Prior to my cardiac arrest, each day I woke was a 2nd chance to live my life differently from how I had before awakening. Like everyone, there was no guarantee I would see the next day — accidents, contagions and pandemics, misadventure, faulty genetics, and disease can strike anyone anytime. Yet I did. I figure about 22,093 such opportunities to live my life differently passed by before my heart stopped pumping during a half marathon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I came out of the induced coma in <\/a>the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, even though I’d lost two 2nd chances, due to my forced unconsciousness, the thought of seizing a 2nd chance never occurred to me, just like the other 22,093 times. I was focussed on getting back to my prior life, not looking for a new improved or different life. Don’t ask how that worked out for me. It didn’t. There’s no normal after a cardiac arrest, at least until you decide or become reconciled with what normal is now going to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I never questioned why I survived because the answer was obvious: bystanders gave me CPR until medical personnel took over and an ambulance crew restored cardiac rhythm. Instead, my “why me?” was about how I ended up with ventricular fibrillation after being fit and lean, and eating well, for so many years. I wasn’t left with a sense of renewed purpose or meaning, I just wanted to get running again, without fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The opportunities for 2nd chances are as endless as time, and our willingness to seize the opportunity. If it takes a traumatic event like a sudden cardiac arrest to challenge how you are living your life, so be it. But you don’t have to wait for that to seize a 2nd chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prior to my cardiac arrest, each day I woke was a 2nd chance to live my life differently from how I had before awakening. Like everyone, there was no guarantee I would see the next day — accidents, contagions and pandemics, misadventure, faulty genetics, and disease can strike anyone anytime. Yet I did. I figure … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-ted","4":"post-401","6":"format-standard","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospeedmousetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}