Are you telling me she when time traveling before she died.
This occurred about five years before her death. That comes out in part 26.
What Lois was going to tell that will hurt him.
Lois wants Clark to tell her what happened to cause him to have all those scars (the Mutilator tried to kill him) so she can tell him, but she gives up because he won't tell her.
The thingy is a Telepathically-Tuned Time Transport Teleporter or T-5. In typical Lois fashion that's too much of a mouthful to say, so she say's 'thingy'.
Glad you liked this alternate version!!