Gabriela

The event happened the moment they gave me anaesthesia for an operation. On administering the anaesthesia for a spinal block, I felt a strong blow towards the back of my head. I saw myself floating through a type of misty tunnel with an intense white light at the end. I felt absolutely nothing; no fear, no happiness, no anxiety, nothing. I just floating like a piece of paper. Also while floating, I saw a green-colored tunic that the doctor was wearing. I saw myself wearing a blue cap. I had never seen the blue cap before because it had been moved to behind my head. While I went through the tunnel a series of hands tried to grab me without success. I kept advancing towards the light at the end of the tunnel. I was almost there when one of the hands dragged me back to my body.

It was at this moment that I opened my eyes on the operating table, seeing various faces above me. They were the same that I had seen when I was floating. It was as if I had been suspended from the roof. The Mexican lead of the surgery team, asked me ‘Where were you?’ I told him what had happened. They were shocked by the details that I gave them like the colour of the hat and that I had been able to see them treating and reviving me. I was describing the scene from the position where there had been a giant clock in the room. Everything was very strange and I didn’t associate it with a near death experience until some time later. I knew that I had had respiratory arrest and that they had given me respiratory assistance by means of intubation. They asked me lots of questions of a diagnostic type to find out whether there had been any sort of neurological damage like lack of oxygen to the brain. After the surgery, I had a lot of special care, but then nothing more. This has changed my life forever. It made me realise how fragile we are, and how everything can change in seconds with the possibilty of not reaching our culmination for some unknown reason. During this period, I had two little boys. I needed to be here for them. Maybe this is what made me come back. I will never know.