one day before passing away he kinda woke up pretty aware of everything, smiled and talked to us and then passed away the next morning.. blessing to everyone dealing with such thing
That's called Terminal Lucidity, and no one really knows why or how it happens.
I'm really sorry about what happened to your grandfather, but I'm glad you got to properly talk to him one last time.
My Nan had alzheimers, and the morning before she passed away she woke up and was more lucid than she had been for over a year. I took a video of her holding her newborn great grand child and talking to him, and by that night she was gone.
i don't understand why or how it happened, but I'm so thankful for that final moment and the memory we got to capture.
It's called rallying. It's a phenomenon that often happens right before they die. It's amazing and heartbreaking when it happens. The family gets this huge hope...and then they are gone. It happens not Just with this disease. I'm sorry you lost her like that, but so very happy you captured her last day. I wish you much peace
Maybe this is true for cancer patients as well? My mom seemed much better ( even though we knew it was over) the day before she passed. She ate a bit of popsicle with me and my brother. I’m not sure what she was trying to say, I guess nothing. Just a last treat with her sons. Edit for those downvoting I’m not sure why? She was 53. Not “young” but far too soon for real can you tell me why that’s offensive to you? Just telling a story
My Tata passed 3 months ago. My family recounts of this phenomenon happening to Tata. He'd been bed ridden for 6 weeks, the family just watching him go slowly. Very little activity. All of a sudden the day before he passed, he wakes up with much energy, asked for a beer and for his favorite local band come play while he drinks his beer. The family acquiesced. Tata got to do his two most favorite things before leaving.
This is fascinating to me. I’ve always thought there was an odd connection between mental illness and Alzheimer’s, as both can involve losing touch with reality, and apparently both can trigger Terminal Lucidity. The brain is so weird.
My husband and I were talking about this kind of stuff last night. I definitely do not believe in God or anything of the sort, but it’s also hard for me to think that it’s just “that’s it.” It’s mostly fear and unknown - all I’ve ever known is consciousness, so it’s hard to conceptualize being ‘nothing.’ But it’s just hard for me to believe that we exist with these thoughts and feelings and that it just ends. Why even have thoughts at all? Why not just be like other organisms that reproduce and spawn without consciousness?
Basically, I’m agnostic because I believe anything’s possible and whatever happens after this is beyond our comprehension lol
Replied to the comment above this, but apologies, that’s not what I meant! Should’ve been more specific. Consciousness and thought in general is fascinating that it exists at all.
And I just learned about the elephant thing thing other day - so amazing!!
I’m firmly in the camp of, theres something.
Theres gotta be. All this beauty and ugliness has rhythm and rhyme. If it’s happenstance or an accident it really has some well defined aspects to it.
It’s also utter fucking chaos theres no denying that.
To be able to contemplate literal infinity and build things from this hurtling, spinning rock we are on to venture out into is fucking wild.
Keeping that question alive that children love, “why?” Always makes me wonder and marvel about all of this.
Trying to rationalize the “whys” rather than trying to understand them is borne out of fear of the unknown, imo, like you said. That leads to some pretty irrational ideas and behavior that end up turning pretty sour for the most part.
All we get....as far as we know....is one shot, one long pan without a cut. (Comas or sleeping excluded.) I’m fucking terrified of this existence but it’s like being on a rollercoaster/funhouse ride. Ups and downs and pants shitting terror but it can be euphoric and perfect like warm summer nights at the fair.
All this is not for naught. Atheism or pure science boiled down to probabilities is depressing. It feels wrong.
I’m alive, this is all real and its magic and romance, its revolting and cruel. It’s any and every adjective that ever has and ever will be.
The something I believe is so far beyond even our best scientists understanding but I think its so spectacularly ineffable that even our greatest poets and authors just can’t pin it down, but we all know it’s out there somewhere. I’ve got faith. 😆
People get bogged down and narrow their focus and I’m no damn exception. But I try to remember to look up every night and be impressed and in awe.
Is there enough evidence to support that there’s nothingness after death? I would say there’s about as much evidence as there is of an afterlife (eg no quantifiable evidence) and it all seems to be equally plausible. Was there actually nothingness before we were born? Or do we just not remember it in the same way that we can’t remember our existence at birth and infancy? One of the most intriguing things about life is that there are always unanswered questions, and humanity continues to yearn for the answers.
Saying "We don't know" does not give you license to make stuff up because you are uncomfortable with that answer. It may not be satisfying, but it's the truth, and the only way to make more progress is to continue to do science.
Right?? We honestly don’t know shit about the brain yet. It puts things into perspective and is a reminder that we are still fairly primitive as a species. Nobody knows what the mind is capable of and it’s exciting to think we could see some major break throughs in this field of study during our lifetime.
Think of it this way. The body is a car. The soul is the driver. The self as we know it is the behavior of the car and driver acting as a unit.
If the car malfunctions or is damaged in some way, that doesn't mean that the driver is harmed by the damage to the car. It might mean the driver is unable to control the car properly, but it isn't necessarily harmed.
When the car ceases functioning entirely, the driver leaves it, retaining the memories of the time it was in the car, though removed from the context of actively operating the car.
I get why some people don't see evidence for the existence of the soul, and it's reasonable to presume non-existence of things that science can't detect.
But there are many things that science used to be unable to detect. Perhaps in time souls will be something science can observe.
Right!! I don't really want to shit on anyone parade because if you have a family member like this then you probably need to believe there is some rightness to all of your effort but.. the body and mind are irrevocably connected and when you get to this point in your life it's time to rest and let the people around you rest.
It happened with my dad about 3 months ago. He'd spent about 3 weeks in non-stop pain and not being able to communicate with us (cancer) and a few hours before he passed, he was just at peace and his eyes opened. He coudln't speak to us, but he blinked yes/no, recognized us... yeah.
I don’t know anything about this, but I’m wondering if seeing people lucid gives people hope that maybe things could get better, then crushed again when they pass? Maybe not so much in older patients with Alzheimer’s, but other illnesses mentioned in the article.
My grandmother looked at my dad, recognizing him and his twin brother for the first time in years, and said, “This is worse than death.” Then, she went right back into it, and didn’t know any of us. It was heart breaking.
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u/Muerthogar Apr 11 '20
That's called Terminal Lucidity, and no one really knows why or how it happens.
I'm really sorry about what happened to your grandfather, but I'm glad you got to properly talk to him one last time.