death

Peace

Throughout life you start to accumulate stuff. You get material things. You learn, you have encounters with other beings. You collect all this stuff in this short span of your life. Society promotes that material possessions are the most important in life. Many have a worth more than I cannot comprehend. Do they have it all? That is up for debate.

Little over a year I had a near death experience. I was on the operating table, and I heard an aide say, “doctor his blood pressure is dropping”! I was feeling really bad. I could not inhale or exhale. I thought, this is it! My life is over! After that I felt something, I never felt before in my life. I felt peace, no fear, no anger, nothing, just peace. This peace is very hard to explain. But it is a peace I want to feel again. No, I did not see a light at the end of the tunnel, no angels, no music, just peace, Total peace.

After a period of time, I started to hear operating room noises, I am still alive! What a shock, I thought I died. For a period of time, they did things to me and then the doctor started talking to me. He said, “Tom we got most of the clot removed and things look promising.” I said that I heard my blood pressure dropping and I asked him how low did it go? There was a pause, and he said, “you don’t want to know, and I am not going to tell you.” To this day I don’t know how low the blood pressure was. Continuing the conversation he said, “Tom I think we made the right decision to keep you awake during the procedure instead of anesthesia. I am afraid that if you would have gone under anesthesia, we would have lost you. I feel I had a preview of time after death. Total peace!

My conclusion is that “having it all” is obtainable, but it will happen during the time after death.

I recently discovered a website Near Death Research Foundation. It is an interesting site. I am going to enter my experience on this site sometime.

Daily writing prompt
What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?
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100 Years Ago

Dear Tom, it’s hard to believe that a hundred years ago you came into this world. It was shortly after the beginning of World War Two. You were only three years old when the war was over, so I am sure you do not remember much about this war. However, remember standing in front of the home and watching the military vehicles driving down the busy street a block and a half away going to Denver Federal Center maybe five miles west of home. It seemed like hours watching all those trucks going by. I am sure your parents talked about the war a lot when you were very young. I am sure their conversations left a lasting impression on you.

Remember your mother walking you to school when you started grade school. There was a busy street between home and school, and she wanted you to be safe. Miss Kusckan, Mrs. Keebler and Miss Lee are teachers one never forgets. All the boys had a crush on Miss Lee. She was young, blond and so sweet. Everyone’s dream was shattered when Mr. Groutt, the math teacher married her.

Life continues with junior high and high school. Those years were tough years. Our hormones were acting up and strange. Unfortunately, those were years of anger and hatred. We were mad at ourselves and everyone else in our life. Smoking and drinking became an important part of life.

Then came full time employment and the army. Remember when you took the military oath after being drafted and the night long train trip to Ft Leonard Missouri. The military sure changed your life and outlook about other people. Looking back at this time you learned so much about people by meeting people from all parts of the country, New York City, Florida New Orleans, California, Chicago, just to name a few. If Viet Nam wasn’t staring you in the face, you may have made the army your career.

Back from your military duty you were looking for love and someone to have a family and begin the life every young red-blooded American wanted. Your desires come true, and you meet a young lady from Nebraska. Then marriage, a home, two sons and good job. Life could not be better. Unfortunately, this dream came to an end after about eleven years.

Divorced, unemployed because your job was eliminated. These were challenging times for you. But you did not give up. During those times you met your future. You met her in a divorce support group. Ten years later marriage happened. you have now been together for over forty years. Yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Remember a year ago you were at deaths door and Doctor Death was holding the door open. You defied the odds that only three to five percent survive this kind of procedure and forty to fifty percent die within six months after the procedure due to some other illness. It was just not your time. Your journey is not finished.

After eighteen more additional years I am wishing you a Happy 100th Birthday! You have had quite the journey. You have met and interacted with thousands of individuals through this life and learned a lot. I must remind you that the purpose in life is to learn. Learn as much as you can in your life!

Sincerely, Your Subconscious.

Daily writing prompt
Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.
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HEART ATTACKS AND WATER
HEART ATTACKS AND WATER !
How many folks do you know who say they don’t want to drink anything before going to bed because they’ll have to get up during the ni…ght. Heart Attack and Water – I never knew all of this ! Interesting……. Something else I didn’t know … I asked my Doctor why people need to urinate so much at night time. Answer from my Cardiac Doctor – Gravity holds water in the lower part of your body when you are upright (legs swell). When you lie down and the lower body (legs and etc) seeks level with the kidneys, it is then that the kidneys remove the water because it is easier. This then ties in with the last statement! I knew you need your minimum water to help flush the toxins out of your body, but this was news to me. Correct time to drink water… Very Important. From A Cardiac Specialist! Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body 2 glasses of water after waking up – helps activate internal organs 1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal – helps digestion 1 glass of water before taking a bath – helps lower blood pressure 1 glass of water before going to bed – avoids stroke or heart attack I can also add to this… My Physician told me that water at bed time will also help prevent night time leg cramps. Your leg muscles are seeking hydration when they cramp and wake you up with a Charlie Horse. Mayo Clinic Aspirin Dr. Virend Somers, is a Cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic, who is lead author of the report in the July 29, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Most heart attacks occur in the day, generally between 6 A.M. and noon. Having one during the night, when the heart should be most at rest, means that something unusual happened. Somers and his colleagues have been working for a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame. 1. If you take an aspirin or a baby aspirin once a day, take it at night. The reason: Aspirin has a 24-hour “half-life”; therefore, if most heart attacks happen in the wee hours of the morning, the Aspirin would be strongest in your system. 2. FYI, Aspirin lasts a really long time in your medicine chest, for years, (when it gets old, it smells like vinegar). Please read on… Something that we can do to help ourselves – nice to know. Bayer is making crystal aspirin to dissolve instantly on the tongue. They work much faster than the tablets. Why keep Aspirin by your bedside? It’s about Heart Attacks. There are other symptoms of a heart attack, besides the pain on the left arm. One must also be aware of an intense pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating; however, these symptoms may also occur less frequently. Note: There may be NO pain in the chest during a heart attack. The majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart attack during their sleep did not wake up. However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from your deep sleep. If that happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water. Afterwards: – Call 911. – Phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by.- Say “heart attack!” – Say that you have taken 2 Aspirins. Take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for their arrival and …DO NOT LIE DOWN! A Cardiologist has stated that if each person after receiving this e-mail, sends it to 10 people, probably one life could be saved! I have already shared this information. What about you? Do forward this message. It may save lives! “Life is a one time gift”
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How do you want to die?

                                

When you are young you don’t think much of dying. You tend to think you are immortal and death as a far away fact. as you become older you start to think more about dying and death.

I am close to sixty-nine and I am thinking more about death than when I was younger. My parents passed away when they were seventy-five and their health problems started to appear in their late sixties. The same age I am in right now. Is the family legacy going to follow me or will I not follow in the paths of my parents.

                            grim reaper

My mother was afflicted with bone cancer and battled this disease for more than five years. after removal of the cancer and many treatments of chemo and radiation the demon went into remission. After four or five years the demon came back very aggressively. It migrated  to others parts of her body and finally took her. Her death was slow and very painful.

My father was visiting California and he was scheduled to start driving home in the morning. He called me the next morning said he had an upset stomach and was going to wait another day before he started to drive home. That evening his niece called and said she went to get some take out for dinner and when she returned my father was found on the floor dead. He was having a heart attack and didn’t even know it. That major mistake cost him his life.

Recently my true friend had multiple heart by-pass surgery. He is in his mid seventies. How long will this surgery extend his life? Only time will tell. Will this life saving surgery expose him to a more painful and slow death? This surgery may save him from heart failure to just have to experience the pain and suffering of Cancer. Cancer and heart disease is the biggest killer in the US.

A couple of years ago another friend of mine was running his snow-blower and fell over dead from an Aortic aneurism. he died before his wife found him laying on the ground in the snow.

My wife’s mother is in her nineties and in the last year she has deteriorated to the point that she cannot walk and has lost all control of her bodily functions. Medical authorities say her heart and lungs sound good. How long will she have to endure in the sorry state? The quality of life has taken a bad turn for her.

These are just a few examples of death and suffering that I have experienced in my life. Death is a part of life. All of us must some day experience the event. Even now that I am closer to the event,  I still can’t answer the question, How do I want to die?