Will Knott brought this topic to the LBC – and do me the favor of checking out what the other members have to say … after you read my take, of course.
I have lingered quite close to death once in my life, when at the age of five, I was hospitalized with what was believed (apparently) to be a systemic infection. It turned out to be mononucleosis, something that doctors would not really suspect a five year-old of having, so that is not totally surprising. The bad news, though, was that the nursing shift made a grievous error in my care and double-dosed me with penicillin for two weeks! This played havoc with my system, as you can guess, and it was taken over by opportunistic fungal growth which almost did me in.
You are probably thinking that I am going to tell you of something that caused me to suddenly take a TURN for the better, or some such, but that is not so. Instead, it is the conclusion of my hospital stay that is the mystery.
At the end of the stay, they took out my tonsils. Even in the 50’s, this was not the most daring of surgery. The nasty part was that the anesthetic was ether, and anyone who has ever come out of ether induced sleep can attest that the effects after are quite awful with headache and severe nausea. But, that isn’t the point of the story, either.
No, the story is about what I “saw” or dreamed of during the surgery. There was a current, an electric stream, that was so strong that it poured in a beam of almost unimaginable force. The beam streamed from left to right, I remember that quite vividly, and was horizontal.
A massive man entered the picture, a man of immense strength and power.
Somehow, he grabbed that raging torrent and struggled with it mightily. Slowly, ever so slowly, he bent it so that it gradually assumed a flow back over his shoulder. His effort in doing this was Herculean, but his will was iron!
He turned that stream! He succeeded. And, somehow, I knew at the age of five that what he did was very important!
Why would a child have such a preposterous and involved vision? I’ve often wondered what it meant at any level.
When I awakened, they gave me ice cream. And I turned green ...
"GREEN" these days is not a "bad" color! Does that mean you recycled the ice cream? If so, you were way-ahead of the turn.
ReplyDelete@Mayo
DeleteI did indeed recycle the ice cream! It was my part in the greening of our planet. :)
I had surgery under ether twice - once a tonsuilectomy and once to repair damage when I rode my bike at a rapid pace into a car that was making a left hand turn that I didn't catch as I was NOT paying attention. Took a few stitches inthe mouth to repair the hanging piece of my cheek. First thing I was offered each time upon awakening was ice cream, no visions to report though. Even at the tender age of 7 or so I was not as deep a thinker as you Fos - LOL
ReplyDelete@shackman
DeleteDidn't you just feel marvelous after coming out from under the ether?
I did a similar thing once on my bike, but fortunately it was just a parked car and I bent my front wheel at about a 90 degree angle. Dad was actually able to true it back up with progressive spoke tightening, to my amazement. And my body just suffered the agony of being racked on the handlebars! :(
I too remember the ice cream after surgery for the removal of tonsils and adenoids. In my case it was to solve my continuous ear problems, I was about six at the time. Ice cream and going green, were the memories I carried for life, but no dreams or visions. When I had my hip replaced about three years ago, I remember saying - "I can feel the vibration and hear the noise, but I have no pain". I think they hit the switch, 'cause I remember no more! :lol:
ReplyDelete@Grannymar
DeleteAnesthesia is much more advanced than when we were children! Even the anesthesia for my colonoscopy, where they are able to induce the "twilight sleep" is far beyond what they did in the 50's.
I get this image of them looking at one another very quickly when you spoke up and uping the dose! LOL
I contribute my increased intelligence to an accident I had at the age of 5 or 6. I feel off of the baler when we were baling hay, and the front wheel of the trailer that was following to put the hay bales on, ran over my head. I went "green" for several days.
ReplyDelete@Mayo
DeleteThe baler probably caught your head, too, and that is why your hair is red! Or, at least was red when we were in school. :)
@Mayo - NOW WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!!!!!!
ReplyDelete@Grannymar
DeleteThis does explain a lot, but I think there is still more to the story to be uncovered. The truth may be as elusive as a Mayo in a haystack!
That is awful, Old Foss. Glad you lived to tell the tale. Just reading your experience makes me a little green round the nose. A double dose of penicillin? Who discovered this to be so - and admitted to it? Your parents must have been livid.
ReplyDeleteThe dream is extraordinary, and lends itself to many a wonderful interpretation. In fact, it's rather inspired. Not many guarding angels come in the shape of Mr Muscle.
U
@Ursula
DeleteIt was the doctor who discovered it and my folks said that he bellowed so loudly it could be heard through the whole hospital!
And as for the imagery, for a five year-old boy in the American 50's, I imagine that if the Guardian Angel would need to do something mighty, it would seem like a big muscle guy! When you are that age, that is how you extrapolate adult men. They are all huge compared to you anyway. And they are all stronger, so I suppose a boy child would go to that limit.
PS @U, I think my parents were more terrified than livid.
DeleteYou turned green?! What the heck?
ReplyDeleteI had my tonsils out when I was about 9 years old. As it turned out, my father also needed his out, so he and I got ours out at the same day. We shared a hospital room. I was young and full of energy, so he had me doing things for him like changing the channel on the tv (pre-remote days), or raising the foot of his bed with a turn crank. lol I remember feeling very disillusioned because they told me I could eat as much ice cream afterward as I wanted, but my throat was so sore I didn't want any!
@Delirious
DeleteI imagine a person doesn't do as well with it after the caregivers studiously tried to kill him! LOL It literally took me a few months to really get back to normal after all that.
Instantly I felt a sense that the stream was your illness and Hercules was the angel sent to take it away. These "feelings" started when I was three and continue…
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that you endured a miraculous experience, Fossil.
I very aware of ether, it made my mother sick after surgery. I had surgery recently and the anesthetic made me upchuck for three days.
Glad you are well. blessings ~ maxi
@Maxi
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a very reasonable spiritual view.
Sounded like Mr. Spock, but I just gave you high praise from two perspectives simultanously!
You started fantasising at a much younger age than most kids do and it now reflects on some of your interests. I did not just turn green, I turned green with envy for that experience.
ReplyDelete@Rummuser
DeleteYou seem to have put together a pretty active inner life, yourself!