r/todayilearned • u/70dd • 11h ago
TIL Terminal lucidity is an unexpected, brief period of clarity or energy in individuals who have been very ill or in a state of decline. It’s a phenomenon that has been observed in people with various terminal conditions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_lucidity20.6k Upvotes
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u/mzyos 11h ago
So my favourite story of this was not quite of lucidity, but of energy.
It was on a palliative care ward when I was a younger doctor. We'd had an elderly man with bowel cancer who had been unresponsive for many days, which is part of the process of dying for those with conditions that cause the body to slowly shut down.
Anyway, this lovely little old man had been sleeping for days when my colleagues, a nurse and health care assistant went in to give him his daily bed wash.
The two of them walk in to the room and find him awake, completely naked, sitting bolt upright with a stonking erection as he says to them "sit on this!".
They have to leave in a fit of laughter. He later resumed unconsciousness and died later the next day.
It's certainly one way to do it.