Brain Surgery.
John, my NDE was also associated with brain surgery. I was an emergency case, with a cyst the size of two golf balls growing out of what was otherwise a benign cytoma. As I lay in pre-op, with my wife at my side, I felt as though everything around me was becoming a horizon, getting further and further away, and I told my wife that I was leaving. With that, I was in The Tunnel. It was warm, peaceful, and I was finally out of the agony that my body could no longer endure.It was only a brief stay, however, (a "tease," I like to call it), and I was back in my body, with all of the horrible pain, with my wife tapping my arm and whispering, "If you leave me alone with two kids, I'll be pissed as all hell."
After the surgery, I told my wife about what I had experienced. I even expressed the anger and bitterness of having to come back that is quite common among NDE people. Everytime I would bring it up, however, she changes the subject. She just doesn't want to deal with the concept of death. This is causing a bit of a strain between us because, although I enjoy life fully and am thankful for my complete recovery from my tumor, I am nevertheless enthusiastic about my ultimate, permanent departure, while my wife (who oddly enough sings in our church choir) freaks out that I feel this way.
Quite recently, a secretary in our office told me that her boyfriend, who had suffered a heart attack several years ago, had a "full-blown" NDE where he actually had the chance to communicate with The Light. He came back, however, to find EMS personnel pounding his chest, and for the longest time he resented having to come back.
Of course, we have to have faith in God's ultimate plan, and we shouldn't be so impatient as to think that we are entitled to know IN THIS LIFE what our part is in the plan. Things change in everyone's lives. Times are good, times are bad, but those of us who have had the privilege of a glimpse of eternity know what the real prize is.
