Experiences of a Nurse with Dying Patient

I had a patient who told me everything until the moment she died,

what was happening to her and her body and what she was feeling and what she was

seeing. And the thing she told me has haunted

me till this day, five years later.

So I had a patient, her name, I'm just gonna call her Marie.

Very intellectual woman, very courageous woman, very brave.

Very just such a big heart. One of the nicest patients

I've ever had. She was on hospice, and she knew she was gonna die.

But she was also a scientist, and she wanted to tell us

what she was feeling, and she wanted me to document

exactly what was happening to her as she died.

So I'm gonna spare the gory de-details, but on the, the last

day that she was dying, she refused any narcotics,

no pain medication, nothing to make her go to sleep.

She was in a lot of pain, but she wanted to just be awake for

the whole thing. And I remember I was in the room with her

and her family, and I was holding her hand.

And this had to be one of the most spiritual experiences I've

ever had, by the way. Um, felt like a very pivotal moment in my

life.

But so she was starting to pass, and the first thing that went was

her senses in her legs. She said, "Oh, there goes my

legs. Okay, guys, so when you go through this one day too,

you're

gonna lose senses in your legs," which is what happened, right?

So she lost senses in her legs. And then her vision went, and she goes,

"Oh, and

there you go.

It's all darkness. Can't see anymore."

And then her breathing got

more labored,

and I felt like death was coming for her.

And then she's like, "I think this is it, guys. I think this is it.

Oh, I'm starting to see a light. A light is coming.

A light is coming." And, and then she starts to

show more symptoms that she's gonna die.

She starts to have a,

uh, her heart rate starts to slow. She starts to have a more limp

grip. And then she ends right before she passes

away,

she says, "Oh, and I see all these people.

Oh, what pretty colors. Okay. They're, they're,

they're getting me now.

Okay, they're picking me up. All right, bye, guys.

See you later." And then she dies like

that. What a haunting

but miraculous thing to have experience with this lady.

I miss the hell out of Mary. She was amazing, and she left me

with such a gift. And the fact that she was able to

talk right until the moment she died, and she died quite fast, to be

honest, um,

was amazing. And I still wonder, who are those people she talked

about? I could be butchering what she said,

but she said she did talk about

seeing people and that they were colorful.

Um,

but yeah. Wow.

This has nothing to do with spirits or dreams, but like a re-- that, that

was a

real-life experience

as a nurse seeing my patient die.

So do with that information what you will.