30 Doctors And Nurses Reveal The Creepiest Last Words Uttered By Their Patients Right Before Passing Away
We people have a strange fascination with our last words. Whether we think those who are called to the afterlife, in turn for their departure, receive all the answers or we are simply interested in how a person summarizes their days on Earth, when someone's whispering their final phrase, we're listening.
To learn more about these moments, Reddit user ProcaineForTheSoul made a post on the platform, asking doctors and nurses to share the creepiest things their patients uttered before passing away. And many did. From spiders to WWII captors and the devil himself, here are some of the most memorable stories.
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I don't care that I'm not a nurse, but this was said by my dad to the nurse, so close enough. Backstory: Dad had MS. He'd had it since he was 18. Diagnosed at 20, married my mom at 24, had me at 29, [passed away] 15 days short of 45. Six months before that, he was put on hospice. He and Mom were discussing funeral arrangements, and my mom jokingly said, "You know Tim, the best thing you could do would be to [pass away] on a Wednesday. That way we can have the body prepared on Thursday, the viewing on Friday, and the memorial on Saturday, so more people could come.
The morning we got the call that it was time, my mom, two sisters, and I were about five minutes too late. After we said our goodbyes, the nurse pulled my mom aside and asked if that day had any significance. It's not even 6 am yet, so Mom doesn't even know what day it IS much less if it's important. The nurse tells her it's May 21st. No... nothing is coming to mind.
The nurse told her that the previous day he kept asking what day it was and they'd tell him it was the 20th. He'd look irritated but accept it. That morning, he asked what day it was, and they said, "It's Wednesday, May 21st." He smiled, squeezed his favorite nurse's hand, and was gone almost immediately.
It was Memorial Day weekend, and we did just as he and Mom had planned. And despite many friends being out of town for the holiday, we had over 250 people show up at the memorial service, overflowing the tiny church more than it had ever been filled. To his dying day, he was trying to make things easier for our family. I miss him.
MS= Multiple sclerosis: A disease that is characterized by loss of myelin (demyelinization). Abbreviated MS.
Not creepy but sweet. He wanted to make sure he could do his family one last good thing for them. Pearly Gates are open my good man.
Your dad did sound wonderful. I love how he actually did die on a Wednesday. I had to look up when 5/21 fell on a Wednesday..I should know this, it's my birthday.
A couple of months prior my dad passed away his father in law died (my parents are divorced) ... my father he went with his wife to the cementary to choose a place for his father in law's tomb he selected a spot which he thought it was the "perfect spot" .. his wife and her siblings choose at the end a different tomb .. so now my father rests on in the tomb he thought it was the "perfect spot"..
My mom held on, until her three children were able to see her, just before she died. She lived with my sister, in one state, while my brother and I lived in 2 other states. We each took turns, going into her bedroom to have our private time with her. I told her that I would be alright. She made a sigh of relief. One month later, she died. She had been in hospice 3 different times, she rallied, and was released. She was waiting for us all to be with her.
Can't write this without sobbing...but three years ago my grandma passed. She was stubborn as she could be and the hospice nurse kept telling us "it won't be long now...anytime, anytime". So there were about twenty of us, her kids and grandkids, her 80 year old sister, standing around the bed. It became quite uncomfortable all of us just standing there holding hands waiting. So finally I went over to her and whispered in her ear that I loved her and it was okay for her to go. She and I were very very close. After I did that my mom did the same thing, then my grandma's sister. After another while my mom said "I remember a long time ago, she told me she figured she would hear I'll Fly Away ( her favorite hymn) as she entered heaven's gates. Everyone kinda chuckled and my 80 year old great aunt a few minutes later softly started singing: One glad morning when this life is oe'r I'll fly away... To a home on God's celestial shore I'll fly away... And without missing a beat all of us joined in as best we could...we were all crying: I'll fly away oh glory! I'll fly away! When I [pass away] hallelujah by and by! I'll fly away...
At the end of the verse of course we were all just sobbing. Not ten seconds later did her heart stop forever. She just needed some help to fly away. Never got to share that before. Thanks.
My husband needed a little help too. Since he was a Buddhist priest who had chanted sutras for the past 40 years, when he was dying, there was a moment when I knew that he would be able to let go if I chanted for him, and so I did. At the end, I looked up and knew he was gone. Sometimes it just takes something like words, songs, or even music to relax a person and allow them to let go and go on.
[pass away] is the new d!e...Well done BP, you're outdoing yourselves these days...This is getting ridiculous...
Especially because "When I die" is the actual line.
Load More Replies...That's lovely, but who is censoring the word "die"? Please realize how ridiculous that is.
There were about 8 of us standing around my dad's bed. We knew the time was close as we had been told and his breathing was shallow. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. Then pointed at each of us, one by one; his three kids, his wife and two grown grandkids and two other loved ones. A funny smile appeared as if to say, "For me?" He then closed his eyes and left this world about two minutes later. I was lucky enough to be there when both of my parents took their last breath. And to have other family with me.
My dad was living with me at the end of his life. He'd been ill for over a year and we knew it was just a matter of time. A friend of his who is a massage therapist came one day to give him the final gift of his services to my dad, his good friend. My dad never spoke again after that, but he seemed to finally relax and yes, I whispered to him a few times, "I love you, Dad. It's okay to let go now." I will always be grateful to his friend for that final gift.
I did that with my own mother after she made her peace with god. She was ready to go. I dreamed of her being yong and healthy, and running toward me. I will see her again.
similar story here. My mom held on for a few days and finally on 12-2-21 after I told her how much she meant to all of us and how she could rest and that i would take care of daddy, he then told her it was ok to go. She passed within a few seconds after holding on and coming back several times. This is a beautiful story. I am also sobbing thanks for that :)
Music has a way of soothing the soul. My dad passed away in 2002 from cancer. I live 300 miles away. I called his room at the hospital and told my sister to put the phone up to his ear. I told him that I was there and that it was ok. I told him to take the hands of the angels and go with them. Then I started to sing to him a hymn that he and I used to sing together. While I was singing to him, he took his last breath. I miss him so much all these years later, but that is a precious memory for me
"Want me to haunt anybody in particular?"
Agree. I would have so much fun with this.
Load More Replies...Was it a guy? I totally thought it was a woman who said that. Maybe because my grandma was joking like that.
Load More Replies...I have a few suggestions and yes, one of them is political. (take a wild guess)
Last year: my grandfather started desperately pleading for his life with his German captors from WWII.
The doctor present was smart and said in German: "You are free, Herr Caticature. You are free." And then he [passed away].
My dad wasn't conscious a lot in the days leading up to his death. During these times, he would make these distressing sounds while his arms failed around and his body jerked about. When this started, his hospice nurse asked if he'd seen combat. He'd been a submariner during WWII and spent basically years at sea. His nurse explained that he saw this quite a lot with veterans - they would relive those days while they were unconscious. For a man who rarely spoke of his time in the war, it was distressing to see this. He only ever mentioned the depth charges from enemy boats and how the fact that they all had to take turns counting the charges as they exploded. He said that they never could tell if they were going to get hit or not and at least one sailor had to be locked in quarters because he went mad while he was the counter. It kills me to think he might have been reliving that.
I am german and I feel so sorry and ashamed. Bless the doctor who helped this man. I'm crying.
Scarred people till their death, i thank the doctor for letting him free
oh i forgot to use the formal 'you' when i translated it to german
Load More Replies...I worked in a secured Alzheimer's unit and one of my 99-year-old residents rolled up to me in her wheelchair and said, 'can I use your phone honey, I want to call my son before I [pass] today.' I said no granny (what everyone called her) you aren't going to [pass] today. I let her use my phone anyway. After dinner, one of the CNAs asked if I had seen her so they could put her in bed. I said no and helped them look for her. Turns out she just laid down in an unoccupied room and [passed] that evening. I was never more happy that I had let a resident use my phone to call a family member.
Something tells me that if you hadn't let her use your phone she wouldn't go until she could use it
I'll try that trick next time I have urgent diarrhea but can't get to the bathroom soon enough. I'll ask random people if I can use their phone to call my friend before I s**t my pants, and hope they all say no!
Load More Replies...Do we really need to censor the word die and substitute it with [pass]?
Why has BP replaced the word die with passed? These are direct quotes taken from Reddit. Seems disrespectful.
I agree, I have always hated the term 'passed away'. I don't think it is callous to say someone died, it's just fact.
Load More Replies...This is referred to as a "rally" or terminal lucidity and often happens in the final stage of death. I've seen it many times, especially in those with dementia/Alzheimer's or even severe psychiatric or neurological disorders. It is creepy but also very sad when you recognise it. Thank you for letting her use your phone ♥
Not a nurse, not a doctor, but I'm an apprentice funeral director. We went to a nursing home on a removal and as we were walking down the hall one of the patients got antsy and opened the door to his room and saw us walking with the stretcher.
'I'll see you next week boys.'
And guess who we had to pick up the next week.
I have today that for the past 2 years, we have left doors open so residents and staff can come out or not, to say good bye to our deceased residents as they are conveyed out of the front door. Most old folk aren’t frightened to die and, yes, some seem to know in advance.
My grandma [passed away] in 1989 my grandfather (Bob) [passed away] around 1965. She never remarried, never dated, but she did have a great life.
When she was dying she yelled "Bob Bob here I come.. Oh honey I've missed you so much!"
We always joked that we were glad she didn't yelled "Bob who the hell is that"?
When my grandpa died my grandma told us she saw him in her sleep and tried to follow him! He prevented her and told her it's not her time yet! 17 years later my grandma is still with us but I'm hoping when it's her time he will come to pick her
I had a very vivid dream some time after my dad died. He was sat at the bottom of my bed, he was sad. He said that he missed me and my mum and how long would we be. I told him a long time.
Load More Replies...My Great Grandma Beppie married my Great Grandpa Truman when she was 16 years old and he was 19 years old. They had 3 boys and raised them on a farm in Nebraska. He sadly died when he 40 years old making my Great Grandma Beppie a widow at the age of 38 years old. Many people told her that she needed to find another husband to help her raise her boys. She told them that my wedding vows were until death do us part and I'm not dead yet. Truman will be my husband until the day I die. My Great Grandma Beppie was 70 years old when I was born so to me as a child she seemed like the oldest person that I knew. I used to stay the night at her house on the weekends and I once asked her "Grandma Beppie, are you afraid to die? I don't want you to die." She laughed and said "No, my dear, when I pass onto the other side, your Grandpa Truman will take my hand and I'll leave with a smile on my face." At the age of 94, Great Grandma Beppie passed away in her sleep with her arm stretched out and smiling.
My Dad would wake up in the wee hours of the morning as he was passing away, and open his eyes and start talking to his old war buddies and friends who had already passed away. He would get animated when they would come in his dreams to comfort him. They eased his passing into his next existence. I know now, without a doubt, that our existence doesn't end with this life. Don't be afraid.
My father died at 92yo. A week before he saw his own father enter the hospital room. His father had died 80 years before. Pretty common for those dying that someone 'comes to get them'
I firmly believe that my grandfather waited for my grandmother on the otherside.
My Father's Mother (my Grandmother) came for him the night he passed. I sat by his side while they chatted until it was time for him to go.
I work in a cardiac ICU. We had a patient who had a pulmonary artery rupture (a rare, but known complication of a Swan-Ganz catheter). One minute he was joking around with us and the next bright red blood was spewing out of his mouth. His last words before he [passed] were, 'Why is this happening to me?' It still haunts me years later.
Here, too! He died! He did not "pass", he died. Let's cut this absurdity out.
You see, I don't really understand why people find it scary. I find it more upsetting as he may have been confused by what was happening. Great story though
Fear of it happening to them is often a reason why people find something scary. I agree way more upsetting that he was confused.
Load More Replies...Why is "passed" in square brackets? Is "died" considered a bad word here?
Not creepy but memorable, old lady few hours before [passing], 'I think I deserve some damn rum.'
Hope she got her rum! Though doubt it. Sad really. If you are that close to going, go out with a bang!
I wish all the old folks could get whatever food or drink they wanted in their last days, even if it's just a taste. The doctors & nurses KNOW the old folks aren't going back home, or back to their careers, just let them have their rum, or chocolate, it's the end of their life & they deserve some final pleasures. Have them sign a release to protect the facility from being sued, it's not that difficult.
Load More Replies...I think that under international law anyone over 95 should be allowed as much as they like of anything they want, coke, booze, sugar, cigarettes, weed, red meat, what ever they want.
My husbands grandfather apparently said something similar so my husband snuck in some Jameson before he passed the next day.
When my grandpa was 90, he told me his doctor told him to stop having his one daily beer. I looked him right in the eye and said, "Grandpa, you're 90. Have your beer. And enjoy it!" He did. He died of a massive stroke at the age of 93, and he was more than ready to go, as we had lost Grandma the year before.
I've written phone orders from doctors for patients to have a certain amount of ounces of wine or liquor in the evenings or at bedtime.
Many people in nursing homes and hospice are allowed to drink or smoke, as long as they're not connected to oxygen. You'd be surprised how often we liquor on medication admin sheets
My mom smoked all of her life. My dad died because of it. She had to give it up when she came to live with us and was in hospice. On her death bed, a few hours before her death, she told my adult son where she had hidden some cigarettes in her room and she wanted one last smoke. I walked in to find her 2 adult grandkids helping her smoke. WTF? Nothing I could do. She inhaled and coughed like hell. Probably cut her life short by another 10 minutes. She died later that night. But we all joke that she got her last smoke and had hid them from me for over a year.
Ugh. I was a hospice nurse for many years. Super gratifying job for a nurse, surprisingly. As a 'regular' nurse, you are rarely offered thanks. Hospice nursing is an island unto itself. Mostly peaceful, lots of times sad, often a blessing.
This is sad, but also creepy, and I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. Had a 20-year-old kid, gang member, who [had] primary liver cancer. Super unusual, aggressive, and terminal. He was angry at the universe. His family was there to comfort him, but he literally [spat] in their faces. Every ounce of energy he had left was angry and mean and ugly. His mom would beg him to lighten up and accept Jesus into his heart. He would swing at her and tell her to eff herself. The family remained beside, in hopes he would chill out at the end.
His last day, hours, moments, he was angry. The family called me into the room, and told me they thought he was going (he wasn't responding, Cheyne-Stokes breaths, eyes glossy, and skin cold - the end was imminent). His lovely mother, in her dearest attempt, whispered to him to go towards the light, to her Jesus. With his [final] breath he opened his eyes, looked at her and said, 'Eff your Jesus!!!' A second or two later, he slowly turned his head to the left, and got the most horrific look on his face as if he was looking at something we couldn't see, and horrified, like in a bad movie, his face contorted, and he screamed with his last breath, eyes wide, 'Oh sh*t, oh sh*t, OH NOOOOOOO!!!!' then made a guttural noise and promptly fell back into the bed and [passed]. Every family member was shaking and too frightened to speak, and I left the room and took two days off. I don't care if I never find out what he saw.
Used his last moments to mess with you all !! Just kidding - probably hallucinating due to meds.
He may have been having a pain so unspeakable in his final moments that, that was his reaction, and his face and body contorted and seized in the pain, in that final act. I've had over 20 surgeries in my short life,so far. I'm now disabled and have had several intense pain moments where pain wasn't controlled and have felt the OMG OMG OMG moments due to pain. All the while, curled up in fetal position so nauseous I can barely stand to breathe and can't stand to even have a strong wind or any movement near me or my body, pain is real.
Load More Replies...Sounds like his palliative care was poor to be suffering like this and probably causing hallucinations. Also his mother telling him to 'lighten up'??? 'Accept Jesus'. He's dying of a painful cancer at 20 years young. Why on earth would he suddenly believe? Meant well but sounds like it just made his final moments harder to bear. As for 'gang member' - doesn't mean he actually did anything awful personally so I hope people didn't judge him for that on its own.
Probably not a popular comment, but I understand how he felt - brought into the world at the behest of other people who were using HIS last moments to try making him fit their belief system. No wonder he was furious. Even if he hadn't been the best person during his life, at 20 he probably felt the full force of the unfairness of being shoved into - and then out of - existence. This is why I don't have kids.
Idk if I would believe this but it is sad that the kid died angry
Yes, it is sad, but it also seems entirely reasonable to me. Angry is often just scared in disguise. To die so young and he will have been in pain and suffering.
Load More Replies...the kid probably didn't believe in jesus and it wasn't right for his mom to try to force it on him in his last moments
Wasn’t right, but she seemed to genuinely love him and want him to find peace.
Load More Replies...Why is "spat" in brackets? is it censoring something? if so, what???
Had to scroll back & check that - yeah, censoring spat is really weird!
Load More Replies...We had a man, who in his last hours kept calling out for help. He told us about dark figures at the end of his bed. They had come to get him. He was terrified and begged us to stop them from taking him. We couldn't.
Not a nurse or doctor, but my beloved Grandpa was in the hospital, ill with pneumonia and sepsis. I thought he would recover. He was asking to see me and my family, so I went with my parents, my husband and my two little boys. Grandpa couldn't talk, but he was lucid and was watching TV in his room. He motioned for a pen and paper. He scribbled something on a scrap of paper and gave it to my oldest boy, who was about 12 at the time. It said, "I love you." When we were leaving the hospital, it hit me that Grandpa was saying goodbye and I started to bawl like a baby. Grandpa had passed before I got home. He held on just to see me and my boys one more time. I still see him in my dreams, only he isn't the sick old man I had known since my Grandma [passed away] in 1977. He is about 40, in the prime of his life. He is healthy and strong, taking long, energetic strides across the front yard of the house he shared with my Grandma for 45 years. I have never known him to look like that. And yet, there he is, popping in to say hello.
I heard dreaming of deceased relative is them telling you that they are ok in the afterlife
Load More Replies...My grandparents took me in, so they were more like my parents. As a child they were everything to me. I was in my thirties when Papaw passed at the age of 85. Mamaw lived another decade and passed at the age of 99. At her graveside funeral I was devastated. I just kept my eyes closed and cried. That night they both were in my dreams. I saw them in the cemetery near both their graves. They were dancing in each other's arms. With each turn they became younger and younger, until they looked like they might have when they met, in the 1920's. Then they just held hands and walked away. I still miss them every day.
It's not a dream. You are getting to see him as things are now. I do dream about my dad, but when he's in his blue golf sweater it's really him. My mom has come to see me only once, but she was soo beautiful in a satin pantsuit with a white jacket, lavender sash belt and satin lavender pants. We had a huge group hug and then they were gone. Haven't seen them since. I'm somewhat annoyed.
My greatgrandfather, who we spent a lot of time with when we were younger, appeared to me in a dream a little while ago, and he said to me," I just want to tell you we're all ok, not to worry about us", meaning family members who have passed away. It was very comforting.
My grandmother appears to me young and beautiful too. As do both of my grandfathers.
ER physician here, had heard many last words from patients, but the creepiest one has to be of a man who was on his last breaths as he succumbed to renal failure. He said, 'I see a bright light... Horses... No eyes... No... NO... NOOO!' as he loudly yelled, at this point he was crashing when he suddenly woke up, looked up, and with his last breath he said, 'I understand...' and he [passed]. We know in the medical field that these situations are provoked by a cascade of neurotransmitters in disarray due to tissue and organ failure, but I sometimes have my doubts and perhaps we are seeing more than we are lead to believe.
Makes you seriously start wondering what the heck they are seeing
Load More Replies...In some myths, the dead are met by a coach pulled by horses without eyes and a headless driver.
Oohhh which ones? Never heard that before, sounds creepily interesting
Load More Replies...Nurse here. Seen waaay to much, professionally and personally, to believe that these are simply body chemistry neurotransmitters causing this. It's so much more than that. So much more.
The question is, what is eternity? Is it truly an endless span of chronological time, or a few seconds that seem to last forever?
Oh when my mom died the room smelled of my grandmas house and we knew she was being welcomed by her mother.
Well, I'm glad you're willing to be open to the possibility that not everything can be reduced to whatever doctors deem believable.
CNA here, I didn't see this myself but I worked with a nurse that was with a dying man and he said "here hold this." She said what is it?" He said I'm driving this team of mules to Hell." Creepy.
Aaaand this is why people need Jesus. Literally. I'd rather have loved ones and Jesus waiting for me than no eyed demons. No thanks. And all of you that are going to downvote and talk trash.... well you need Jesus more than anyone. And honestly if I'm wrong and it's a "hallucination" then at least I'll never know and I'll be at peace. What do you want YOUR last vision to be?
Paramedic:
17 y/o female, car crash: "Please, please, please...don't tell my parents I was drinking."
This is so sad. Seventeen with a whole life ahead of her. Instead dying on the road for a something that can be avoided.
Drinking and driving makes me so angry. It causes such unnecessary loss.
Yeah! I'm not risk-avoiding at all cost, when it comes to me and me alone. Doesn't mean I'd, like, mix unknown drugs, sip'em down with a flask of Schnaps and don't give a dam, but ... driving a car, even more than a bike, puts other peope at risk if done in a non-reasonable way, which drunk driving sure is ... so, none of that for me, I'll instead clean or repair Grandma's roof unsecured, before she sees me, forbids my doing, and calls some expensive professional instead.
Load More Replies...Had a friend who was a seasoned cop. He told me that, in his experience, teenagers in car accidents—-injured or not—-are nearly always way more concerned with how angry their parents will be when they find out than they are with how badly hurt they and their friends are (if there were other teenagers in the car). I remember him saying that made him raise his own kids to feel comfortable coming to him and his wife with their problems. You can replace a car. You can’t replace your child.
That's not creepy, that's f*****g sad. And that's why my kid knows that she never ever ever has to hide anything from me.
I told my son not to ever get in the car with friends that have been drinking. Or even himself once he gets his license. I will come get you, no questions asked. I wish all parents had this policy.
Load More Replies...Unfortunately the autopsy/ inquest will have revealed to her family that she had been drinking.
"You're not gonna believe this..."
Talk about a cliffhanger. Can't wait for season 2 of Old Man With Heart Failure.
My grandfather on his deathbed said "they have no eyes", still give me chills.
As a kid, whenever I had a fever, I´d have a recurring dream. In the dream, I would suddenly enter an oldfashioned restaurant or waiting room. There were faceless people sitting alone at the tables, but they seemed to be friendly bystanders - gently letting me know that is was not yet time to walk through a door in the back of the room. I never felt afraid there…
You sure it was eyes and not ice? Like the big afterlife bar was out of ice?
Came into an early shift and was handed over a patient who'd been very anxious and had a panic attack overnight. He was anxious all morning, but obs all fine, ecg fine, and so I just asked someone to sit with him to keep an eye on him/reassure him for me. He gets worse, really panicky, heavy breathing, he's on his side in the fetal position. Drs will be in in 10 minutes, so I tell him I'll get them to him as soon as they come in but ask if he'll lie on his back for me to help his breathing. He tells me he won't make it until they get here and that he won't face the other way. Obs still all fine at this point, but he's more agitated so again I suggest he move position for comfort and that's when he says 'I won't make it until the Drs get here. If I turn to face the other way I'll [be gone].' He repeated this a few times to me.
He arrested literally as the Drs walked in and he [passed] on the side he'd been refusing to turn to. I'm convinced he knew.
He may well have been aware of additional pain or problems caused to him if he was put on another side (due to other health issues) and how that would have made it harder for him for various reasons. Of course there is a good chance he knew. What is most upsetting is that they didn't listen and put him on the side he refused to turn to. That's not good.
Quite. If they were doing it purely for their notion of what would be comfortable why not leave him be?
Load More Replies...It is actually a common phenomena that the feeling of impending doom is an indicator that something is seriously wrong. Even if someone appears fully healthy, even if their vitals are all good - a person's body knows and it should be listened to.
Not the greatest thing to read if you suffer from frequent panic attacks...eeek
Load More Replies...Sooo, is there any medic that might actually explain what might have happened here ? I got questions about this kind of accuracy.
Why don't doctors listen to patients? It might not be scientific but a feeling is legitimate. Now they've killed him.
Some patients really do know, and not that anyone knows the exact date and time of their death, but I am convinced they do know, when they are about to die within hours or minutes. I have seen it time and time again. Or one day they tell me good bye, they won't be here when I come back to work, and sure enough, they aren't.
Not a doctor or nurse, but my grandfather was on hospice care at home and for 2 days he told us that he had to go with "the little red-haired girl." We didn't know what he was talking about.
When he [passed away], we cleaned him up and called the hospice nurse on duty, who came right over. I happened to be the one to answer the door and there she stood: 5 foot 2 or so, with gorgeous blue eyes and the most beautiful red hair you've ever seen. I couldn't even manage "hello", but my grandmother looked around me and said very cheerfully "Please come in, he's been waiting for you."
Dear Nathan: aw, Chuck, you've upset the people. it's alright, you can come over anytime, Chuck!
You'd think you would have learned just a little from reading these stories.
Load More Replies...
I had an old lady flag me down in the hallway a few days before she [passed] and with her emaciated face and bulging eyes, she said, 'You know where I'm going.' I asked her what she meant and she repeated herself. 'You know where I'm going when I [pass]. And it ain't up.' I was taken aback and asked her if she wanted to talk with the priest we have on staff. She shook her head and said, 'It's too late for that.' A few days later, she was eating her supper and started screaming. She yelled, 'Fire! Fire! There's fire everywhere!' She [passed] a few hours later, quite suddenly. I didn't sleep that night and I really hope her soul found some rest.
I think some people see what they are most afraid of or just what they think about in their last days.
as a physician you are well aware of the hallucinations that happen before death, c'mon man
Nothing here says it was a physician, or a man for that matter.
Load More Replies...I agree. Hell is just no longer existing, as opposed to heaven.
Load More Replies...when a bad person is that close to death they know where they will wind up. I think she knew very well what was happening.
Why? Some of these people will be traumatized for a long time by the stories here. Why would you choose to ADD trauma to someone's life?
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Surgeon here. Not sure if this is 'creepy,' but a man on his kept repeating 'the body is in the woods next to the oak tree' over and over until he passed.
The police were notified and they did search some woods behind the man's house, but never found anything.
Could have been in any woods, not just the ones nearby. Though people are also often on a lot of medication and hallucinate at the end so could have been that.
Yeah I dont understand how people here ignore that medication and pain cause hallucinations really often. My grandma was recently in the hospital and while her head is fine that day she was really bad because of the med, she was telling me how lucky she was, unlike "her sister" (refering to herself by name) who was ill at the hospital. I had also seen and head things while being on medicatiion, and not even a strong one. We were not dying but it is the same for them.
Load More Replies...Maybe they are used to some very weird comments and know how much people hallucinate at the end? Though I do agree, I personally think it is very creepy but I don't have the end of life experiences that these people do.
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I'm a nurse and was previously working at an assisted living community on the dementia/Alzheimer's unit. My very favorite patient had been declining pretty steadily, so I was checking on him very frequently. We would have long chats and joke around with each other, but in the last two weeks of his life, he stopped talking completely and didn't really acknowledge conversation directed at him at all. I finished my medication rounds for the evening and went to see him before I left. I told him I was leaving for the night and that I'd see him the following day, and he looked me in the eyes and smiled SO genuinely and said, 'You look like an angel.' I thought it was so sweet because he had not seemed lucid in weeks.
He [passed] the next morning. It really messed with me.
"But I don't know how to get there..." Grandpa in hospice. Hadn't spoken in days. [Passed] about 2 hours later.
"Mother, I have everything. Wait for me " my grandma the day she passed. I miss her, but she is at better place now with no pain.
Nurse here - had a patient come into the ER with shortness of breath. He started deteriorating in the ER, and then quite rapidly on the transport up the ICU.
We got him wheeled into his room, replaced the ER lines and tubes with our own, and transferred him from the transport stretcher to his ICU bed.
He actually did most of the transfer himself. He didn’t say anything, but just before he [passed] he pleasantly adjusted his own pillow, laid his head down, and then his eyes went blank. This man just made himself comfortable before laying down to [pass away].
I woke one of my patients early in they morning for meds. He said he needed to go to the bathroom so I got his breathing treatment ready for him while he went. He came out of the bathroom, climbed up into the bed, laid back on the pillow and his head rolled to the left and he was gone. It was the quickest, quietest death I'd ever witnessed.
i think the original comments say "die" or something so they get censored. i've noticed youtubers will try to avoid saying die/dying/dead so maybe it's to sound nicer or something
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I may have told this one before - this is how I remember it.
It was years ago, I was a junior resident. I didn't know the patient all that well, but got called up to get her paperwork ready for discharge. (She was an otherwise healthy 96 or so, had a palliative colon resection for cancer, something, something).
I went to her room to do a last wound check and DC a JP drain and she kept talking about how she was "going home to Bill*"
Her son pointed out that she's usually mentally very sharp, but Bill was her husband who had [passed away] years ago. He reassured her, "No, mom, dad is gone. We're just going back to the house."
She insisted. "No, I'm going to him. He came to see me this morning and said he's taking me home."
Whatever, I guess? Son said she was otherwise at baseline - it was the first and only weird thing she said - vitals and labs looked good, so we progressed along the DC pathway.
Not even a few minutes later the Code Blue got called to her room. She was Don't Code, so we didn't do anything, but it was like, "WTAF, I guess Bill really was coming for her." Her son was surprisingly OK with how this played out.
This one chilled me for awhile.
*Names changed to protect the innocent...and let's face it, it was like 10 years ago and I don't remember anyway.
My Grandmother, the day before she passed, asked me “did you see that little boy?” I asked her who it was and she replied, “I don’t know, but I’m supposed to be taking care of him”. My son had died a few years prior and would have been about 6 at that time.
People often see those they loved who passed on before them, coming to greet them and take them on. One of my grandfathers who died at the age of 83, saw his dear mother come to see him a day before he passed on. My mother said she heard him talking to his mother who he hadn't seem since he was 15 yo, asking her what she was doing there at that time.
When my mom was dying she was being given a fair amount of pain medication, but she was quite lucid. I asked her how she was doing. She answered "I'm scared." Well after all my years as a nurse, WTAH do you say to that? Anyway, a few minutes later as she was staring at the foot of the bed she said "Hi Cam". My dad. He'd come to be with her. Shortly after that happened she was alert, pain-free and happy. Like nothing in the world was wrong. Nothing in the world was wrong at all. She hadn't seen him in 10 years. He was there to be with her and soon they would go off together. I was good with that.
My great grandma talked about her husband telling her to get her shoes on so they could go after taking a nap. He died twenty years earlier. She passed away that night. My mom was battling cancer for 5 years, the day before she went into a coma (2 days before she died) she was napping in her room and my gran and I were sitting in the next room. Mom started talking to Terry (her deceased brother) and told him she would be ready to go with him soon she was just waiting to say good bye to the whole family. My other uncle arrived from out of town the next morning. After he arrived was when she went into the coma and was gone the next day. I don’t necessarily believe in a heaven or hell but I do believe in spirits and it was a good feeling in both cases to know they were greeted by other loved ones and were not alone.
Load More Replies...Okay, I'm atheist and don't believe in an afterlife but all of these submissions about seeing/ being visited by loved ones has me wondering.
This happened with a woman I knew well. She'd been quite something in her younger years and still was at 80-something. The afternoon before she passed she said to a mutual friend, "I saw Sam last night. (Sam was her late husband) He looked so young and handsome, and he asked me to come dancing with him." She died that night.
Lots of doctors don't have the best bedside manner, doesn't mean it's fake or even that they are a bad doctor. One of my daughters doctors is this way, but he is extremely smart and I definitely trust him.
Load More Replies...I'm working on my mother's Eulogy for tomorrow's wake. I'm going to go into detail for anyone that is smoking because I think it's something you should reconsider. My mom was diagnosed with Terminal Lung and Pancreatic Cancer, mass had developed around her vocal cords and made it hard for her to speak. She smoked all of her life, and it finally caught up with her. It attacked her quick, from time she was diagnosed, to time she passed away, it was less than 2 weeks. First she lost her voice, then she had difficulty breathing, became weak, she couldn't walk too far, then she could only walk a little, then nothing at all, she had trouble eating. The night she [passed away] I let her smoke her cigarette, (dr said it didn't matter anymore) and my sister and I took mom into her bed and I knew as did my sister, it was the last time, we spent a few hours with her, holding her and I got up, lost it a bit, and my mom said "Don't be sad" loudly with all her might. I was fortunate to be with my mother at that time, she was due to have hospice that Monday but she did not make it, lung cancer kills quickly. I hope none of you have to deal with that, consider it that next cigarette, it's just a matter of time. Well enough preaching.
I too lost parents (father & mother) to lung cancer directly caused by smoking... it isn't a pleasant thing to experience or watch. My father died in 9 months after being reduced to an emaciated prisoner-of-war appearing person; mother died in 5 weeks after diagnosis with the cancer wrapped around her throat, windpipe, and aorta, but more than likely due to starvation since she couldn't eat any longer.
I'm sorry for your loss. A similar thing happened to my dad with pancreatic cancer that had wrapped around his stomach. 5 weeks from diagnosis to having the funeral. It was horrible seeing him waste away as he couldn't hardly even eat yogurt.
Load More Replies...My dad was a smoker and developed throat cancer. Was considered "cancer free" for about five years then it came back with a vengeance. Rough. Really, really rough. To all those reading this, if you hear of someone passing away from throat or lung cancer please DO NOT ask that person if the deceased smoked. The looks I get of pity piss me off. Yes, he smoked. No, he didn't deserve to die young and in incredible pain.
My mother has lung cancer non smoking, and she’s mean as hell. She’s not talking to me right now because Target was able to stay open during the pandemic and not her favorite restaurant. I’ve done everything for her, not sure if she’s pushing me away or just being her normal self. She’s stage 4 and I really don’t think she has long, not sure if she wants to die alone being her mean bitter self or if she wants her family close cause I’m all she has.
I'm so sorry Kim. To treat you so poorly on her death bed is so shameful. Ill pray for you both. My mom was a heavy smaoker all her life. She passed from Stage 4 lung cancer and brain cancer. She had beat it once and it came back and hit hard. She was 74. Unfortunately.. I am a smoker as well. Started at 15 & I'm 56 now. I know how bad it is. It's hard to quit. Some days I want nothing more than to quit. It was easy to stop when I was pregnant & breastfeeding. But idk why I start. Usually something streeful. Not a great excuse. But it true.
Load More Replies...Not just lung cancer, smoking kills through heart attacks and other cancers, too. I knew someone whose family member died of breast cancer caused by long-term exposure to second-hand smoke. Treatment was agonizing and the end was excruciating painful for days, even with the limits of pain medication. If you smoke, just stop it.
I truly hope whatever you say, why you are all there in the first place, reaches people, or even one.
My Grandfather was fading fast, but he smiled at me and said "Dar Dar, I can't hang around, your grandma needs me to paint the house". He [passed away] a few minutes later. My grandma had been dead a few years.
Not exactly how I pictured heaven; painting houses. Can we not get someone in from Hell to do the menial stuff?
maybe he enjoyed painting houses, or it was a pleasant memory
Load More Replies...i believe heaven is what you picture it. Your paradise. So if your paradise is painting the house for your wife
My husband passed away 2 years ago. A few weeks ago I dreamt we were in a house together, and he was busily painting and patching , getting it ready for me. I was hungry and thirsty, so went looking in the cupboards, but couldn't find anything. I asked him where the food was. He said simply, "It;s there. You just can't see it yet."
"I need to tell someone where to dig to find her."
they might be doing the same thing i tend to do: handle emotional and hard situations with humor so you don't have to feel it. (yes it can be a bad way to cope, especially in this situation.)
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Had a patient who had a tracheostomy have a full-on panic attack, was setting off her alarms. She could still write as a form of communication. She wrote to me that there were some black figures in her room (floating above her and on the ceiling) and she drew me this devilish, creepy picture of what she saw. Coded about an hour later.
That's not that uncommon hallucination for dying people. I wonder why a nurse doesn't know that.
In Islam we believe that the angels of death come to take your soul, so for us this is not hallucination.
Load More Replies...Some of these stories are akin to ones on "Haunted Hospitals" on the Travel Channel.
I had a patient in my first week of being on a hospital floor as a CNA. She was really sweet and wanted to know all about my nursing school. Right before she went to bed, I helped her move from the chair in the room. She jokingly danced with me for a few seconds, humming an old tune before sitting on the bed. She thanked me as she drifted off to sleep. "Don't worry. It will be okay." Referring to my trepidation about the new job, I assume.
She was scheduled to go home and [passed away] from a complication of medications about four hours later.
The first song on the radio that morning as I got in my car was Shut Up and Dance. .... yeah that messed with me for a looong time.
When someone you have contact with before they die and they come say good bye to you in spirit form, that is a really nice thing because you obviously touched their life.
'Get home safe, little one.'
It wasn't what he said - he said the same thing to me any time I had him as a patient for the evening. It was how he said it. He gave me this look and pause like he knew. The DNR's in my experience always know when it's time. It's creepy.
Having lost several elderly relatives I'd say most seemed to know they were at that point. I don't personally find that creepy.
I had to tell my second wife,"I'll be okay Ina" ,You can go if the angel is there".She went in my arms!
'The devil has been in my room all night, but don't worry, God is with you.' This man had like the worst [end] ever, too. He had a horrendous seizure and [passed] with his eyes wide open and had a horrible grimace on his face. He had also been yelling all night about the 'devil' and saying over and over, 'Get out of here! This building's gonna blow!'
Imagine being an angel or guide or dead relative and having the person you’re meant to escort to the other side refer to you as Satan 😂 😂
Take it as a compliment it's a promotion from a simple escort to the boss of the underworld
Load More Replies...My grandpa was told that he would [pass away] in his sleep that night. When he woke up at 6:00 A.M. he said: 'Wow I'm still here!' And then fell back asleep and passed away.
Who on earth (and why) would anyone tell a person they are going to die in their sleep??!!
And how would they know? Unless he had heard the nurse tell family that it was likely he would die over night, so to say goodbye.
Load More Replies...My grandfather's brother, he [passed away] exactly 6 hours after my grandfather and just minutes before he [passed away] he said "I'm going to see you again brother" He didn't know at the time that my grand dad (his brother) had [passed away]. The family were going to tell him the next morning because he was having a bad day.
There were brothers in my family (don't remember exactly how they were related to me, but maybe great, great uncles or something) who died very close together. One died and then his family got a letter to say his brother, who was in a town more than four hours away had also died. Accounting for the time difference- they died at the same time!
"At least I'm not in danger anymore" 25 year old male, motorcycle accident.
Im sorry human centipede person
Load More Replies...I'm not a doctor or nurse but I'll share. my grandmother on her death bed dying from cancer. The afternoon she passed she sat up in her hospital bed and asked my father for a mountain dew. She never drank soda. My father loved the stuff.My dad went to the vending machine in the hospital got them both a soda and they both drank it even with the hole in her throat. She drank the soda and said something along the lines like wow that's delicious and passed away. I tear up every time I drink a dew.
She knew they are bad for to u and wanted to live healthy. She knew she was about to die so she said screw it.
Probably a stoma, a hole made in the throat to assist with breathing, necessary sometimes with mouth or throat cancer patients.
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My brother [passed away] just a little over two years ago from cancer. He was a medical doctor, I'm a PhD (History), so I guess we've got it covered. As we were in the hospice room of the hospital, my friend came in to visit on /u/goon 's last day (he was a redditor too). /u/g00n says "My heart. My heart is under the tv in my room."
Bob goes, "It's cool man. Don't worry about it."
"No, my heart. It's under the tv."
He [passed away] later that night.
Couple days later we were gathering up his stuff and found his stash of pot under his tv. LOL He seemed to want to tell my friend because that's who was procuring pot for him (never smoked before he was diagnosed and had fun with that during his treatment).
There is a growing school of thought that a little pot is good for certain conditions and patients react well to using it medicinally. Now don't all go running to your local drug dealer, waving your money at him shouting 'It's OK! Scagsy off BP said so'. I did not. Ahem. (If only I had such influence!)
Legalized pot has been a blessing for us. Helps immensely with my husbands Parkinson's, and If not for my medical I would be immobile with pain.
Load More Replies...Not a hospital story, but according to my family my Great-Grandfather was unresponsive his final few days, but suddenly sat bolt upright in the bed and then had a huge smile and raised his hands out as if greeting someone. Then he fell back and [passed away].
My great grandfather had a similar passing - he sat up and said Oh! It’s so beautiful!
We are Muslim. On his deathbed, my uncle asked to be recited the Holy Qur'an. As it was being recited, he held his daughters' hand, closed his eyes and was gone.
Reminds me of the story of Nijinsky. According to his wife, he was in a London hospital, on a dreary overcast winter's day, when suddenly a beam of sunlight came through the window. He looked up, and his face lit up, and he said "Mama!!" And was gone.
I was in the army in Pakistan for humanitarian support after an earthquake. There was a very serious school bus crash when a road gave was and a dozen kids [passed]
The first kid that we took off the "ambulance" and put on the strecher to carry into oir triage tent said (more like screamed) something in Udru. When we got there the doc asked the translators what he said, it was "the spiders are eating papa".
We all just looked at each other for a second, then just proceeded with triage.
I had this patient who had a stroke. After that, he recovered fine, but did get pneumonia like 4 weeks into his recovery. The last words he said to me [were] at like 4 in the morning.
'You took his girl and you will burn in hell for it.'
I actually took a girlfriend from a friend of mine. Somehow he knew.
It is true you can't "take" a person they of course are not property. What you can take is an opportunity and there in lies the choice. Do you take an opportunity or not? Your choice, you live with it.
It means it’s been edited by BP, the original redditor poster used a different word.
Load More Replies...Omg that’s creepy as. But still I don’t believe you can take anyone, just an unfortunate set of circumstances make people bond when they probably should or shouldn’t.
I found one of my "comfort measures only" patients standing at the side of his bed. It surprised me because he had been mostly unresponsive during my shift. I helped him back into bed and he asked me why all these people were in his room. He suddenly became quite again and I noticed he wasn't breathing. He was a DNR so there wasn't anything to do to try to bring him back. Looking back he may have been talking about me and the CNA that was helping me get him back into bed, but who knows what or who he was seeing the last minutes of his life. Still creeps me out a little when I think about it.
Yes you can get a DNR paper so if you decide you don't want to be resuscitated or put on machines to live it's your choice.
Load More Replies...My father saw people in his room when he wasn't doing too well. He passed a few weeks later. He told my brother "mom & dad are coming back tomorrow." My brother said "mom just left", meaning my father's wife. Clear as day he said "no my mom & dad." He also kept asking who the Boy Scout in the corner was & was petting a dog at the side of his bed. He passed peacefully in a hospice.
It means to control pain and otherwise make the patient as comfortable as possible until they pass away.
Load More Replies...My mom was watching over my great-grandfather in the hospital. He'd been unresponsive for a day or so, when suddenly he said: "It's about damn time you got here! I've been waiting!" And then he [passed away].
Grandfather [passed away] this year at 86. He was in Nashville in a hospital for pneumonia. I was working and was going to go down there the next day to see him. My mother called me and said he was passing soon and if I wanted to talk to him. I said yes and this was the conversation verbatim: Me: Hey Papaw, it's Markie. How's it going? Grandfather: I'm sick. Me: Can you hang on for a few more hours and I'll be there? Grandfather: Nope, I'm outta here. Me: I love you. Grandfather: Alright. He [passed away] before the phone hung up. Really bothered me with how accepting he was of his own death. I think about it everyday.
It also helps realising that there is nothing at all you can do about it
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I actually have 3 that stick out in my mind. An 83 year old woman that said "my mom's here. Are we going?" She [passed away] a few minutes later.
Another older lady said "I think I'm going to [pass away] today..." we took vitals, everything seemed fine. She was stable. She had a heart attack a couple hours later. Not her last words, but the last she ever said to me.
The last one is definitely the creepiest. A nice old lady who told my CNA she wanted to wear all white. When asked why, she said "the man in black is here." She looked in the corner of the room. The CNA looked, but there was no one there. That's when I came into the room. We asked her to describe what she was seeing and she said "he's in all black, and he's got a top hat on." Then she whispered "and his eyes are red" while her eyes moved across the room to directly behind the CNA, like she was watching him move closer to us. She [passed away] later that night. But it was unexpected. That room creeped me out for a long time after that.
I always hope alll my babies will meet me when I go. One black and white moggy, a black cat and two particular tabby ferals I had, they will be there, with piles of cat throw up and tassels to play with
i hope my dad's dog chewy meets me in heaven as well. IMG_2470-6...ad5601.jpg
Asking to be dressed in white before dying reminds me of one of the episodes of my favourite show. An ex-nun was close to dying and got really agitated about being seen 'uncovered'. She was thinking back on when Australia changed the requirements on nuns to wear habits. The nurses found some cloth and fashioned a habit and wimple and then the lady was calmed and fell asleep. She died in her sleep.
SO UM THE LAST ONE DESCRIBED MY IMAGINARY FRIEND AS A KID AND I AM VERY SPOOKED
"See you there"
They say, the grass aint always greener on the other side, and yeah thats right, so always, go on live your life, dont give up the fight
"Oh God, can't you see them? Leave me alone! Get them out of my room! They're coming for me, dear God why aren't you doing anything?! Help me! Oh God!" etc etc... My great grandmother's final words on her bed, just moments before she passed. I wasn't there, but I could hear her in the background as I was on the phone with my grandma, who was with her. Nobody was in the room except for my grandma. We still don't know what she was talking about.
It makes me think of the shadow creatures from Ghost
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Intubated pt wrote on a clip board, "if this hurts, I'll get you", just before the surgeon pulled out the pt's chest tube, post open heart surgery. The tube ripped one of the coronary grafts, he bled out in about 5 seconds.
Doesn’t sound like medical negligence, just s**t bad luck. Tragic but it happens
Load More Replies.......if they were removing a chest tube, I guarantee you it hurt like hell.
When the surgeon was pulling out my chest tubes, I yelled "Oh God!" from the pain. He calmly replied, "You can just call me Dr. Smith"
Load More Replies...Working as a secretary in ICU nearly 20 years ago, there was a mid 30's patient who was full blown AIDS, and was in ICU as a DNR (sort of contradictory, but there you go). Anyway, I can't remember if it was pneumonia or something else that landed him in ICU, but I do remember when things started falling apart, instead of coding him, the nurses were coming in with drugs to relax him and make him comfortable. Out of nowhere, he changed his mind about the DNR, and started screaming, "I don't want to [pass away] yet! Please do something!" So they called the code, but in the end, he didn't make it.
My grandpa passed a week ago after being in hospice for a few days. He was already unconscious by the time I got there, but doctors and nurses told me he could still hear everything, so I at least got to say what I needed to him. My grandpa was, to put it mildly, not that religious, but some members of my family are, so a priest came up to hospice to meet and confer with us. After discussing plans for his service, the priest took my grandma's hands, bowed his hands, and said "Let us pray." As soon as he said that, my grandpa started yelling and moaning and thrashing around in his bed. He was f**king P***ED off. It was such a dark, sad time and he still managed to make it hilarious. I miss him.
I would be angry too. I hate when people don't follow your religion in these cases. I'm atheist so I wouldn't want a priest. After I'm dead at the funeral it doesn't matter because I'll be gone and the funeral is really for the living to grieve. If my loved ones need religion to move on that's okay but don't push it on me at the end of my days because I'm too weak. My family did this to my dad and his end days and it still makes me angry.
I'm an atheist too in a very religious family!! I told my husband there better not be anything religious at my funeral no matter what my family says. He promised me that he would make sure. So I can die in peace, when the time comes!!
Load More Replies...I'm an RT and had a vented trach patient in angio have the same thing happen. Vent waveforms got a little funky showing she needed suctioned. I walked up to her and saw bright red blood just start shooting up the vent circuit and immediately obstruct it. I immediately said "she's hemorrhaging" and the vascular surgeon said "no it's just a little blood" thinking I was referring to his access site in her groin. I popped her off of the vent and blood just started pouring out of her trach, mouth, and nose. She looked at me and said "just let me [pass away]." The puddle of blood was about 6 feet in diameter on the floor within just a couple of minutes and I was covered from the chest down. I've seen some s**t, but that was the worst
DNR patient was on comfort cares. Was on a high dose of morphine and hallucinating. She would alternate between grasping for things not there and trying to climb out of bed. She was too unsteady to walk, so my job was to sit in the room and make sure she was safe. She tried to get up and I went to ask her what she needed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me down towards her face and said, very angrily, '[end] me.' That one f**ked with me for a while.
My grandad, in the days before he died kept trying to get out of bed, despite not having the strength to stand, and trying to take all his clothes up, he was just so uncomfortable. Thank goodness the sedation kicked in eventually.
No. Morphine is a real analgesic opioid medication that is used to treat severe pain. In my experience (fractured pelvis), it caused dizziness and drowsiness aka knocked me out.
Load More Replies...Not a doctor, but the last thing my grandma said to my sister before she [passed away] was "check under the floorboards". We searched her whole house and found nothing.
Cardiac ICU: Had a gentleman who was DNR on comfort care. He was demented and was cursing like a sailor. He seemed to have moments of clarity and would ask to see his brothers (who were both passed). After a particularly worrisome heart rhythm, he went back into a Sinus tachycardia and look me in my eyes and said "Hey, whats your name?" "Kabc" "What do you do here?" "I'm a nurse." After this, he was quiet for some time... then he said... "F**k you." And then he [passed away] about 20 minutes later.
Jesus f**k I am so f**ked from this thread. As a compensation, the last words my great grandmother said to me were "Don't let the house go to s**t." That's not creepy, but it is vaguely funny and I feel like it would lighten the mood because f**k I'm f**ked after reading all of this. Death is scary, folks.
Death is the next big adventure - or not. None of us really 'know' what happens after death, but one day we all will.
I agree with this person. I am f****d up and realizing I should start not reading these sorts of things.
I am noth f****d up, human centipede person
Load More Replies...Not a Dr or nurse. My Grandmother was in hospice care for brain cancer. She had been there for five days, and unresponsive for 3. My aunts, uncles, father and I stayed in her hospice room for these 5 days, drinking beer and chatting. My aunt stayed with her at night, and rarely left her side. One morning, her husband came to get her so she could have a break and get some coffee. Before my aunt left, she kissed my grandmother on the cheek as we all did when we left and said, "Love you, mom, I'll see you soon". My grandmother squeezed her hand and said, "Goodbye". Gram passed away within minutes of them leaving.
My Mom waited for me to leave her room and get all the way into bed after spending 24 hours at her side before she finally let go and went to be with my Dad. She didn't want to leave with me in the room.
My mum did the same. I drove from Kent to Manchester - arriving just before midnight - and went to the hospital straight away. I sat talking to her until 10 am and then left to go and get a rest. As I arrived at her house the hospital rang to say that she had died. The last thing I said to her - she was in a coma - was that it was time for her to join my dad.
Load More Replies...A male friend of mine, who lived in the USA but was from England, told me when he flew back to visit his father in a L and finally London Hospital because his dad was not doing well. My friend had to schedule his flight; make work arrangements and fly the long trip from LA and the moment he walked into the hospital room his dad looked up at him and said "Goodbye". He died right after he spoke. My friend's father told him, in a telephone conversation before he left the States, he would try very hard to hang in there to see him before he died!
My dad fell into unconsciousness around noon. We managed to get him into bed and he responded with a hand squeeze when I said "I love you." We watched and waited the rest of the day. Around 3:00 am his breathing changed and as his breathing become more and more labored he bolted upright, eyes wide open, looked at his wife, my sister, them me. Smiled, exhaled, and [passed away].
I'm a hospital chaplain: When I was a CPE intern (a greenhorn) I went to see a patient in the ICU who had 10 to 12 oranges on her table. We talked about oranges for about 20 minutes and then she said, "Somethings going to happen." I went to check on her the next day and the nurse mentioned that she passed the previous night. I asked if anyone else talked with her and she said no. So, the last conversation she had was about oranges with me. I kind of wish we talked about something else; however, the nurse said that was a worthy conversation that the patient wanted to talk about. It made me feel better.
The content doesn't have to be profound, it's having the conversation that matters. Loneliness is a terrible thing.
Very true. My mum had the same role in a hospital for a while and she said usually people just wanted to feel heard, whether they were religious or not.
Load More Replies...I worked a bank shift in A&E a few months ago. A young man was in a horrible car crash, his face was covered in blood and had a compound fracture of his clavicle but conscious, he was screaming "don't tell me she's dead, where is she???" before succumbing to his injuries an hour later. His girlfriend had [passed away] instantly in the crash.
Right after a code in a hospital… 'Thank you for saving me.' Then he [passed] an hour later.
I used to shadow a PT and often we would have to go to ICU for some patients. There was a male patient who was there pretty frequently. Last words that I heard were "Hey angel" while he was looking in the general direction of the female PT, but not directly at her. Never once heard him call her "angel" before. He ended up coding later that night.
Comes from 'code blue' hospital page, usually meaning patient has had a cardiac arrest, so 'coding' is dying. Mostly used in America I believe, as in Australia we are more likely to say 'arrested' instead.
Load More Replies...My first code as a nurse was of a middle-aged mother who we think ended up having a brain bleed. I was trying to check her vitals and she was super agitated (and had been all day - she managed to bend her IV pole somehow). She was ripping her gown off, and the sheets off the bed, and she'd yanked her heart monitor off. I was trying to start a blood transfusion, but needed to get her vitals beforehand, which was impossible because she wouldn't stay still long enough for any of it to read. I'd given her a sedative (for what we thought was anxiety), and I was praying it would kick in soon. She kept grabbing my arm saying, 'Come here. Look at me! Help me!' with fear in her eyes that I will never forget. I'm pretty sure I snapped back, 'I'm trying!' which I of course wish was something comforting instead. Then she leaned back, her eyes got droopy, she shut her mouth, then snapped her eyes wide open but totally glossed over. She took one last breath as a coworker was helping me while I called the code.
This hurts to read. Especially since they assumed it was anxiety. This happens all the time to women and they're dismissed. The poor woman knew there was something terribly wrong and instead is being sedated.
Checked in on a patient before the end of my shift and she was in good spirits, had been joking with me the whole time. Her condition was tenuous (new trach) but she had been positive throughout. I asked how she was doing and she replied by singing "The old gray mare ain't what she used to be" and wished me a good night. I came in the next morning and she had coded and [passed away] overnight.
Da dum dum dum da dum dum da dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum da dum, dum dum dum dum da dum, da dum dum dum da dum dum da dum dum, da da da dum dum dum.
Not a medical professional, but my dad was dying at home and had been pretty out of it for a few days. The few times he was conscious, he would talk about all the people in his room and that they were climbing the walls, staring at him from under the bed, generally crazy s**t. The last thing he said before the end was to my sister: "Are you going to bury me today?" Totally f**ked all of us up. He [passed away] the next day.
Working in the ICU and an elderly guy came in with sepsis. As we were working on him, he looks up and says, 'Yeah, that's it!' and promptly codes, we did not get him back.
Bumped into a kid from high school at the gas station, years ago. We chatted for a couple minutes and as he headed out his last words to me were, "We're goin to tha TITTY BAR!!!". [Passed away] as the unrestrained passenger in a car crash that night. He and his buddies were trying to catch air in a car by going over some hump in the road. Crashed into a retaining wall. He was a nice dude.
So BP censors the word "died" but doesn't censor the word "TITTY"? Okay then...
In some parts of the world, death is generally regarded as worse than tits
Load More Replies...Warning: LOOOOONG post ahead. My grandfather had always known when he was going to [pass away]. He always said that he was dying on May 26th at 12 in the afternoon. Towards the end he kept telling us that his time was coming, that he was nearing the end of his life. The morning of May 26th he calls my dad at about 8a.m. They have about an hour long conversation (No one knows details, my dad doesn't want to tell what they talked about). My dad says at 9a.m. my grandfather said this: "I'm not feeling all that great. I'm going to go get a snack and take a nap so I'll see you on the other side." An hour later we get a call from my grandfather's girlfriend, he [passed away] at 10 o'clock in his sleep after eating half a can of Pringles. About 5 years later my dad starts saying the same kind of stuff. He'd had really bad problems during this time so he's not in the best health. He's always going on about how he know he's dying on October 10th. He goes on and on about it. That morning, October 10th, he says that he doesn't feel that good and that he doesn't want to do anything (NOT typical for my dad). Well, he goes on through the day anyway. Later that day he has to go to a dinner party for work. Him and my mom are leaving and he says to me: "Well, I'll see you in the other side. I love you." That night him and my mom get back and he goes straight to bed, doesn't say anything to me or anyone. The rest is what my mom said happened that night: He was sitting in the edge of the bed in his pajamas mumbling to himself. I asked him what was wrong and all I can understand is that he has to use the bathroom. He got up, walked to the toilet, sat down, and fell over dead. All I saw was blood everywhere and the only thing I could think was to call Thomas (my brother). A couple of minutes later my brother shows up and drags my dad through the house and out to the truck. There's blood everywhere and my dad was dead. My brother drives home to the nearest hospital and is slapping my dad back to life. Throughout the 15 minute drive my dad [passes away] 3 more times and my brother slaps him awake again. He was in ICU for 2 weeks, when he was healthy enough to be transferred he was moved to a bigger hospital where they put a stint in his liver that saved his life. He's completely fine now but if we had waited for an ambulance or if my brother hadn't been there my dad would've [passed away] that night, just like he said he would've. TL;DR : my dad and grandfather were psychics.
Umm... your brother could have done the life-saving "slapping" at home while the medical professionals with all the fancy dodads and drugs were on the way...
It can depend on where you live. The closest town with a hospital and ambulance is over a half an hour away. I would start driving and meet them.
Load More Replies...Back when I was a cna this one resident fell off a bike for exercise in pt and seized, they came to and became lucid and said I think I'm dying but everyone in the room assured her that wasn't going to happen, she seized up and was dead within minutes.
My first hospice case. She was on morphine and started mock smoking. She looked at me, took my hand and said "please" in the most pleading voice I've ever heard. I sat with her body until the corner arrived. She has no friends or family. Only her lawyer showed up. I've only done one hospice case since.
The guy was gobbling down his breakfast and was refusing to have his blood glucose checked. And we knew that he would need insulin because of his history. I expressed my concern and he told me, "I have faced death many times before". He's nearly blind, missing a few digits, you get the picture. I came back 30 minute later to check on him. He was unconscious and turning nearly blue. We coded him and recovered him to the icu basically brain dead. They pulled the plug on him a week later. Turned out he had choked on a peace of egg from the breakfast he was eating. Maybe not a real creepy story.
'What happens, just happens,' An elective mitral valve procedure...we ended up not being able to get him off bypass, and he [passed away] on the table (operating room).
When I went for a life-saving operation I didn't say it to anyone but I was thinking "if I die I'm okay with it" and I was eerily calm when I look back. Perhaps, I hope, he was feeling the same way.
The word is "die." "Die" is not a curse word. Let's not muddle up the English language any further!
BP: posts a whole article about death. Also BP: proceeds to censor every single mention of the words "die"/"death". WTF is going on, why are we censoring normal words now???!!
Load More Replies...DEATH (as Sir Terry Pratchett might have typed it). It's death. We die. It's called death. You pass, you move on, you (fill in euphemism). It's okay. We can handle the word.
"It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it’s called Life." Last Continent, T.P.
Load More Replies...2 days before my brother passed from heart failure I was visiting him at home and sitting by his bed. He waited until our mum left the room and then his eyes just lit up so brightly and he said "don't cry when I die little sister." I was 46 yrs he was 56 but I was always his little sister. I wish I could describe the serenity and peace in him adequately, because of that light in his eyes I really couldn't cry it has calmed and comforted me so much over the years.
interesting stories, and I am sorry for all of these peoples' losses. however I gotta say that it's really distracting that Bored Panda censored the word "die"... I just...why?
On an entire thread about dying. I could see it being changed on a light hearted thread about something completely unrelated where mention of death might upset someone unexpectedly. The topic of this collection of stories is directly related to the moment someone died. The words "died" "dead" "death" "dying" being used should not be surprising or offensive to anyone choosing to read this.
Load More Replies...Death itself isn't scary at all. Sometimes the trauma that accompanies it is really difficult. Sometimes people are confused because of the meds. I've had the rare misfortune and privilege to witness a lot of death in person, some traumatic, some sudden and unexpected, quite a few hospice related, and so on. The bad ones are where the pain is not managed prior to death and it's the fear caused by the pain that is horrible. Where there is no pain, even in really bad circumstances, there is always a moment where someone seems to know that they are going and they let go. Death doesn't happen to them, so much as they decide to go with it. It's hard to explain. The older and more peaceful the person is, the more comfortable they seem to get with the idea. I wish I had a way to inject what I have seen into other people's minds to relieve them of this terrible fear of the only certain thing of our whole lives.
When my mom was dying I would always call the last thing at night, about 11:15. I called to ask how she was doing. My mom's bed was right by the nurse's desk in the room. The young nurse said she didn't think she would make it through the night. Was I coming? I said I would be right there. Not something usual in our family. My parents had always said they didn't want the other2 of us there to see them take their last breath. She said to me "OK, I'll see you in 20 minutes then." It turned out she had been with my mom when I called & no reason to believe it would be right then. When she hung up she couldn't hear my mom's breathing anymore. I realized, she heard I was coming. Nope. Not going to have me there to see her take her last breath. She was outta there.
Load More Replies...My grandmother’s last words were “whatever you girls do, look after your teeth”. Good advice, in my opinion. She had terrible teeth and ended up with a full set of dentures and absolutely hated them.
Because some fool does not believe that people can cope with the word "die." I have never seen anything so absurd in my life. This is *not* the direction that language should go.
Load More Replies...When i was at college i got a weekend and nights job in a nursing home as a care assistant.. lots of stories from that time (like i was only yesterday telling my missus of Eddie, an alcoholic who used to drink all the other resident's perfume and aftershave for the alcohol content and how much he'd have loved all the high alcohol handwashes these covid days).... but my fave memory is of an old irish woman called Mary who was 99 and sat up one day and said 'oh bugger'... and then passed away. Oh bugger indeed, Mary. Oh bugger indeed.
My brother a week before he died asked me what I thought death was like. He was 15 years old so I didn't think anything of it and just gave him my honest opinion but told him we really don't know. A week later I could tell he had been using some drugs. I was very angry at him and didn't want to talk to him but he gave me a kiss on the cheek and said I love you anyway sis. Those were his last words to me. He was dead of the drug overdose in the morning. The only thing I can be grateful for was that those were our last words but I will be forever mad at myself that I said nothing back to him.
The word is "die." "Die" is not a curse word. Let's not muddle up the English language any further!
BP: posts a whole article about death. Also BP: proceeds to censor every single mention of the words "die"/"death". WTF is going on, why are we censoring normal words now???!!
Load More Replies...DEATH (as Sir Terry Pratchett might have typed it). It's death. We die. It's called death. You pass, you move on, you (fill in euphemism). It's okay. We can handle the word.
"It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it’s called Life." Last Continent, T.P.
Load More Replies...2 days before my brother passed from heart failure I was visiting him at home and sitting by his bed. He waited until our mum left the room and then his eyes just lit up so brightly and he said "don't cry when I die little sister." I was 46 yrs he was 56 but I was always his little sister. I wish I could describe the serenity and peace in him adequately, because of that light in his eyes I really couldn't cry it has calmed and comforted me so much over the years.
interesting stories, and I am sorry for all of these peoples' losses. however I gotta say that it's really distracting that Bored Panda censored the word "die"... I just...why?
On an entire thread about dying. I could see it being changed on a light hearted thread about something completely unrelated where mention of death might upset someone unexpectedly. The topic of this collection of stories is directly related to the moment someone died. The words "died" "dead" "death" "dying" being used should not be surprising or offensive to anyone choosing to read this.
Load More Replies...Death itself isn't scary at all. Sometimes the trauma that accompanies it is really difficult. Sometimes people are confused because of the meds. I've had the rare misfortune and privilege to witness a lot of death in person, some traumatic, some sudden and unexpected, quite a few hospice related, and so on. The bad ones are where the pain is not managed prior to death and it's the fear caused by the pain that is horrible. Where there is no pain, even in really bad circumstances, there is always a moment where someone seems to know that they are going and they let go. Death doesn't happen to them, so much as they decide to go with it. It's hard to explain. The older and more peaceful the person is, the more comfortable they seem to get with the idea. I wish I had a way to inject what I have seen into other people's minds to relieve them of this terrible fear of the only certain thing of our whole lives.
When my mom was dying I would always call the last thing at night, about 11:15. I called to ask how she was doing. My mom's bed was right by the nurse's desk in the room. The young nurse said she didn't think she would make it through the night. Was I coming? I said I would be right there. Not something usual in our family. My parents had always said they didn't want the other2 of us there to see them take their last breath. She said to me "OK, I'll see you in 20 minutes then." It turned out she had been with my mom when I called & no reason to believe it would be right then. When she hung up she couldn't hear my mom's breathing anymore. I realized, she heard I was coming. Nope. Not going to have me there to see her take her last breath. She was outta there.
Load More Replies...My grandmother’s last words were “whatever you girls do, look after your teeth”. Good advice, in my opinion. She had terrible teeth and ended up with a full set of dentures and absolutely hated them.
Because some fool does not believe that people can cope with the word "die." I have never seen anything so absurd in my life. This is *not* the direction that language should go.
Load More Replies...When i was at college i got a weekend and nights job in a nursing home as a care assistant.. lots of stories from that time (like i was only yesterday telling my missus of Eddie, an alcoholic who used to drink all the other resident's perfume and aftershave for the alcohol content and how much he'd have loved all the high alcohol handwashes these covid days).... but my fave memory is of an old irish woman called Mary who was 99 and sat up one day and said 'oh bugger'... and then passed away. Oh bugger indeed, Mary. Oh bugger indeed.
My brother a week before he died asked me what I thought death was like. He was 15 years old so I didn't think anything of it and just gave him my honest opinion but told him we really don't know. A week later I could tell he had been using some drugs. I was very angry at him and didn't want to talk to him but he gave me a kiss on the cheek and said I love you anyway sis. Those were his last words to me. He was dead of the drug overdose in the morning. The only thing I can be grateful for was that those were our last words but I will be forever mad at myself that I said nothing back to him.
