*shivers*
I was hospitalised last year due to Cellulitus of the face, and given that I was nineteen at the time, I had to stay on a ward with a lot of old wrinklies. (too old for the awesome Children's ward, but then at least I didn't have a censor time on my TV) I was easily the youngest there by a good forty years. The ward had eight beds, the lady to my right was wonderful, chatty, and such a kind person. The one to my left had been motionless from the moment I was admitted there, and all she ever really did was breathe raspily as she stared up at the ceiling. She didn't eat or anything, and there was a lot of hushed talk about her dying. A few days into my stay, they drew the curtains around her, giving her privacy in her final moments.

So it was really sod's law that they were drawn back when she did die. Because it was during 'rest hour' I was watching TV, the rest of the old biddies were asleep like the nurses suggested. I happened to glance over when the lights were switched back on, and said lady was flat out on her back, staring up at the ceiling with... the most horrific expression I have ever seen. It was as if she had been dragged kicking and screaming from her mortal coil. As soon as the nurses realised, the curtains were pulled tight about her bed again, and they went into the procedure of calling back the various relatives who had been around her almost constantly the past few days.

They seem to think that she died at the beginning of the rest hour, when her relatives had left the room, that she held on just long enough for them to go. The idea that I had a dead body in the bed next to me whilst I was watching Daddy Daycare was pretty unsettling. They didn't even move the body until a few hours later, granted I couldn't see her, but the idea of her being there chilled me right to the bone. They pulled all of our curtains across when they did wheel her out, thankfully, but still... it wasn't nice. That night all I could see was her wrinkled face, staring up at me.

The very best part of this being? Happy Birthday to me. Best way to spend my twentieth birthday ever.

That said, reading through some of the other answers here, I realise that I've been really lucky. None of my close friends of relatives have died, other than an aunt a few years ago, and even then we weren't close.
(Wheeler back off Amazon, she's mine!, Fri 29 Feb 2008, 20:30, 6 replies)

*shivers*
Kind of know what you mean second hand.

Over Crimbo 1999 I and my girlfriend (now Mrs Vambo the 2nd) managed to catch extremely nasty chest infections. I was admitted to one hospital the day before Christmas eve and spent the lonliest most miserable Christmas imaginable there (despite the brill doctors & nurses).

Just as I was getting better after mahoosive intravenous antibiotics, my girlfriend went down with the self-same bug and was more or less a few hours from death and was rescued by my brother & his wife calling around on the offchance.

So the future Mrs Vambo was admitted to a different hospital. Cue me (nearly recovered) discharging myself and going to see the beloved.

She was over the worst of it and had a determination to get better. So great was her determination to get better that she ate her lunch with the corpse of her neighbour just feet away with just a curtain screening it from view.
( Vambo, Fri 29 Feb 2008, 22:55, closed)

If I were you
I'd have found the fact that I planned on spending my twentieth birthday watching Daddy Daycare unsettling enough.
(Edktstsss, Sat 1 Mar 2008, 0:45, closed)

Pardon the intrusion...
But what exactly is "Cellulitus of the face" is it what we all know and love showing up on various thigh areas but for some reason showing up on your face?

Is it life threatening if it appears anywhere other than on the legs?

How did you recover? I hope you did!
(Lurkaloid awarded wanking black belt on, Sat 1 Mar 2008, 2:05, closed)

Ja~
@Lurkaloid: It's pretty much like cellulitus anywhere else, except it was in the skin over my cheeks and near my eyes. They seem to think I got it from a mozzie bite, and because I was suffering from a fecked shoulder at the time, it just went all craptacular. They never mentioned to me whether it was life threatening or not, but apparently it can be, if the infection goes in deeper towards the brain area! I'm pretty glad they didn't, come to think of it.

And I'm all better now, thanks :) It cleared up almost straight away once they put me on antibiotics.

@Ed9489 is single as of today; Pft. The kid's channel was showing a different film each day, and it was quite sadly, the highlight OF my day. That said, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. Better than the Babysitters Club.

@Vambo; Ugh, chest infections. It must have sucked to be bad enough to be admitted with one! Over Christmas, too! Now being in for my birthday seems not so bad. Poor Mrs Vambo though, I know how she must have felt. Luckily we got served dinner later, when the body had gone.
(Wheeler back off Amazon, she's mine!, Sat 1 Mar 2008, 11:00, closed)

Reading some of the replies
I feel the need to point out that cellulitis is not the same thing as cellulite.
(clumsyeloquence is a girl, Sun 2 Mar 2008, 21:08, closed)

...
@clumsyeloquence; Ahh crikey, I've only just realised that.

Cellulitus is an infection that gets under the skin, as opposed to cellulite which is an harmless orangey-peel dimpled effect that one usually gets on thighs.
(Wheeler back off Amazon, she's mine!, Mon 3 Mar 2008, 18:31, closed)