“I think I might have a dog’s nose,” s/he said, looking amazed. “I’ve never experienced anything like this…I can smell each person’s unique scent and I don’t mean perfume or after-shave. I mean every body smells different. I asked some folks to come near me, so I could smell them up close but they didn’t even have to come close. I could tell the differences as they walked by in the hallway!

“And then the same thing happened with my hearing. I distinctly heard the conversation between three medical professionals way down the hall. The nurse in my room simply scoffed when I told her. She heard nothing at all. But I asked her to find the three and tell them what I heard to verify my accuracy. She came back a few minutes later shaking her head in disbelief.

“And then came the bliss, the love, the acceptance of everything being OK. Physically I might have been close to dying. I’d lost a lot of blood, but emotionally I felt fine, peaceful, content and eager to try something different in my life, to be of service and bring smiles, especially to kids who are saddled with life-threatening illnesses.”

When my friend shared these experiences with one of the doctors, the doc replied:
“Oh, we call that ICU delirium. It’ll pass.”