sister almost died during an emergency c-section during her son's birth. She remembers voices getting further and further away.

All of a sudden there is a blinding light. Then she is outside- somewhere beautiful. She is walking on cobblestone, there are church bells ringing (strange cause we are Jewish) . She is under a beautiful crystal clear blue sky. The sun is shining. There is nobody around her. She feels wonderful- content- no worries...She is heading towards a spiral staircase. She lifts her foot up...Just as she is about to step up- she is PUSHED DOWN..down down down she goes-

She awakens abruptly to hear her Doctor's and nurses calling her name. They are relived to see she is "back".

Strange huh?

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Specializes in NICU.

Years ago, I was taking care of a full term infant with multi-organ failure. After a few days of working with this baby, I had a dream about him. I was in the nursery with him. He looked at me and said, "I've seen Jesus. I want to go home." When I went into work, I saw the coroner as I came through the door and knew that the baby was gone.

Another time, I was driving home after working three 12 hour shifts over a week-end and sobbing. I'd taken care of a premie that was dying, but the drs wouldn't let go and were just prolonging the process ridiculously. It was one of the worst cases I've worked over the years. As I was driving home, sobbing, and asking "why," I had a vision of Jesus holding a baby. For a split second I felt His love for that baby and I knew I only felt a fraction of it. I knew if I'd felt any more my physical body couldn't have withstood it. It was an awesome experience.

We would joke a lot in the NICU about the kids that had chronic bradycardic episodes that they'd seen the light too many times and it made it tougher to keep them here.

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Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
Years ago, I was taking care of a full term infant with multi-organ failure. After a few days of working with this baby, I had a dream about him. I was in the nursery with him. He looked at me and said, "I've seen Jesus. I want to go home." When I went into work, I saw the coroner as I came through the door and knew that the baby was gone.

Another time, I was driving home after working three 12 hour shifts over a week-end and sobbing. I'd taken care of a premie that was dying, but the drs wouldn't let go and were just prolonging the process ridiculously. It was one of the worst cases I've worked over the years. As I was driving home, sobbing, and asking "why," I had a vision of Jesus holding a baby. For a split second I felt His love for that baby and I knew I only felt a fraction of it. I knew if I'd felt any more my physical body couldn't have withstood it. It was an awesome experience.

We would joke a lot in the NICU about the kids that had chronic bradycardic episodes that they'd seen the light too many times and it made it tougher to keep them here.

Welcome to Allnurses, rnpilot. I have had that very same picture you described, only it was God looking at me as He cradled me in His arms. It's beautiful, isn't it.
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Now THIS is some interesting content. My mom got killed by a drunk driver 21 days after my first child was born. Mind you, I'm an agnostic now, but I am a believer in how important it is to so many people to be a believer. Anyway, a few weeks after my mom was taken, I had a dream wherein I received a phone call from her. We talked real casual-like "so how's everything there?" " It's just fine, real nice, don't worry about me" "ok,bye" that sort of thing. As if she was calling from Hawaii to tell me the hotel room was just fine. But it comforted me. Her death certificate states that she died at 2:22 on 2/22/88. I often wake up in the middle of the night to see that the clock says 2:22. This happens to my younger sister also. We just say Hi Mom and it's comforting.

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This is not really a NDE, but similar. My best friend died about 8 years ago in a car accident when I was 6 months pregnant. She was pronounced dead at the scene; about 45 minutes later she was recessitated and brought back to life, but was in a coma and died the next morning. I think that she came back after 45 minutes because she was fighting it, she had 2 small daughters.

Anyways, about a week before she died she had a dream that all her friends and family were at her funeral which she told me the next day and then a week later she really was gone. A few months after she died I had a dream about her and she was telling me she was going to die and we were crying together. I'm not sure if it was just a dream of if she really came to me in my dream to say goodbye, but it felt very surreal.

This might sound weird, but I use to think that she was reincarnated into my daughter. Do any of you believe in that? I'm not sure it that's really possible, but at the time the thought crossed my mind.

Its a nice thought. Romantic to say the least :) Sorry for your loss.

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hey JanFrn ~

Wow that is amazing, I am truly moved, and can't even know how you feel as the mother of that wonderful young boy!

thank you for sharing:)

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