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.
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.
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].
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.
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.
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"?
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.
Not creepy but memorable, old lady few hours before [passing], 'I think I deserve some damn rum.'
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.
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.
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.
Paramedic:
17 y/o female, car crash: "Please, please, please...don't tell my parents I was 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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
'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 😂 😂
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.
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.
"At least I'm not in danger anymore" 25 year old male, motorcycle accident.
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.
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!)
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].
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.
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.
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.
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
"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.
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.
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 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.
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 not scary i don't think. i may live 30 more years or 1 more day - but, i have lived an amazing life.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
