* Insert Life Cliche Here *

There is nothing like a close brush with death to make you realize that life is short.  Live life to the fullest.  We've heard it said a million times, but there is nothing like a heart attack to make you actually listen and take it in.

It wasn't long before we realized that my husband was going to be okay.  He spent 24 hours in a medically induced coma so they could perform a therapeutic hypothermia protocol after cardiac arrest.  In English, research shows that lowering the body temperature of patients after a heart attack actually helps reduce any amount of brain damage that might be caused.

The doctors used Arctic Sun therapy, which kept his body at 32°C or 90°F for 24 hours.  It took about 16 hours to get him to that temperature and another 16 hours to slowly "defrost" him safely.  As soon as he was out of the coma, he could respond to commands (squeeze my hand) and recognize his friends that came to visit.  He even tried to shake his friends hand when he came to visit one morning, but couldn't do it since he was restrained to prevent him from pulling out his ventilator.

He was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon, after being admitted after midnight Tuesday.  He was back to work after a week of recovery at home.  Christmas and New Years were a million times more meaningful knowing we had him with us.

It was December 31st when I thought of that cliche again - Life is Short.  We've always felt that we've lived life to the fullest, but there's even more meaning to it now.  2015 was going to be an amazing year.

I called up my friend and said "Hey, haven't you always wanted to go to the Sundance Film Festival?"  And within the hour, we had the cheapest tickets ever to Salt Lake City, UT for Sundance! Frontier Airlines had the most amazing fare. $20.15 one way in honor of the new year 2015.  Of course the return fare was more, but after taxes the total round-trip fare between Phoenix and Salt Lake City was $89.15.

The rest of 2015 was full of fun adventures that I plan to blog all about in the coming days/weeks/months:  San Diego, Catalina Island, houseboating on Lake Powell, whitewater rafting the Colorado River, Boston, Cape Cod, and most recently Tokyo and island hopping in Thailand.  There are even more exciting trips in the works for 2016 like snowboarding in Vail, Breckenridge and Park City this winter, as well as hiking the Grand Canyon down to Havasupai Falls in the Spring.

But it's not all about trips everywhere.  I'll also blog about my local trips and adventures.  Subscribe to my blog if you want to hitch a ride!

It's Just a Bad Dream

December 2nd 2015 will be my husbands 1 year anniversary since his heart attack.  One year since I crawled into bed at midnight, chatted with him before we dozed off and not 5 minutes later I woke to him gasping for air.

"It's okay," I told him as I rubbed his back "It's just a bad dream."

But the gasping wouldn't stop and our dog outside the door started barking.  I turned him on his back and tried to shake and wake him, but his blank stare told me that wasn't going to happen.  I yelled at him, "What do you want me to do?!" But without even waiting for an answer, I ran to the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

"My husband's not breathing!" I told them.  After getting our address, the operator assured me that an ambulance was coming then she transferred me to an EMT that coached me as I did chest compressions on my husband of 13 years and father to our 3 children.  I don't remember how long I did compressions, but finally hearing the howl of the sirens in the distant night was reassuring.  They were on their way.

The EMT told me that the ambulance was close and I needed to open the front door for them.  So, I had to leave my husband and run downstairs - as fast as I've ever run.  I grabbed the dogs collar and shoved her into the laundry room, closing that door, then opened the front door wide before running back upstairs.  I continued compressions until I heard the EMTs come in.

"We're up here!" I yelled down to them.  That's when the cavalry came in.  It seemed like 10 first responders - police and paramedics.  They picked my husband up off the bed and placed him on the floor for better leverage.  The 911 EMT had asked me to get him off the bed, but he was just too big for me to do by myself.  So, the EMT told me I would need to push even harder into the chest.  Within a minute the paramedics had the defibrillator on my husband.  Like out of a movie I hear one of them yell "Clear!" and just like that, they shocked him.  The lines on the AED's screen didn't resemble anything that looked like a normal heart beat at all.  I heard them say "Ventricular Fibrillation."  If you want to see a great animation of Ventricular Fibrillation compared to a normal heartbeat, here you go.

This can't be happening.  My husband is only 49 years old.  He just hiked Camelback Mountain with me last weekend.  He just played flag football with guys 20 years younger than him and scored a pick 6! He's supposed to go snowboarding with his buddies this Friday.  He can't be having a heart attack!

Picture taken 4 hours before a heart attack

But that is exactly what it was.  The cardiologist in the ER told me it was a Widowmaker heart attack.  Not exactly something any wife wants to hear.  I'm too young to be a widow!

Long story short, after a 2 hour surgery to insert a stent in his left anterior descending artery (LAD) and 48 hours in an induced coma at lowered body temperature to decrease brain damage, he came out of it.  He was a little bruised and battered from the chest compressions, but he was alive.

A year later and he's more alive than ever.  Living life to the fullest.  Now here I am along for the ride.  We never know when our time on this earth is over.  December 2nd could have been my husband's.

If today was your last day, would you be happy with what you've done with your life?  I ask myself that question and my answer is "I don't want it to be 'No'."

Which brings me to this blog.  I have my other blog, Jai on Life, where Jai is pronounced 'high', like my name Jaina. but today just before my husband's 1 year heart anniversary, I'm starting a new blog, "The Jai Road."  This new blog will be full of my travel adventures, tips, suggestions and musings.  Something I've always wanted to share - my love of travel and writing.  So hang on for the ride and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.