Nurse's Patient's NDE

Experience Description

I was an RN at a teaching hospital.The patient was a young female in her 40's. She came to emergency room in cardiac arrest. She was transferred to cath lab almost immediately. She had almost a full blockage of her left main and LAD. Cath was uneventful. I can't remember stents were in the room because they were just coming into medicine. I was her nurse in the ICU.

She was awake and oriented, so I was about to go get her family when she grabbed the back of my scrubs as I was walking away. I turned around and she barely got the words out saying, 'Something isn't right.' She went into Vfib. I started CPR and called the team. Once the team arrived, I switched roles, to documenting what was happening while I was at the foot of bed. A respiratory therapist intubated her, a medical student was bagging, and two other nurses at the crash cart while another was administering medications and IV drips. The pharmacist arrived and stood in doorway. He yelled at us to let him know what a drug dealer can do for them. As you know, these are stressful situations and the medical teams joke around. I am a known punster and the lead doctor was starting to use puns to make the situation less stressful. I do not remember the specific puns, but this joking went on throughout the rest of the code.

I switched my role to CPR, and the medical student took over documentation.

I looked down at the patient saying, 'Come back! You are way too young' and 'I'm not going to let you die on my watch!'

She eventually developed a pulse and was in critical care for a few days. She kept trying to write something, but was too swollen. When she was extubated, she said she had out of body experience. I shrugged it off and said, 'I am glad you came back.' The next morning, I took care of her again. She asked if she could tell me her experience. To say I was floored was an understatement.

She said she was at the top of the ceiling with a childhood friend. She told me where every single person was standing in the operating room. She said that she was groaning at our obnoxious puns and was trying to tell us how bad they were. Her friend told her, 'That is how these types deal with stress.' She told me to come up with better jokes. She did not remember all of them, but repeated a few. She said her friend was leading her to a soothing light and she felt her body floating towards it. She said they started to go and then heard me yelling at her not to die on my watch. She thinks that was when she was no longer floating and when her pulse came back.

Later, she started calling the pharmacist a drug dealer because of what she heard. This experience totally changed how I care for these patients.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 1987

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Illness Surgery-related. Heart attack. CPR given. Life threatening event, but not clinical death. I was the nurse who took care of woman who had this experience. It changed my whole perspective of nursing care for comatose, vegetative conditions and cardiovascular arrest situations. The pPatient was recovering from a cardiac catheterization and arrested shortly after arriving in the ICU

How do you consider the content of your experience? Both pleasant AND distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes seeing her childhood friend and the light. I clearly left my body and existed outside it

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal. I can't answer fully but it sounded as if there was heightened awareness of the situation

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? speaking with my friend

Were your thoughts speeded up? Incredibly fast

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? No

Were your senses More vivid than usual? More vivid than usual

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. same as previous answer just heightened awareness

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. sounded as if she was able to hear everyone's statements, despite everyone talking at same time

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? I actually saw them

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes bright soothing light with halo

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? No

What emotions did you feel during the experience? At peace, very excited to interact with her friend

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? No

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back to you? I remembered many past events

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Do not know

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Christian- Other Christian

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes care of my patients

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? No

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? I actually saw them

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? Yes interacting with a deceased childhood friend

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

During your experience, did you gain information about love? No

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience?

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the time of the experience.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? No

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Uncertain