by The Prof » Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:50 pm
Aged about 16, I suffered a "spontaneous pneumothorax" - the sudden and unprovoked collapse of my left lung, which - self evidently reduced my inhalation capacity quite severely. I didn't at the time, know what had cause it, but the reduction of the lung's size to about that of a tennis ball gave my chest an amazing resonance my heartbeat seemed ten times as loud - I thought I was having a heart attack! I remained conscious, but the strength drained out of me, curiously just as I was passing a newly repointed stone wall. I leaned on the wall relying on its friction to keep me upright as my legs seemed to have turned to spaghetti. And there, as I stood propped up by the wall, (reasonably convinced that I had perhaps minutes left to live) I saw myself as if from from above, looking down and thinking "that poor bloke's in real trouble" (the "poor bloke" in question was me!) I was in fact not in any serious medical danger... just half as well provided with oxygen as normal! And by the most fortuitous coincidence, my doctor's surgery was only about a hundred yards away, and a hospital (long since closed down!) a hundred yards further on. My GP saw me immediately and produced an astoundingly fast diagnosis, got me into his car and drove to the hospital where an X-ray confirmed his diagnosis. I didn't mention the "floating and looking down at myself" to anyone at the time - they were all to busy getting a tube into my chest to reflate the lung - and I almost forgot about it until some years later I heard about "Out of Body Experiences" and thought "That happened to me!" I fitted the usual specification with the exception that I hadn't been "near death"... just starved of oxygen, and convinced that I was about to die. I'm amazed about how calmly I took the prospect!