Visions of Hell

My husband never stops surprising me.   There is so much he doesn't tell me and I suppose that is a good thing.  It is nice to have surprises and to still find out new things about someone you've been with for many years.  It is nice to hear new stories and know there will always be mystery.   My husband is a doctor, a medical director, and he has spent much of his life at work.  It is these parts of his life that I don't know and that still hold shadows and stories I have yet to hear.   He told me one of these stories this morning. 

My husband told me about a code he was running on a man who was dying.  The man died.  They lost him.  He slipped away into that realm that people go to after your last breath has passed your lips and your heart beat fades away.  The man died and they brought him back.   On his return, the man started screaming.  He screamed that he had been on fire.  There was fire everywhere.  His yells were like the shrieks of the damned and then he faded from this world again.   My husband and his team kept working and brought the man back to life again.  Again, the man screamed about fire and burning.  Three times the man died and came back screaming about fire.  Finally, he slipped away from this world.

The nurses all believed that the man was going to hell every time he died.  They believed his visions of fire were visions of his own damnation.  They were shaken by what they saw and heard coding that man.   My husband isn't sure what was happening, but he says the event certainly made him think.  He hopes the man wasn't going to hell.  He says that the very idea of that is almost too terrifying, but the mans screams have stayed with him and he wishes he could have saved him.