Suddenly, I felt myself rising up from my bed. I opened my eyes to see what was happening, and I saw myself rising toward the ceiling.
My NDE is not as in-depth as some of the others, but nonetheless it is as
real. By "in-depth" what I mean is, it didn't seem to last as long.
(Unfortunately) But what seemed to be a brief period of time, was enough to
convince me that there IS life after death.
When I was 20, (1967), I had to have surgery on my bladder to create a new
valve. The surgery at that time was very extensive, and the surgeons had to make
a five inch incision in my abdomen. Anyway, when I awoke I remember that I not
only hurt like hell, but I had all sorts of tubes running out of me, and needles
and tubes running into me. But more than that, I felt worse than I had ever felt
before. Obviously from the pain and shock of this surgery, but moreover, I
actually felt as though I was going to die. Perhaps that's what I wanted - I
didn't know. For the brief time that I was conscious, I felt wet all around me,
and as I tried to look where I was laying, all I could see was a bloody pool of
fluid that was laying in. I recall hearing my father yelling at some people to
do something. I remember that the answer my father received was "Oh don't worry.
That's normal for the type of surgery he had." I must have passed out at that
point in time.
I don't know how much time lapsed before I awoke again, but I remember the aroma
of fried chicken. I opened my eyes, and before me was this plate full of fried
chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. There was some sort of flavored jello,
a carton of milk, and other food stuffs. I thought to myself, "I feel like hell
itself, and they expect me to eat like a tucker, or a lumberjack?! Then I must
have passed out again.
About a week passed when I began to feel somewhat alive, and I began to think
that I just might recover from this traumatic experience. I was still connected
to several draining devices (drainage tubes in both sides of my belly, and I had
blood plasma in my left arm, and glucose IV in my right arm.
One evening, my dad was visiting me, and I was feeling pretty good. I remember
that he bought be a 7-UP, and I was drinking it. It tasted really good. We
visited for about an hour, when I noticed that my lower stomach was beginning to
swell. I was really quite noticeable. I showed my dad, and he called for a
nurse. The nurse then called one of the surgeons in. Anyway, the surgeon began
to work on me for what seemed to be an hour, then he told me that everything was
O.K. It was "lights out time", and I began to drift off to sleep. Then it
happened!
Suddenly, I felt myself rising up from my bed. I opened my eyes to see what was
happening, and I saw myself rising toward the ceiling. I noticed that I was
still laying on my back, but I was rising up as if I were being levitated by
some force. I remember wondering why I wasn't afraid. I also remember that I the
constant pain that I was in was no more. I felt tremendously at peace, and that
I had never felt this wonderful before in the best days of my life! And I wasn't
afraid of what was happening. I didn't know what was happening, I just knew that
I didn't want it to end. Then, as a lay suspended in mid air near the ceiling
(about 15 feet), my body began to roll to the left 180 degrees. As I looked
down, I was directly over my bed, and I saw something that I had never seen
before. There before me was me! My body was laying in the bed. My eyes were
closed, and I appeared to be sleeping. Again, I wasn't afraid, and I remember
thinking, "How peaceful I look."
Then, as fast as this experience came, it left. Someone was shaking me
violently, and screaming my name. As I came to, I was sitting in a chair across
from my bed, and their were several nurses and doctors around. As I began to
look around, someone was saying that I gave them a hell-of-a-scare! As I looked
around the room, I noticed that the two bottles (large) that were connected to
my arms were shattered all over the floor, yet the needles were still in my arms
undisturbed. The catheter that was in me became disconnected from a connection
outside my body rather than from inside my body (lucky for me). One of the
nurses told me that as she entered the room, she saw me walk across all of the
broken glass in my bare feet to the chair where I sat down. They raised my bare
feet to find not one cut, or abrasion on the bottoms of my bare feet. (Wish I
had an explanation of that!)
I'm not sure to this day that I had an out-of-body experience, an NDE, or just a
hellacious nightmare. Some people that I have told this to say it was just a
nightmare; others say it was an out-of-body experience, or NDE. All I know is,
what ever it was, it was great! I was at peace with no pain, or worries. It was
a euphoric feeling, and one that I will not feel again until I die. I am envious
of those who have seen a tunnel and bright light; those who have seen Jesus and
God, then returned. Perhaps there are varying degrees and scenes of NDE.
Apparently, I was not allowed to travel as far as those who's journey carried
them to the other side. I marvel at their experiences.