On July 10, 2010, I had surgery on a torn tendon in my right hip.   It was a long and unusual surgery that required going into my hip and tying the tendon back onto the bone from which it has dislodged.  I was on a lot of pain medication and was dizzy after the surgery.  I was in the hospital for two nights and wanted to get home, so I was released on July 12.  

I was walking with a crutch, as I had no could not put any weight down on the right.  At home, I was to start physical therapy with a hip machine for 7 hours a day.  In between the therapy, I used "ice pants" to take the swelling down.  There was a lot of pain and I walked with crutches in my apartment.

On the morning of July 13, my son left early to go to work and a friend was coming over to stay with me for the day.  I couldn't really be alone, as I couldn't do anything for myself at that point.  I did want to try to make a cup of coffee, so I went to the kitchen at around 8 am, while waiting for my friend.

I started to feel dizzy, and wanted to get back to bed.  I should have sat down in a nearby chair, but I thought I could make it to the bedroom.   Just as I got to the bedroom, I passed out, and veered right, slamming my face and head into the doorjamb on the way down.  I landed, face down, on the carpet and was there for an estimated 40 minutes.  I don't remember anything past the time that I fainted.

In the fall, I had fractured my jaw, skull and ocular bone, and there was a brain bleed.   I bled out through my nose during the time that I was passed out.  At some point, I opened my eyes and felt a presence lifting me up off of the carpet.  It put it's hands around my waist and hoisted me up, very gently.   I remember seeing myself on the carpet, in a pool of blood around my head, and being alarmed, but calm at the notion that I was being taken care of in that moment.

Whatever was lifting me got me to my feet and I went directly to the phone and called 911.  I then sat in a chair and waited.   The ambulance came (I don't know how long it took) and whisked me off to the emergency room.   I don't remember anything until I opened my eyes in the emergency room to see my son.  I said his name and went back to sleep.  The whole day was like that.   

When my son found out that it was a brain injury, he had me transferred to Columbia Presbyterian (Weill Cornell) and I spent the next four days in ICU.   Since I had had a seizure, I was on Dilantin and tons of pain killers.  My face was battered and bruised, but I was able to go home once they got me walking (with crutches).   I always had someone with me from that time forward.

No one has confirmed that I "died" during that episode.  But I was "gone".   And there was no way that I could have gotten up off the floor in the condition that I was in (hip).  I remember floating up with the help of the spirit.  I saw the spirit in my mind's eye as energy.  It didn't have a human form, but the feeling was there and that is something that I will never forget.   I believe that I died, and I believe that my angel rushed in.

I know that the spirit that lifted me was my brother, Kenny, who passed in 1995.   I knew it right away, and it wasn't strange or weird but only loving.   What I learned is that the spirit remains, and the love remains.   I always missed my brother, but I never "missed" him after that.  I know he's with me, and I know he's watching over me for my best interest.

I received a lot of peace and comfort from my experience.   Hard as it was, I would never trade that experience for anything.