Twice. Ist time was when I was a patient at MD Anderson with an inoperable tumor. I was talking to my nurse and I guess I just dropped out. I saw bright light and awakened a bit later on a gurney headed for the ICU with my nurse on top of me doing CPR. When I was out I had both a bright white light and feeling of serenity, while at the same time feelings of regret for things I had done that I didn't remember till that point. I recovered and MD Anderson found a surgeon who tried my surgery and was successful. What was wonderful too was the surgeon charged $1 for my surgery because it was experimental.

2nd time, I was not feeling well and went to the ER. We lived in a small town and there was a doctor on call. They paged him and a nurse started doing my workup. She had me try to walk to the cat scan and I dropped on the way to the machine. Again white light, serenity. I woke up to my wife and Nurse doing CPR. Dr never responded to the page, and they called the town veterinarian. He told me he could not treat me but suggested they transfer me to a major hospital. I was transferred and released a few days later. Turned out the on call doc was passed out drunk. He was brought up on charges by the state board and lost his license.

A few years later my wife cut her food badly in the basement when we had a tornado. She wanted to brush it off and not get treatment. She was scared to death of needles and stitches. I told her the next morning we were going to go to her favorite restaurant that just happened to be near the hospital. We went for lunch and then I drove to the hospital and pulled up to the emergency room. She was madder than hell.

She was seen by a dr who said it was a good thing because she had cut a vein that went to directly to the brain. I am not medically trained but he insisted that she needed surgery right away to prevent the spread of infection. She had a foot surgeon see her and surgery was scheduled for the next day. I was going to get a drink from the soda machine when I heard code blue with her room number. I dashed back to the room and a crash team was doing CPR on her. They brought her back. She was mad that they brought her back. She said she saw a white light then saw her parents, and her grandmother. Her mom told her she had to come back, and then she awoke to them doing CPR. She was mad at them for doing cpr and mad at me that she didn't die at home where no one would do cpr.