You can find references about death bed visitations throughout history and I had heard my grandmother share with me some of her own experiences. In 1973 my grandmothers brothers wife died of breast cancer and my grandmothers sat at her bedside in the hospital during those final days. The patient in this case was not medicated and was very alert during those final days. My grandmother told me that as she sat by her bedside she would often point out that she had heavenly visitors waiting in the room to assist her in her departure and she would name various people who had long since departed this life. My grandmother had heard of such experiences before but she was unsure what to make of it herself.

          In 2002 as my father was dying of pancreatic cancer I asked him how his diagnosis was effecting his life views of a world with no God and no afterlife. he assured me that nothing had changed and he was prepared for returning to the blank universe from which he had come. he took his illness in stride and any emotions or feelings that he may have had he kept to himself during those last months to spare us any anxiety. I remember the first visit Hospice made to our home to set up equiptment and give us an orientation. I was given a thick wire bound book that covered all the various changes that a person goes through in the death process. I was told that what the book represented was the best scenario and that not all terminal patients would die in the same manner. this guide book covered everthing from bedsores to dementia and the general changes that a human body goes through as death approaches to give caregivers and family a way to prepare and deal with the eventuality. As I recieved the handbook I was told to read the chapter all the way in the back. She told me that she does not generally discuss this chapter because many people regard this as a non-medical issue but she felt that I should read it and understand that if I were to be confronted with this that its not unusual or abnormal. I found that to be a bit cryptic coming from a nurse and when she was gone I looked in the back to find a section devoted to death bed experiences and some of the causes and reasons.

         Well before my father lost mobility and became bed bound he began having a series of experiences that scared my mother.I came home from work one day and she seemed very aggitated and confused which was par for the course given what we were dealing with. I asked her if she wanted to tell me anything and she told me that some strange things had happened while I was at work that day. She had been upstairs in her bedroom when she became aware of alot of noise downstairs like there was a great deal of activity and conversation between people. She knew that hospice was not due to come so the came downstairs to find my father sitting in the livingroom holding a conversation with an empty room. she asked him what he was doing and he responded that he was talking to his friends and proceeded to introduce my mother to everyone in the room.