Welcome back Ken!
I was touched by the hospital report, and it strongly reminded me about something I read about the illness and passing of the Sixteenth Karmapa (See "Secret of the Vajra world" by R.A. Ray).
This is a rare example of a realised lama dying in a western hospital, i.e. outside the traditional Tibetan seting.
The story is told by Dr. Mitchell Levy:
"I walked into the room and he was sitting up in bed. Just up. And his eyes were wide open and the force of his will was immense, and he turned to me and said in English (of which he knew only a few phrases), 'Hello. How are you?'
"And within thirty minutes, all his vital signs got stable and to a normal level, and he stopped bleeding. I walked out after about an hour of being in the room, and one of the staff from the intensive care unit came up and he said, 'Look at my arms.' and I looked and he had goose bumps all up and down his arms. No one had ever seen anything like this in their lives. The force of his will was so strong, and he wasn't ready to die yet. I am completely convinced that he willed himself back into stability. I had never seen anything remotely resembling this, or even read or heard about such a thing. "
The whole account can be found here:
http://www.khandro.net/16Karmapa_80.htm
good to have you back Ken
tonglen really works :)
um ah hung
Svein