I totally agree – my Mother waited until we left the hospital to get some rest. She had been doing better for a few hours and since we had been there for 4 days, we thought we could go home to rest. Needless to say we kept at her to try harder. That morning she had told me she had “died” once. I asked her (foolish me) if it was scary and she replied in a calm manner, “no”. Within 2 hours after we left, we were called back and she was gone. I wondered how she knew we had left because I hadn’t told her we were leaving. About a year later, I asked my sister, who was the last to go in, if she had told Mom we were leaving and she said yes, and wondered if she had been wrong to do it. I told her absolutally not, Mom was just waiting for us to leave so she could do it without my brother and I nagging at her…….
I remember my father’s death as if it were yesterday. My mother and I were in the room, and our priest told my mother that she “had to let him go.” My mother broke down as she, my father, me and our priest formed a prayer circle and prayed for him and for us. He died a few minutes later.
A few years later when my mother passed away, I was alone in the room with her, as she lay in a coma. I prayed that if this were the time that God would take her right then, as she had suffered so much. When I finished praying, she died. She knew that it was time to go and be with the Lord.
I just hope that my passing is as peaceful as my parents’, and that I know when it is time to go home.
We’ve have heard that the reason that people frequently die in the middle of the night is because people aren’t there to hold them back.
On the other side of this, when the other half of L2 was pretty close to death at a teaching hospital 120 miles from home, I told him that if God was calling him home, to go. And if God didn’t need him, I sure would love to keep him. The doctors had already given up. Even as he improved over several days, the doctors spoke on rounds about him within his hearing “This patient will not be around when we make rounds next. He is going to die.” I came in after this and saw that the will to live had disapated and asked what was going on. He told me there was no point to try because he was going to die anyway. When I pulled out of him why his thinking had changed from the day before, his nurse was livid, not to mention me! I told him that God was the decider on whether he would make it or not, and that God had already told him that he was to stay – the doctor didn’t know what God could do. We saw several patients during our 4 month stay that were treated the same way by both doctors and some nurses. We later crossed paths with a resident during that time who helped us with the outpatient doctor – he told the doctor that my husband was treated horrribly in ICU.
Our primary care doctor told us about 4 years after my husband came home from that stay in the hospital 120 miles away, that he too had not expected my husband to live, but we never saw it reflected in his care. Our doctor’s support has been invaluable over the last 6+ years. Hubby has surprised many people, especially doctors in what God has done in him. God is powerful.
Anecdotes are acceptable in these situations. They are of great comfort to people near the end of life. At these times comfort is what we are called on to provide.
I totally agree – my Mother waited until we left the hospital to get some rest. She had been doing better for a few hours and since we had been there for 4 days, we thought we could go home to rest. Needless to say we kept at her to try harder. That morning she had told me she had “died” once. I asked her (foolish me) if it was scary and she replied in a calm manner, “no”. Within 2 hours after we left, we were called back and she was gone. I wondered how she knew we had left because I hadn’t told her we were leaving. About a year later, I asked my sister, who was the last to go in, if she had told Mom we were leaving and she said yes, and wondered if she had been wrong to do it. I told her absolutally not, Mom was just waiting for us to leave so she could do it without my brother and I nagging at her…….
I remember my father’s death as if it were yesterday. My mother and I were in the room, and our priest told my mother that she “had to let him go.” My mother broke down as she, my father, me and our priest formed a prayer circle and prayed for him and for us. He died a few minutes later.
A few years later when my mother passed away, I was alone in the room with her, as she lay in a coma. I prayed that if this were the time that God would take her right then, as she had suffered so much. When I finished praying, she died. She knew that it was time to go and be with the Lord.
I just hope that my passing is as peaceful as my parents’, and that I know when it is time to go home.
We’ve have heard that the reason that people frequently die in the middle of the night is because people aren’t there to hold them back.
On the other side of this, when the other half of L2 was pretty close to death at a teaching hospital 120 miles from home, I told him that if God was calling him home, to go. And if God didn’t need him, I sure would love to keep him. The doctors had already given up. Even as he improved over several days, the doctors spoke on rounds about him within his hearing “This patient will not be around when we make rounds next. He is going to die.” I came in after this and saw that the will to live had disapated and asked what was going on. He told me there was no point to try because he was going to die anyway. When I pulled out of him why his thinking had changed from the day before, his nurse was livid, not to mention me! I told him that God was the decider on whether he would make it or not, and that God had already told him that he was to stay – the doctor didn’t know what God could do. We saw several patients during our 4 month stay that were treated the same way by both doctors and some nurses. We later crossed paths with a resident during that time who helped us with the outpatient doctor – he told the doctor that my husband was treated horrribly in ICU.
Our primary care doctor told us about 4 years after my husband came home from that stay in the hospital 120 miles away, that he too had not expected my husband to live, but we never saw it reflected in his care. Our doctor’s support has been invaluable over the last 6+ years. Hubby has surprised many people, especially doctors in what God has done in him. God is powerful.
Anecdotes are acceptable in these situations. They are of great comfort to people near the end of life. At these times comfort is what we are called on to provide.