I had two of mine taken out when I was in the Air Force. I was 21 years old and this was around 1991 or so. I /was/ put under (demoral + valium IV drip). My jaw

I had two of mine taken out when I was in the Air Force. I was 21 years old and this was around 1991 or so. I /was/ put under (demoral + valium IV drip). My jaw is rather small (I have always had tight teeth, which makes flossing even a chore now), so they had to chip jaw fragments out of the way for the extractions. There simply was nowhere for new teeth to go. In any case, I remember coming out of anesthesia and the doctor leaning over me, his bloody gloves now removed, and asking me how I was feeling. I was about to respond when, after a moment's pause to catch my breath, I suddenly awoke to a very large male nurse giving me chest compressions. The doctor yelled, "He's back! He's back!" and he made the man stop. I groggily looked about and noticed a female nurse cowering in the corner. She was sobbing uncontrollably and soon ran out of the room (maybe not the best nurse, but I guess she had never 'lost' someone before). I asked, fuzzy mouthed, what happened? Apparently they pulled my IV out too soon and my forced dehydration and starvation made me faint once the fluids stopped. One of the possible side effects of fainting is a loss of heart beat. They told me "I had been dead" (which was inaccurate) "for about 90 seconds." What they meant was my heart had stopped beating for that long. People always ask, so I'm obliged to say: I saw no tunnel of light or flashing of my life before my eyes. It was simply total sleep-like darkness with absolutely no concept of time passing. It was as if I had made a long hard blink, and been told later 90 seconds had elapsed. For all I knew, two seconds had passed, much like a deep solid sleep: It's not until you look at the clock that you know how much time has passed. I had the other two wisdom teeth taken out at a dental school in Dallas. That was whole other ordeal. But I didn't "die" that time, at least.