Human Administered Mini-Death

XY
Photo by SB

Yesterday I started a series on experiencing types of death while living. I had a dream where I died. Usually those dreams end there, but the dream went on with me being dead. This got me to thinking about times in life when we may experience aspects of being dead.

Dr. L shared her experience of drowning in the comments section. Z shared his experience of being so sick that death was desired. I think everyone who has lived a bit has had experiences related to their own death from around the edge. All these experiences show us different aspects of death. Mine was a dream, Dr. L's was actually dieing and coming back and Z's was being so ill as to desire death.

I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was fifteen. Since they were impacted and had not emerged through my gums, the orthodontist had to operate to get them out. I watched him set up the IV and flinched when the anesthetist stuck me. He then took a syringe and started pushing the anesthetic through the tubes and into me. We started chatting about high school and he asked if I was getting sleepy. Not a bit. I then watched him start to push the plunger and did not see him finish.

I remember slowly coming out of it in a recovery room. They got me up and walked me around a little and let me sit again. My mom got the prescription slips and we left. I could not feel any pain and did not believe they had done anything to me. I tried asking Mom why they didn't operate and almost choked on the gauze in my mouth.

As I sobered up I tried to remember the operation and nothing came to me. I could see the anesthetist push the plunger and that was all I could recall. Mom said they worked on me for over an hour. I could not believe her.

In my mind, I had been out for less than a minute. Most of that minute I remember was during my coming out. It disturbed ( and still bothers me) that I lost over an hour of my existence. For that time, I was gone from everything. Just my basic survival was there with my heart beating and breathing feeding my body with oxygen.

I've slept deeply before and always know that time has gone by after waking up. I've passed out from drinking and still knew time had passed. This was different and that is why I wonder what happened to my spirit or life energy during that time. I know I was not dead while under the knife, but a part of me felt I was gone.

A former boss and friend of mine had a serious kidney and liver infection. They had hospitalize him and induce a three-week coma while they filled him with antibiotics and other medicines. After he regained consciosness he felt the same thing. Time had not meaning while he was out. He had not heard his wife and son talk to him. He did not dream. He did not experience anything. The first thing he noticed was how dry his throat was as he came out. We talked about how wonders how he could not have any sense of life during that time. His time out was much longer than me, but I think we both had a similar experience of puzzlement.

My anesthetized time was not a near-death experience, but one of those moments I call a mini-death, where I got a view of another aspect of that life step. It was not the real thing or even view of it. It was not a deeply profound moment, but just a taste of the big end. Maybe it was like seeing a woman's beautiful legs in stockings with sexy heels on. That is nothing compared to sex, but it is a small morsel of it.