Been there done that.
Open heart surgery.
Long ago I took a CPR course. Instructor was adamant: your heart stops, you’re dead. Period. Oh, between CPR and intracardiac adrenaline shots they might be able to bring you back from the dead, but heart stops = dead. That stuck with me.
I knew my bicuspid aortic valve (congenital heart defect, incomplete leaky valve) would some day need replacing. Visiting a new cardiologist, he inspected me quietly, too quietly, too long, asked “do you have any other symptoms?” “Uh...no...generally feel fine...” “You need a pacemaker. Now. And a new valve while we’re in there.” A month later he admitted wondering why I was still alive. The deteriorating valve had all but knocked out half the “circuitry” in my heart, and those last remaining nerve cells were about to go - taking me with them.
10 days later (not an easy process to arrange on short notice) I was in the OR, my wife of 5 years waiting outside, 3 month old daughter not knowing. “Mrs. D? Your husband is doing fine. They’re stopping his heart now.”
Yes, I was on artificial cardiac & respiration ... but my heart was stopped, and for a rather long time (hour or so), and remember the CPR instructor’s words. Near death experience? Depending on how you squint at it, I’ve been dead.
I’ve always been a calm person. Now, more so. When you’ve been dead, not much else seems important enough to get uptight about.
My first night taking newly prescribed BP meds I was at the kitchen sink and blacked out. Next thing I know I’m on the kitchen floor on my left side. My kitchen is small with an island very close to the sink so if I fell any other direction but to the left I could have cracked my head open or done serious damage.
Turns out all I had was a sore left butt and didn’t hit the head at all during the fall.
I was amazed how that turned out. I live alone so just speculating how it could have turned out otherwise. This story is lightweight compared to most here but death can occur a thousand different ways.
I had AVR a year ago. When I first became aware after the surgery I felt like very little time had passed and that nothing had happened. I was wondering if the surgery had been cancelled. That’s the best I would feel for the next 8 months. Later on I had a remembrance of complete and utter nothingness, which was different from any other anesthesia.