Two little stories: I had a good friend (Livia) who told me a storyabout her childhood in the Ukraine. When Livia was a little girl, she was led into her dying grandmother's bedroom to say goodbye. Little Livia cried into her grandmother's ear to not leave. Grandma heard and 'came back' but was forever after somewhat angry about Livia's calling her back from the light.
Second story:My mother had surgery when I was a very little girl (in Austria). She died on the operating table and was removed to a chapel with nuns to pray for her soul (a Catholic hospital in a very Catholic country -- this was circa 1953). She heard the nuns talking about a poor man whose wife had died and now had to raise five little children all on his own. Having five children herself, she sympathized with the man. Eventually she realized they were talking about her situation and she fought to come back and let them know she was not dead. Eventually a doctor came with a very big needle and injected adrenalin into her heart. (she swore to kill him if she ever found him). She's in the hospital at the moment and just yesterday she reminded me to make sure she is dead before burying her... Interestingly, she also has memories of floating above the doctors in the operating room and noting their bald patches -- details, details. I've never known what to make of this story. But it seemed relevant to this 'bears' thread.
Ursula in somewhat sunny North Bay Judith Evans wrote:
>Suddenly, he seemed to come back to life, as it were. >His color got better, he was alert, and so on. That>sounded like consciousness to me. I'llmy mother 'came back' twice in her last six weeks, the second time, when shewas officially dying (i.e. undertaker hired, medicines stopped). She sat up straight in bed, she talked clearly and lucidly, she understood everything. For some while before that she hadn't even known what eating meant (she had advanced dementia). Each time, the next day, she'd returned to her coma-type state. It seems this is not uncommon, and it seems there's a lot doctors don't know about memory and so on (if you like, about 'consciousness').(When she 'came back', she didn't even know she was ill, she knew nothing ofwhat had happened; I tried one careful test question, when her lack of knowledge became clear, I probed no further.)But importantly, these were not true "near-'death'" experiences
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