Unexplained phenomenon - Has it happened to you?

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R

Robert

Ok, cast your beliefs aside for this one and open your mind with unbias opinion and acceptance of what you may read herein.

I am of sound mind and I'd like to believe that my body is as well but since we're in a heart valve replacement forum the body is ruled out of that cliche lol :p What I would like to know, from people who gone through surgery, is whether you have had any unexplained phenomenon or visions or experiences before, during and after surgery? And if not, what about life in general just before, whilst in hospital and afterwards?...

I find it very difficult to talk in person to some people in fear of being ridiculed or not believed about a lot of stories and quite honestly I can speak about things that could make me cry with just the thought of them, hair stand up on end, cold shivers throughout my entire body, and even happiness and genuine feeling of motherly love and protection that you forgot about since when you were a child.

I am not crazy and I am not a sceptic, of course it would be easy to accept either as an explanation but I cannot dismiss my own experiences on the subject as there are too many to pass off as coincidence or isolated incidents.

So if you can spare some time to write something down I'm all ears... :)
 
I've had a few I call them visions. One I remember most is the one that I had before OHS. The surgeon had just told my I need double valve replacement and that I was very high risk because I also had pulmonary problems. He recommended two different hospitals for my special needs. One was in my home town the other was in Cal. Stanford no less. He highly recommend Stanford because of the professional staff and surgeons.
I came home confused and hurting the thought of not being in my home town for the surgery. I needed my family and friends. What would I do without them by my side. That night in the middle of the night having a hard time sleeping anyways. Praying to know what to do my heart was torn on making a decision.
I sat up on the edge of the bed and prayed and cried.
As I went back to sleep after a while I remember someone taking me by the hand and leading me to Big Double doors. We like glided to the front of these doors and then they opened. Behind the doors were lots of people, they were all dressed in white coats and they kept saying something to me. Even though at first I could'nt hear what they were saying,but the closer I got the more I could hear them say,"We are here to take care of you, We have been waiting for you, You've come from such a long journey". I felt a peace and comfort there and felt like I was being welcome from people that were going to be part of my life from now on.. The person that was holding my hand which I know now it was a angel lead me in to all those people and said " You are home now this team will take care of you". Then he departed.
As I woke up the next morning I felt a peace and comfort that you would not believe. I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was to have my OHS at Stanford University Hos.
The most amazing thing through was when I got to Stanford. I walked into Big Double doors and the team that was there for my surgery
was there waiting for me in white coats and welcoming me to the hospital.
And who says God does'nt answer prayers......
I could tell you some more but I'll leave other stories for others.
Thanks for letting me post and this is a great thread I look forward to reading other stories..:D
 
You pose the question a little differently. When I asked the same thing, I only asked about during surgery and whether or not a person experienced what they might consider to be a near death experience. I'll see if I can find that thread.
 
I haven't experienced anything like that but I certainly wouldn't ridicule anyone who had. There are a lot of things in our experience that we as mere humans simply do not understand.

I do have a vivid image of my son standing over me in a bright red St. Louis Cardinals jacket just before they knocked me out to take me back to the OR -- but that was real -- he wanted that to be an image for this old man to take with him. :)

In the ICU I remember though in a very hazy condition hearing the nurses talking about the "alarmingly low" state of my oxygen intake -- I consider them angels for taking care of me through that. But none of this is what I think you are asking about. I didn't have a vision of the "other side" -- a glimpse of Heaven, or however one might characterize it -- but I have read enough about this to believe it sometimes happens. Whole books have been written -- quite convincingly.
 
Just finished reading the book:
"90 minutes in Heaven" By Don Piper w/ Cecil Murphey a few months ago.
Is that what kind of experiences you are looking for?
 
I lost my sister M to leukemia 8 months before my OHS, long before I had a heart problem. I was diagnosed on a Thursday in August, 2006. On Friday I went to work knowing my next week or so would be full of medical tests. On my way home from work, my other sister K called my cell phone. I was thinking about picking it up to call her, at her home, but decided not to dial and drive until I hit a stop light. Anyway, I discovered K was out of town, and would have been unreachable by phone when I wanted to call. At that second, I had a TIA, while driving, and on the phone. K called my husband and my office to have them all call 911, because she was not certain I could do so, and since she lives 1000 miles away, she certainly could not call for me. From then until after the ambulance arrived and I was fully tested and admitted to the hospital, I had the strongest feeling that M was with me, even to the point of teasing me about being the one in the hospital bed instead of her. When I told K that, she told me she had not "felt" M around much since her passing and that very morning had prayed for M to send a sign that she was ok.
Fast forward to December 21, 2007. As I was dressing I got the strong feeling that M was standing next to me, again. That morning I went into v-tach on the way to work, and wound up in the hospital to swap my pacemaker for an ICD.
I tell you, the next time M comes to virtual visit, I'm staying the heck off the road, and K is much more careful what she prays for!
 
This is probably a little off the subject, but in pre-op, apparently I was talking to my mother and girlfriend for about 45 minutes, which I don't recall at all. In recovery/CCU, I recall many conversations with them, which they say never happened. I guess they were talking to me, but I was unable to respond. Intubation anyone? I was having hallucinations in recovery, thinking the nurses were all trying to hurt me, I remember pain in my chest and a lots of needle sticks.

As for a visit from a higher being, my surgery was very uneventful. I do believe is such visits, I have felt the presents of my father and aunt on other occasions.
 
I haven't had any unexplained phenomenon, but I sure have had a lot of vivid dreams since my OHS, often with people from my way distant past in them but as if they are here with me in the present day. My father, who has been dead for over 10 years, is often in them.
 
About six months after my mother died I was sitting on the porch at the beach, having a glass of ice tea and just watching the pelicans feed. I was not in a pensive mood. It had been a good day. I leaned the chase lounge back and something caught my eye. In the corner was my mother?not all of her but like a bust carving, ghostly. She said nothing, was hovering, and then she was gone. Never had happened before or since. I don?t attach any great meaning to it, but it happened, real or imagined, don?t know.
 
This has nothing to do with my surgery, but I think it is the type of event you all are talking about. A year and a half ago, my daugther's best friend's mother (Trudy), died after a 4 week illness. Even though she and I were friendly (mostly because our daughters were inseperable) I would definitely not describe us as "good" friends. I was deeply touched because, obviously, I felt for our then 12 year old girls. About 6 months after she died, my family was in Hawaii for vacation. We were walking along the beach when someone said "Mrs. F"? I was with my daughter, while my husband and son were ahead. I said to my daughter, did someone call me? She said "no". Then again, "Mrs. F, are you Kim F from NC?" We both turned around and there was a lady I've never laid eyes on before or since (she said she had seen me at the funeral and asked who I was). I said "yes". She said, " I am so and so and I was Trudy's best friend since grade school". Here I was, thousands of miles from home, and her best friend is standing in front of me, in HAWAII! We spent about 10 minutes talking about her, both being brought to tears. When we caught up with my husband, I told him about it and how I felt that Trudy had a hand in us meeting. He pooh poohed me saying it was just a strange coincidence. That same night, at 2:00 in the morning, my husband woke me up and said you're not going to believe this...I just dreamed about Trudy...we were riding in a tram up the volcano and I turned around to look out the back window at the view....the back window was a huge picture of her with a big smile on her face! After that, I quit having feelings of her being with me and have done my best to help take care of "her girl" like she asked me to.

Kim

P.S. Thanks for asking that question...it has been a long time since I have told that story and everytime I do it brings tears to my eyes and a little chill on my spine.
 
I usually dont speak about this , and it has nothing to do with surgery,
but I have had pre-cognitive dreams , only 2 ,and both occurred years
ago. One of them was warning me of a car wreck ; and I had the wreck
2 weeks after I had the dream.Of course I didnt realise at the time of the
dream that it would actually happen.I havent had one in a very long time
but , they are slightly different from a usual dream in that its very realistic
in every detail, so maybe I would be able to differentiate it from a 'regular'
dream If I ever get one again. I do wonder what is implied from this though...since it seems to argue for pre-destiny. I mean if you 'know' what is supposed to happen , does that mean that the future is set (?) I hope not as this is not the philosophy or belief that I hope to be.
 
I can relate.
Although it happened many years before my OHS.
I woke up from a sound sleep...it was 4:30 am...... it was my mother voice .....she said my name once, just once.

My mom was in palliative care at the time.

10 minutes later the phone rang.......it was the hospital...........time of death 4:32 am.

Hope my story applies to the questions at hand.
 
I have had many "psychic" experiences and they have all been after my first OHS. The most recent was after the death of my SO's frient Steve. About a week after he died, I had a dream about him in which we were walking through a department store. He made a point of leading me to a display of dishes and asked me to tell Chris (my SO) that he was okay and he had his "plates" with him.

I asked Chris about whether "plates" made any sense when connected with Steve and Chris told me that Steve had a plate collection and was very proud of it. I did not know about the collection ahead of time which is why I know this was a visit from Steve to let his friend know he was okay.

Many things like this have happened to me and I believe it is due to something that occurred during surgery. Call me crazy but I do think we go to a place during deep anethesia that gives us insight and communication not available to everyone.
 
I have always had "psychic' moments...I often have dreams that come true or "happen" ...good old fashioned "de ja vue".

All my adult life until my OHS I had a very strong knowledge that something very serious was wrong with me but I didnt know what it was. I couldnt shake this feeling and was beginning to feel like a hypochondriac..this feeling went away after my surgery. I now feel safe that I wont die prematurely.

I had 3 really vivid identical ongoing dreams between the time I went to sleep and the time I awoke from my 2 surgeries .These dreams were of me dying and trying to scream for help but unable to make a sound and of being really really hot, I remember almost slipping away and trying hard to hang on. I cant help but wonder if they are related to my 3 Cardiac arrests and the "zappings" of the defibrillators.
 
Thankyou for your responses and sharing them with me.

Like every story there is a beginning, some extravagent, some accidental, some totally uncomprehendable, some just plain old unexplainable???... It all started a few weeks leading up to the diagnosis of having BAV after falling ill with bacteiral endocarditis. I was a fit and healthy young teenager, sports were a huge part of my life, I had no known medical problem at all. At the age of 16 for several weeks I had an uneasy feeling that something bad was going to happen to me. I had a reoccuring dream that I was in hospital with a white sheet over my entire body and head with the curtains drawn. I saw my family and friends stand before me crying as if I were deceased, but the whole time I was under the sheets playing a practical joke. When they left I pulled the sheets off and peeled the curtains away yelling 'hey everybody, I'm OK!' but I was in an empty hospital with nobody in sight. I had this same dream every night for weeks.. had I have heeded this early and morbid warning my life would be different today.

Not long after by coincidence I went to the movies on my first ever date with a girl I had strong feelings for named Rebecca... the movie was called 'Ghost' with Patrick Swayze, you know the one. In the movie theatre my uneasy feeling become overwhelming.... I knew something was wrong. That night when I got home I fell ill, vomiting, fever, lethargy, dizziness, hot and cold sweats...

The next day I awoke with a knowing feeling that during the course of the day my fever was increasing in severity. I kept thinking back to my dream - was this the beginning of the end? :( I can remember not being able to walk, control my body movements or functions. I could not bathe myself without my father helping me. I remember going to the toilet in my own clothes without even realising it??? I was of healthy mind but trapped in a body that wasnt working? My mind was processing a billion thoughts at a time - what is wrong with me???? :confused: I retired that night with temperatures around the 42 degree celcius mark.

In the middle of the night something woke me up. The night was silent and still and not a glimmer of light in sight. I lost all sense of feeling ill and had the strength to raise my head to find my mother in the doorway in a whiteish grey coloured nightgown. I could not see her face just her long hair and nightgown forming a soft light silhouette in the dark. I remember having the feeling of serenity, love, peace, but not just any love the kind you experience as a child in the loving arms and protection and care of your parents. It is still undescribable today as nothing has ever come close to it. I can remember communicating without talking???? I looked up and thought 'thankyou for coming in to check up on me' and although I could not see her face or hear her words she wanted to let me know that she was there watching over me and that I will be alright. I lay my head back down and snuggled back into the pillow absorbing the feeling that I had just experienced :)

The next morning when I spoke to my mother I thanked her for coming in to check up on me during the night. She in turn denied doing so and thought that I was kidding. I laughed and argued, 'no seriously, thanks because I really needed it'. She again replied firmly that she did not come in to check up on me at all, in fact she had slept like a baby all night. I began to cry as I could not comprehend the fact that my mother was playing such a terrible trick on me. She looked me in the eyes and asked me what I had seen. In a split second she dropped to the floor on her knees in tears, bowed her head with hands in prayer... she then stood up, embraced me in a tight hug with tears running down her face. The kissed my forehead and gently explained that I must have been visited by our holy Mother. I cried and refused to believe her as I just could not believe what I did not understand. It wasnt until she showed me our statue of the blessed Mary in the loungeroom when it finally dawned on me like a tonne of bricks... it wasnt a silhouette of a nightgown and long hair that I had seen, the silhouette was someone dressed the same in draping clothes! To this day I cannot deny the feelings that I experienced, the communication, and the vision - they were all real! just as real as the keyboard and monitor before me this very moment in time. I know I felt an intense feeling of motherly love..... but was it? could it have been? Was it really her or a guardian angel? I will never know as she did not tell me who she was. But what I do know is that my mother took the visitation as a spiritual sign from above and quickly rushed me to hospital. You see mother is Macedonian from a very religious and dedicated Greek Orthadox background. My father, a dedicated Roman Catholic from Croatia.

At first when I was taken to hospital the emergency room told my parents to take me back home because it appeared to them that I was on drugs because by that time I was talking jibberish and acting drunken without the strength to walk or manouvre properly - no motor skills at all. My parents argued with the emergency room that I was 16 years old and not the type of boy to be taking drugs. They said 'give him a pandol/aspirin and send him home to sleep it off'. My parents absolutely livid called our GP who asked to speak to the doctor on duty and ordered him to take another look because something must be seriously wrong. Well, as it turned out they discovered I had severe aortic regurgitation, my temperature was venturing over 42 degrees celcius and if I did not receive immediate attention I would have passed away in just a few hours. I received some kind of large epidural needle in the spine and began to drift in and out of consciousness... diagnosis - BAV with severe bacterial endocarditis. Solution - immediate OHS and Aortic valve replacement.

So began my baptism into many more unexplained visions, premonitions, flashbacks, out of body experiences and contact with the afterlife from that point on for years to come. I hope to share more with you in the coming days if you dont mind having a read of them. Thankyou for your time and the opportunity to share this experience with you.
 
Paco512

Paco512

A couple nights after i came home from my surgery i was enjoying a deep sleep when i clearly heard my name. It was an Anthony Hopkins voice... deep and every tone was clearly recallable. My bed looks out over a 180 acre nature conservancy that was lit by the moon in such a way that everything seemed gray/blue. I laid there and waited for the voice, but nothing.

I have experienced other events in my life that lead me to believe such things have meaning. However, unless this was the big guy letting me know he heard my prayers and intended on calling me on them someday... I am not sure what the meaning of this wake up was.

Probably just a "Wake Up" call.

Paco512
Day 17 since AVR at Cleveland Clinic
Dr. Joseph Sabik
 
:D tell me about it I know what you mean David. Whilst I was on life support slipping in and out of consciousness/comas for days at a time (was a time I spent 8 weeks in ICU in a fully enclosed room with no windows and people were required to wear masks, gloves and gowns just to come in and visit me) I had several intense out of body experiences that were so real I could see everything in vivid colour, feel the grass, feel the breeze, smell the fields and hear children laugh and play. The most peculiar thing about it was that there was one particular place I could return to by closing my eyes and exiting over a mound of lush green grass in an open field. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze blowing, blue sky above and the sound of children playing nearby in an open field. It looked like it was some sort of photgraph you'd expect from an Irish postcard lol. I have never even been to Ireland lol. In what seemed to be just a few minutes spent in serene surroundings would end up being one to three days lost in bed in a coma :eek: I remember losing all sense of what day it was and at one stage I resented being awake on life support with the rubber straps stuck tightly upon my face forcing air in and out of my lungs (I didnt have the strength to draw my own breathe at the time) that I used to close my eyes in hope to return back to the beautiful landscapes and magestic locations I had been visiting in my 'sleep' lol... It was at that point in my life that I wasnt afraid to never return to consciousness as I felt that I was truly in a better place!!! :D
 
I experienced many hallucinations in intensive care. Given both the powerful drugs at work to subdue pain and those anaesthetics leaving my system post op; no real surprise there. I like the surreal, so it was a case of lay back and enjoy. :)

Re the strange side; I would give full belief to any spiritual stuff. My Mother-in-law has second sight and talks quite normally about spirit companions. Some of this has passed onto her daughter. I could relate many incidences of insight over the years. Sudden startled awareness of family death and serious injury before been told, are the spookiest.
 
That's the other thing I was mainly interested about in this thread - whether anybody has actually picked up an extra sensory perception of some kind? I do on some occasions pick up on things that I do not know why? Not all the time, and sometimes I cant make heads or tails of it, but it happens. When I get that 100% feeling that I am spot on with something before it happens/ or after it happened I make it a habit to tell people about it and its reassuring when you get people provide confirmation to you in disbelief. On one ocassion I remember telling all my workmates about a dream I had. I was sitting in an abandoned stand at the horse races (I dont even follow horse races) and a frail old man with a tattered old hat and a tattered leather case walked up the old wooden staircase and stood in fornt of me. He said in a gentle voice that the horse that will win the biggest race is 'whose own name means strength' They are the only words that stuck in my mind at the end of the dream. Now I didnt know what to think about that, nor do I know anything about horse racing - I never even put a bet on before!. To cut a long story short in Australia we have a horse race called 'The Melbourne Cup' and before it was even announced what the horses names were I was telling everybody I knew about the advice I was given in my dream - must have been over 50 people!!!. You can imagine the looks on their faces and the grin on my face when the names of the horses were released into the media. The only horse in the race 'whose own name means strength' was called "Might and Power". Surely enough many people I had told were placing bets on it and I placed a mere $5 on it to win (Im not a gambling man but what the heck). I didnt even watch the horse race when it was on. All I can remember is coming home after work and my answering machine had several messages on it - Beep... 'You little beauty!' 'How the hell???' 'I just won $800!' 'Tell me the lottery numbers!' hahahaha... surely enough Might and Power won the race :) That was a relief for me and I felt a bit smug proving to some of the people I know (and to myself) that things like that actually do come to fruition, especially ones that I can remember. That was one of the good stories and one where I was able to get some idea of a future event, but there are others quite disturbing and frightening.

Another time my grandmother, God bless her soul, was suffering from Diabetes, arthritis, cancer and dimentia. She was the only sole living grandparent I ever knew and when she had a turn for the worse a part of me was going through it with her. She had been admitted into an old persons home and under constant care. One day she occupied my every thought from the second I woke up. I could not stop thinking about her all day and during work it hit me! I froze with a sudden strong feeling that she was going to pass away at 3pm that afternoon. I told my manager that I had to leave and rushed straight to the home to find my mother and two aunts by my grandmothers bed, she was sleeping with the death rattles from about lunchtime that day - No one else knew, they did not want to alert family about it and all were quite startled that I turned up out of the blue on my own accord. I arrived a little after 2pm and waited by her side. I kissed her forehead and explained to my mother and aunts that at 3pm she was going to pass away. Well 3pm came and gone and she was still with us asleep. I must have waited til 7pm when my mother told me to go home and get something to eat. I did not understand why I had such a strong feeling about the time 3 o'clock but I said my goodbyes, and cried in the car on my way home. I received a phone call about 7am from my mother. She advised that my grandmother had passed away at the stroke of 3am in the morning. But get this, just before she passed away she woke up from her deep sleep and looked around the room with a smile on her face, saying that she could see her husband and calling him out by his name. She said that she could see her neighbour from when she used to live in Europe many years ago (who had passed on also). They said she showed no sign of being in pain and actually laid back down with a smile on her face and cuddled into the pillow before she stopped breathing. The description from all 3 persons of the last few moments of her life will stay with me forever - I pray that when my time comes I will be as lucky and greeted by loved ones to lead me to a better place :D

There have also been some disturbing visions and experiences along the way with the most intense one having several witnesses to the fact. If you want to have a read of it I will write about this encounter tomorrow as it still sends shivers down my spine everytime I tell it :eek:
 
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