My father’s near-death experience

 My father had a serious operation on his heart. According to the doctor there was a thirty percent chance he would die during the operation. There was also a thirty percent chance he would never regain consciousness after the operation.

 The operation was safely performed, but my father did not regain consciousness on that day, so I came home. My mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, daydreamed about a flower garden. That is a common near death experience to the Japanese. I really worried about whether my father would regain consciousness.

 The next day, I visited the hospital in the early morning to see him.

 In the hospital, a nurse said to me casually.

“He has already woken up.”

I was surprised that this important information was passed to me in such a casual tone.

 I saw my father in the intensive care unit. He had still many tubes in his body.

 He recognized me. The first words from him surprised me again.

“Did the Dragons win last night’s game?”

The Dragons are the professional baseball team based in my home town. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the team.

Were these his first words after the big operation? I expected to hear about a near death experience, like my mother’s flower garden dream. He couldn’t remember anything about during the operation. He had just thought about baseball.

 Some people just can’t have near death experiences.

 

Mother’s near-death experience

 

 Sometime we hear stories about near-death experiences. Some people see a bright light. Some people meet a holy person. Is it just a dream? Is it the entrance to the other world? I don’t know.

Actually near-death experiences depend on one’s culture. Many Japanese who have near-death experiences say that they visited a flower garden.

  My father had an operation on his heart. That was a few years after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and a few years before my father passed away.

The doctor said there was a thirty percent possibility my father could die during the operation. The doctor also said there was a thirty percent possibility my father would not regain conscious after the operation. It was a tough operation. The doctor asked me to remain in the hospital during the operation.

 I decided to wait in the hospital with my mother on that day. In those days, it was already dangerous to let her stay alone at home, because her disease had progressed. Furthermore, I thought if my father passed away during the operation, she should be near him, even if she couldn’t understand the situation or she couldn’t remember what happened in the hospital.

 The hospital didn’t have a special waiting room for patients’ families. So my mother and I just waited a few hours in a lounge for inpatients. The same as usual, I just listened my mother’s endless talking.

 The operation was safely performed but my father did not recover consciousness on that day. We left the hospital and my unconscious father who had many tubes in his body.

 A few minutes later we came home, and my mother asked me a question.

“Well, I can’t remember…what were we doing today?”

I answered.

“We visited a hospital.”

She doubted that.

“I remember we visited a flower garden. I am sure we ate lunch there.”

 Actually we ate sandwiches for lunch in the dark lounge for inpatients in the hospital.

  My father had the operation on his heart. The doctor temporally stopped his heart. He was very close to death. He could visit the flower garden. My mother perhaps was already a half resident of the other world. It is possible to imagine that my mother actually visited the flower garden with my father.

 

Photo by nobi

Police Cat

 

I recorded the voice in my room on the second floor　at my house.

My, Alzheimer’s disease, mother replied to my voice acting.

When I said

“Out with it!”

She replied from the first floor.

“I am sorry, but I don’t know!”

To record my voice acting, I have to wait her going out to day service.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGNOClGO2Ys