My dad suddenly has been very, oddly peaceful. Smiles a lot, tells me I need to smile more. Thanks me for every little thing I do. Says he isn’t going to make it to Christmas. He has been so depressed lately but suddenly seems... peaceful. It’s the only way to describe it.
So, no, patients don't always sense their own deaths correctly, but I expect it happens sometimes.
One situation where people "know" when they will die is when they plan it themselves. I have read that sudden calm, peacefulness, making peace with loved ones, etc., can be a sign of planning suicide. I hate to bring this up, mama123, but you mention severe depression. Is your dad being treated for that?
You might find these articles about suicide by WebMed and Mayo Clinic interesting:
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/recognizing-suicidal-behavior#1
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/suicide/symptoms-causes/syc-20378048
I hope I am way, way off base here, mama, and I probably am. But I'd want someone to bring this to my attention if I were in your spot. Better safe than sorry. Please come back and tell us how this progresses.
My DH's sister passed in April and he just "out of the blue" told me he would be next. He passed in May.
DH's BIL told his wife (DH's sister) that he was passing on Wednesday and by golly, he passed on Wednesday.
Sometimes they know.
Cancer returned went from her lungs, bones and then brain, in 6 months!! She had stopped smoking 40 years before this.
Anyway, about 2 weeks before she died, she said she saw her mother, and some others who had previously passed.
I told her that God is waiting for her to hold her in His arms.
I also told her , that her angel is here with her now.helping her.
( Guess you know by now, we are Catholic) She suffered mentally & physically those last few weeks. I am actually crying as I write this. She was so good, kind, and loving. But the day she died, I went in to see if she would like some tea. She said," I saw a bright light, and my mother again". She told me she loved me, and was disturbed she would not see my daughter graduate from college, a few weeks later.( my daughter & my Mom were very close) She said, no tea, she wanted to go to God.
She died less than 5 minutes later. There is so much more to this story, but now is not the time. I didn't want my mother to die in a hospital, so she was with me. Thank God, for a good husband and friends, and the angels from Hospice care that last month. ( My job was wonderful, and gave me all the time I needed, plus, they paid me, which I never asked for, nor expected.)
I really think people do know when they are ready to die.
I guess because of my belief in God, that she would finally be out of pain, and with the loved ones who predeced her.
And I do believe that we live on this Earth for a very short time, but in Heaven, no one is sick,or in pain. I'm sorry for going on & on. To this very day, I miss her so.
Yes, I think they know. My aunt told one sitter, 2 nights before she passed that her (deceased) husband visited her that night. She also kept saying he was coming to get her to take her on a trip. In the book I mentioned, it says people who are terminally ill will frequently mention they are going on a trip soon. Or they talk about getting in a line.
Whether it’s a day, week, month, year or years, cherish your time together.
Yes they do. It is going to be very hard, but I think it is God's way of letting YOU know that He will be taking our family member home.
My husband is Jewish where I am Pentecostal. In my husband's Faith and I don't understand why, but children rarely attend viewing, only the funeral. One doesn't even touch the deceased! If one has ever attended a Jewish funeral you will see that there is a shroud over the person if it is an open casket so the deceased cannot be touched. There are only certain people allowed to touch for ritual purpose.
In my Faith, if the deceased is a family member we touch, say goodbye and will even kiss on the forehead....shocked my husband's family.
Anyway, my husband's Grandmother as well as his Mother, would actually sit up and reach out to 'someone' who they could only see. Nanny would even call out Gramp's name and her deceased sister etc. His Mother would suddenly sit up in her hospital bed, reach out and move her fingers like 'come here'. She would be moving her lips, but she didn't speak loud enough for any of us to understand with whom she was talking. Again, this seemed to be very 'odd' to my in-laws. I tried to explain what was happening, but they wouldn't have any of it!
In my Faith, we believe that God brings your loved ones with Him to help you cross over. Those who loved you most or you loved most (we all have our favorites) are the ones who are at the front of the line with God.
Just know again, that this is God's way of preparing you the best He can for the next step. Know that perhaps the person is your Mother (if she is deceased), his Mother, Grandmother or sibling. Your Father is going toward a happy place where he will not be suffering, in pain etc. He will be with family again.
May God be with you and He knows what you're going through too. He will be over your right shoulder talking to you without you even realizing; then you will have your Spiritual Angel once your Father has crossed.
But some of them don't want to worry the family members, so they don't say a thing.
"It's time."
"I've lived long enough."
Just what a daughter wants to hear.
My Mom, was sitting in her hospital bed. She let me know that the time was near. We said our good byes that night (had the nurses in tears) and later that night she went to be with my Dad who had been the love of her life. My Mom I feel was not afraid of death. I still to this day miss them both so much.
I will cherish whatever time I have left with my honey as there are no guarantees left as to the amount of time either of us has. I died 3 times shortly after my honey and I got together due to hydrochloric acid poisoning where I worked at the time (it was not my time to go...there was more for me to do...that was around 29 years ago)so I do not fear death, but I believe honey may. But even with all that has gone on the last few months I hope and pray we still have much more time together before that time comes for either of us.