Ex hospice nurse shares ‘strangest factor’ affected person did simply earlier than they died

A hospice nurse turned doctor has shared the strangest thing a dying patient did just before passing away, explaining the ‘second wind’ phenomenon she witnessed

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A hospice nurse turned medic has revealed one of the most disturbing incidents a patient experienced during her early career days. Dr Andrea O’Connor operates a hugely popular YouTube channel where she recounts her tales and encounters to her 73,000 subscribers.

In one clip, which has clocked up millions of views, she remembers her time as a student nurse before obtaining her medical qualification.

She said: “This happened years ago when I was working in a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. I was a pretty new nurse, and when you’re a new nurse, they put you on night shifts.” She added: “One night, I got to work and received my regular patient assignment of eight patients for my shift.

“I was going to each of my patients, and one of them was very ill. This patient was in kidney failure, unconscious, on a movable bed to prevent bedsores and hadn’t eaten in days.”

The day shift nurse cautioned her that he was nearing his final moments and would probably die during the night.

“I felt it was my job to make sure he was as comfortable as possible,” she said.

“The patient was naked because we’d placed him on a pad to make it easier to manage any urine or outputs. It helped keep him cleaner and more comfortable.”

But around midnight, Andrea witnessed something that left her utterly stunned.

“I was sitting at my desk in the middle of the unit. When I looked into this patient’s room, I saw someone walking around in the room,” she explained. As she dashed to investigate the commotion, she discovered it was the patient himself causing the disturbance.

“He asked me, ‘Where’s my bag? Where are all my things?’ He was completely lucid, walking around his room.

“I said to him, ‘Please sit down, you’re going to fall.'”.

“If you’ve been in bed for weeks, you lose the muscle strength to walk and you’ll just fall. You’d need physical therapy to regain strength. It takes three days to recondition yourself.

“I gave him a cup, and he was drinking water, panicking around the room.

“I couldn’t leave him alone to get someone else because what if he fell?”.

“I tried to hold onto him. I don’t even remember how I got him to calm down. I think I got him to sit in one of the reclining chairs in his room and said, ‘Okay, I’ll get your stuff, just please don’t move, I’ll be right back.'”.

She bolted from his room to locate another nurse, explaining breathlessly: “You’re not going to believe this, but that patient, who was really ill, is awake. He’s walking around his room looking for his stuff, and he’s drinking water.”

Emphasising how the patient had been “at Heaven’s door,” Andrea pleaded with the other nurse to help her. Together, they hurried back to the room, only to discover him back in bed, unconscious once more.

“The patient was back in his bed, exactly how he had been before-unconscious, out like a light,” she said. “I gently touched and shook his shoulder and arm, calling his name, but he was just as he had been earlier in the evening – unconscious and breathing deeply, with the kind of breath where the exhale takes a long time.”

The other nurse – who had more experience than Andrea – explained to her that this is what happens when people are on the verge of dying, as they sometimes experience a “second wind.”

Dr Andrea revealed that she had “never seen that before” and has “never seen it to that degree since.”

The patient died the following day.

She added: “I couldn’t believe it. That was before I worked in hospice care, and it was the strangest thing-seeing that patient walk around, just before passing away.”

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