Lynn S NDE

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION:

My out of body experience surrounded several days of pain and sickness with an un-diagnosed ruptured appendix. I was a chemistry major in my second year at USD.  I had been admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.  I had been sick for 72 hours prior to my admission.  I improved with IV fluid and antibiotics, however, 26 hours after admission I worsened.  I felt "impending doom".

I saw myself lying on the bed with a resident physician sitting next to me.  I had lost total control of my body; brown vomit was rolling out of my mouth onto the sterile white sheet.  I couldn't speak, nor was I listening.  I was floating up in the corner of the room with a dark cloud that was about 1/2 my size.  I felt great! - for the first time in days I felt total relief of my pain and nausea.  It was incredible!  I was surrounded by intense brightness that seemed to funnel ahead of me, there was warmth and pleasantness with it.  Initially I tried to make sense of this, but then resolved to enjoy it.  I had no fear.  "My cloud" and I were floating deeper into the brightness.  This was perfection.

 I was suddenly jolted back into my body by a nurse who had grabbed my arm.  They were injecting me with drugs and shoved a tube down my nose.  I knew it was too late and was back out of my body floating with my cloud.  The surgeon, I had met earlier that day, walked  into the room with several people.  They lifted me onto a gurney, and when the resident touched me I popped back into my miserable body.  They wheeled me out into the hall and I watched the cloud hovering in the corner, but it did not follow.  It seemed like an eternity rolling down the hallway, finally got into an elevator, but the doors would not close.  No one seem to notice; we weren't going anywhere "I'm dying here", but couldn't speak.

The cloud came around the corner and entered at the ceiling and went to the top of the elevator.  Only then did the doors close in slow motion.  I was floating  near the ceiling with my cloud.  It was over-finally!  I had no pain; I was euphoric.  We floated above the gurney and followed it into the operating room.  I was surrounded by the brightness and warmth and was ready to leave.  They  lifted me onto the operating table and with that touch I left the cloud and entered my painful body.  The cloud up in the corner was the last thing I saw as the anesthesiologist placed a mask over my face.

My appendix had ruptured, walled itself off and re-ruptured several times.  I talked with the surgeon a few days later about my 'out of the body experience' and he dismissed it as 'I was in shock'.

I went on to medical school and now have the privilege to care for many wonderful people, and some, at the time of their death.

I know that what happened to me was real.  It was not shock, or a dream.  To have gone from such despair to peaceful euphoria, and back again, is not something that the mind can create.  The human touch, even that of a stranger, was enough to bring me back from death.

I know that at the time of death there is no pain, there is nothing but peace.  I know our journey does not end at death, there is something else out there.

I have no fear of death now;  I just hope it's "my cloud" that comes to get me.

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words? Uncertain      I can describe what I saw; but the sense or the feeling I experienced can not be expressed.

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?          Yes     ruptured appendix with septic shock.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness?    WHEN I WAS OUTSIDE OF MY BODY

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal every day consciousness and alertness?    More consciousness and alertness than normal

If your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience was different from your normal every day consciousness and alertness, please explain:            WHEN I WAS OUTSIDE OF MY BODY

Did your vision differ in any way from your normal, everyday vision (in any aspect, such as clarity, field of vision, colors, brightness, depth perception degree of solidness/transparency of objects, etc.)?  Yes     INCREASED INTENSITY OF LIGHT

Colors were less intense or muted; the only colors I recall was on the side of the walls:  "lima bean green" tile with 2 rows of "straw/faded yellow" tile on top, then a border of black. .  Everything else was starch white or dull.

I had good depth perception as I was floating above my body.

Did your hearing differ in any way from your normal, everyday hearing (in any aspect, such as clarity, ability to recognize source of sound, pitch, loudness, etc.)?            Yes     DECREASE HEARING; but I think I was not listening or chose not to listen to the conversations. I think I lost interest in the conversation  I could hear the gurney rolling.  I couldn't talk or express myself

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?     Yes

What emotions did you feel during the experience?            EUPHORIA, NO PAIN, NO SUFFERING, NO FEAR  FELT AT PEACE. 

Floating- felt free! 

Best I've ever felt.

Did you pass into or through a tunnel or enclosure?          Yes     STARTED INTO A FUNNEL OF LIGHT THAT CHANGED INTENSITY WITH THE DISTANCE AS I FLOATED.

There were no walls.

Did you see a light?           Yes     BRIGHTNESS, LIKE CLOSENESS TO THE SUN,  There was a warmth to the brightness, yet, not hot, it was perfect...   (This was not an artificial light).

Did you meet or see any other beings?           No      

Did you experience a review of past events in your life?    No      

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?          Uncertain      HOSPITAL EVENTS AND SURGERY CAN BE VERIFIED, I DID NOT OBSERVE PAST OR FUTURE EVENTS.

Did you see or visit any beautiful or otherwise distinctive locations, levels or dimensions?            Uncertain      I was floating with a dark cloud, but it was very peaceful.  There was no fear.

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?   Yes     TIME SEEMED TO BE SLOW

Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?     Yes     I SENSED THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING OUT THERE.  SOMETHING CONTINUES AFTER THE BODY IS DEAD.

I felt strong connections with people that physically touched me, despite the fact that they were strangers.  A touch would cause me to stop floating with the cloud and return me to my body with all the pain and suffering.

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? Yes     Brightness seemed to increase in intensity the further I floated into it.  I knew I could not come back if I went trough to the end. I was pulled back into my body when people touched me.  I do not believe that I would have returned of my own volition.

Did you become aware of future events?       No           

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience you did not have prior to the experience?     Yes     Knowledge of a continuum that exists after the body dies.

No fear of death.

I perceive peoples feelings more astutely.  My own feelings have been accentuated; ie: fear in a dangerous situation has been heightened.

Have you shared this experience with others?         Yes     with the surgeon and a nurse 2 days later. - they dismissed it as a dream like state due to 'shock'. 

My husband ( a physician) - 15 years after the event  He believed it.

recently with a dying friend's son, who then sent me the book "Evidence of Afterlife".  He seemed to

be interested in it.  I did not ask if he believed me.

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

How did you view the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened:            Experience was definitely real    Transitioning from intense despair to euphoria and back again can not  be created by the mind. (I was not on any medication, other than an antibiotic). 

When I was floating I was clearly above my body, and the people that surrounded me.  I could see the top of the nurses white hat.  I was definitely looking down.

Were there one or several parts of the experience especially meaningful or significant to you?            The sense of peace that occurs with death.

 Human touch could transpose me from death to life, (the sense that someone cares, even a stranger).

How do you currently view the reality of your experience:            Experience was definitely real            The events that happened are still very vivid.  I left my body and floated,  Severe pain abruptly stopped when I left my body, and re-occurred when I entered my body.

I feel different -I have changed from the person I was. It was an experience that you can't explain.

Have your relationships changed specifically as a result of your experience?           Yes     My involvement with people and relationships was intensified.

I try to help anyone that I can, especially people that are alone.

I advise my patients that their dying family member can hear them; despite comatose states, or even death.