do people know when they are near the end of their life?!

jackomdj

this has touched me & I remember when my Grandad was nearing the end. He was old & ill, he had been in bed for about the last two years of his life. He would have certain routines with people, with me I always had to change his tourch batteries (for ones sat on the side that I had swapped out on the last visit!).

In his last few weeks he seemed to start saying goodbyes to people. Recalling stories about them from the past (previously he had not even remembered people).

He was always quite an unloving person (although good with my generation) & one of my lasting memories is when the vicar came to pray for him (he was never a religious man) it was just the vicar, Grandad, my Dad (Grandad's SIL) & I in the room & before the vicar left he grabbed his arm & said "Thankyou" in the most coherent, sincere way. It makes me cry thinking about it even now, all these years later.

So yes, I believe in some cases people are aware that the end is near.

Nicky x

poet123

Also ask for her Potassium levels to be checked, a deficiency in this causes hallucinations.

hezza86

Thanks folks, I appriciate that some of you just say that its her dementia and nothing more but its nice to hear of others who believe it could be something more, only time will tell i suppose.
I think i was just looking for some comfort that it is possible that maybe this asking for loved ones that have died, infact shes not really been asking for them as such,more of a where are they as if they were hear yesterday whereas thats never really been an issue with her dementia before.which makes us think it could be something more spiritual.

jackieb

jackomdj wrote: »

this has touched me & I remember when my Grandad was nearing the end. He was old & ill, he had been in bed for about the last two years of his life. He would have certain routines with people, with me I always had to change his tourch batteries (for ones sat on the side that I had swapped out on the last visit!).

In his last few weeks he seemed to start saying goodbyes to people. Recalling stories about them from the past (previously he had not even remembered people).

He was always quite an unloving person (although good with my generation) & one of my lasting memories is when the vicar came to pray for him (he was never a religious man) it was just the vicar, Grandad, my Dad (Grandad's SIL) & I in the room & before the vicar left he grabbed his arm & said "Thankyou" in the most coherent, sincere way. It makes me cry thinking about it even now, all these years later.

So yes, I believe in some cases people are aware that the end is near.

Nicky x

My granda was in hospital and he asked my mum for a kiss as she left. He never asked her for a kiss before, and that was the last time she saw him alive. He was a good dad (and granda) but just wasn't touchy feely.

Nicky, that brings a lump to my throat too. x

hezza86

My grandad (other side of family) did something similar aswell,
he waiting till my gran came back from the toilet before going. Which everyone insists he waited till she came back, literally took his hand and said im back now jock and he tok his last breath.
Funny how these things happen, makes you think about it.

achtunglady

I do believe people know when they are going to go. I had a close friend who went out to Bosnia at the height of the war, to transport goods to help the people, he came back to London, visited us, had dinner, helped me run a few errands ( he often came back to the UK but i always heard it from others and he never called or visited on those occasions). He went back and two weeks later he died, after being shot at by snipers, his lorry careered off the mountain road, smashing to pieces as it fell and bounced off the side. I was extremely upset but took comfort that i got to see him a few weeks before he died. He was only in his 30's

trudie15

I lst my Dad this year at the age of 58 to Leukemia, he had not been told he was going to die (and nor was it expected he would) but had become ill in hospital. He made me phone my brother and ask him to bring his will to the hospital as he wanted to make sure we knew where it was and that there would be no disagreements. Whilst waiting for my brother to bring the will my Dad asked me if both myself and my brother were off work the following day, I assured him that we were but asked why he was concerned and he told me "i'll need you to organise my funeral" - My Dad died at 9:50 the following morning.

My Dad died 2 years to the day since my Mum died at exactly the same time, in the same hospital - did he know? - I'm 100% convinced he did.

looby-loo_2

I think people very near the end can 'hang on' or 'let go'

My next door neighbour was excited about her first grandchild. Would it be a boy or girl, etc. Then she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. She hung on and on. The baby was born and her daugher brought her 2 day old son to visit grandma. She held the baby for a few minutes then she died an hour later. I really believe the thought of holding that baby kept her alive a few more weeks.

Mrs_Ryan

As some of you will know, Im a healthcare assistant on a specialist dementia care ward and I too see this a lot.

It seems like the patients are regressing back to their childhood and quite often ask for a parent or some may ask for long-dead relatives believing that they are nearby. It does happen a lot, not necessarily meaning the person is going to die, it can signal a deterioration but not always - it tends to be the case that some sort of physical problem causes the deterioration of condition at end of life, so unless she has physical problems I would have thought its not a sign shes going to die, but Im by no means a medical expert I couldnt say for sure.

I know with Alzheimer's certainly the disease goes through stages and the stages can be very rapid or very slow. It sounds like in OP's grandma's case the progression has been quite slow but a dementia patient can go downhill very rapidly very suddenly - I have seen cases where just days after admission to hospital the patient has gone downhill very quickly or they have been stable for months and then just go downhill more or less overnight. It could well be spiritual but unfortunately thats the nature of dementia - its a very cruel disease.

tandraig

I am a spiritualist so believe in 'life after death' but became one after being with father in law when he was dying of cancer. in last few days he said he saw letitia waiting for him. he would beam and say im coming. in his last day he couldnt speak but he kept looking in one place and beaming.
his mothers name was letitia but he never knew her - he was brought up by his uncle and aunt. the nurse who was with us said she was used to this - mostly it was mum or dad or grandparents.
i firmly believe life goes on - and those we love are there to take us to another level.
we are energy and even enstien said energy never dies.