The other day at work, I was trying to get Jane (names have been changed to protect the innocent) to eat her dinner (I have never seen her eat... I don't know how she survives). Jane is ancient and with alzeheimer's. I also believe she is near death based on various things she does (I read tons of books on this sort of thing after Paul died). While I was coaxing her to eat, she had her face very close to mine and was saying various nonsense, but cute, things... like, she asked me to tell Pete that she liked him (I have no idea who Pete is). All of a sudden her eyes very quickly shifted from mine to somewhere over my shoulder. She pulled her face back from mine, still staring over my shoulder and said, "Who's that there?"
I looked over my shoulder and saw nothing but the elevator. I said, "Who?"
"That man there."
"What man?
"That nice man standing behind you."
"Is it anyone you know?"
"No, I've never seen him before." She then began reaching just beyond me, her hand grazing my shoulder.
"What does he look like, Jane?"
"He looks like a nice man. He's kinda tall, and he's smiling, and he looks almost like an angel. Yes, that's it, he looks like an angel standing there. What a nice looking angel!"
Sadly, we were then interrupted by one of the nurses. The hair was standing up on the back of my neck and I was covered in goosebumps. It felt like all the blood had drained from my face.
In many of the books I read, they talked about how when a person is dieing slowly (e.g. old age, disease) they are often inbetween worlds... this one that we know, and the world beyond (in my belief, heaven). Often times they see things that are definetely very real to them but we are unable to see them because they are not of this world. All of the books said that the best thing to do is not tell the person that it is in their imagination (I sure wish I knew this before Paul died!), but to ask them as many questions as you can. Some books argue with this, saying that it is simply hallucinations... the mind playing tricks on them. I like to think the former train of thought is true.
I consider it a true gift that I was able to share this experience with Jane.
1 comment:
Oh, Ev! How wonderful for you to share that moment with someone! I remember going on "codes" at the hospital and when things weren't going well, I would sometimes look around the room, wondering if they were watching from above at what was going on.
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