Dead in the Driveway… His Wife Brought Him Back

On this episode of Fit For Radio, Drew sits down with Brad Bahns, a retired math teacher who never saw it coming.

By all accounts, Brad was healthy and living a normal life—until one day in his garage, everything changed. What started as an ordinary moment quickly turned into a life-or-death situation as Brad suffered a heart attack and collapsed in his driveway, fighting for his life.

What happened next is nothing short of remarkable.

His wife, Stacy, became the first responder in the most critical moment, stepping in with courage and urgency to keep him alive until emergency services arrived. Alongside the medical professionals who took over, her actions helped save Brad’s life.

But this story doesn’t end in the driveway.

It’s about what comes after—when you’ve been as close to the edge as you can get. Brad shares what it’s like to come back from that moment, to rebuild physically and mentally, and to find your way back into everyday life after facing death head-on.

This is a story about resilience, about the people who show up when it matters most, and about what it takes to fight your way back when you’ve already had one foot in the grave.

Transcript

Introduction to Brad Bahns

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And we made it to the car. Um, I I was in the passenger seat, um, getting buckled up and and all that. And then my last memory was sitting in the passenger seat and sort of listing to the side. Like You felt like you're gravity pulling you or what? It was just sort of like well, I guess if you've ever been under anesthesia, you know, that moment when it's taking you you're counting down like three, two, and you don't get to one because you black out. Well, uh it was that feeling of blacking out and I sort of falling to the side. And also, um, my wife, Stacey's um, her reaction as I was falling, like there was a panic. So that's sort of my last that you just kind of have that flash, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

And that's it. It's the Fit for Radio Podcast, and I'm your host, Drew Tyteman, and as usual, we are at the Stafford Hills Club, a beautiful club where you can see the steam coming off the pool because they keep it heated all year long. Salt water, too, so you don't get that chlorine bath. And it's all freshly renovated. Uh, I'm here, my wife's here all the time, the kids' club's amazing, and you know, we're we've got a movement here. I've some people who've been listening to the podcast have already joined the club. Let's just make it a family, and that's how they do it over here, Stronger Together, uh, right here at Stafford Hills, Staffordhills.com for all the details. Now, I'm here now with a guest I've been waiting to talk to. His name is Brad Baines. How are you, Brad? I'm doing great, Drew. Yeah, so um uh I actually heard about your story, and you and I had a chance to talk for a few minutes and really what it is, and it's a story um that I think could be any of our story because it it's kind of a thing that happened to you out of the blue um that changed your life and almost took you away from us. Um, and you know, I I don't think you can come much closer to death than you did. And uh we're gonna get into it, all right. So now, Brad, you are from this area um where we do this podcast at the Stafford Hills Club is like one long street away from where you were born and raised in Sherwood, Oregon. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yep. I grew up in Sherwood, Oregon, born in the 60s. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

So the 60s in Sherwood, now, even when I was growing up, the area between Sherwood and Twalleton was just kind of like farmland, and you'd just kind of drive and then you'd have to drive, it felt like you had to drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, and then there was some Sherwood over there. Exactly. And now when I was uh going to high school in the 90s, when I, you know, finally had a license and I could get outside of the area, it was it was bustling though. It was starting to like build up at that point. And now when you go there, it's unrecognizable with the the giant businesses and industry that's going on. What was it like in Sherwood back in those days compared to now?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

So growing up in Sherwood, um, small high school, um, I think there were less than a hundred students in my graduating class. So you pretty much knew everyone in town. Um, the high school itself had 400 students, I think. So pretty small. Yeah. And you know, jump to 2026, the high school has 1,600 or plus students. So there's you know, 400 per class.

A Life Changing Experience

SPEAKER_00 3:48

And it's growing all the time out there. I mean, it's every because we do a lot of soccer with the kids out there, and uh, you know, you got to drive that long road, and there's always a project going on.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

So exactly. Yeah, you talk about the sh the the road between Sherwood and here, and you know, it's it's been a steady project for for the last decade.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

So yeah, and it's a it's a traffic mess too. Uh, but you so you graduated from Sherwood High School in 1984, and then you headed off. Uh I feel like I've got a tendency. I am everybody I'm interviewing these days is an Oregon State Beaver. You earned a teaching degree from Oregon State in 1988, uh, which is pretty cool. Um now the the beavers, it was a different thing back then, too. It was a much smaller operation. You go to a football game, you could kind of almost like go sit on a hill and peer your way in, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, and and at that time, Oregon State was definitely a basketball school. Football had was in the midst of a 28-year losing streak. So so it was just a a different time.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Um Gary Payton went to Oregon State, the glove, the pride of Seattle. He was a freshman my senior year, I think. Oh my gosh. So and was he already good at that point? Or so he was he was on the radar. Definitely a presence on campus. And he was incredible. I I love that guy's fire. Now, after you got done with Oregon State, you headed home, right? Well, so where is Centennial? You you worked at Sherwood, but where is exactly the Centennial High?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

My first teaching job was in the Centennial District, which is out in the Gresham area. So you did some traveling for work before you got home. Yeah. So I I lived out there for 10, 15 years and then then got hired in Sherwood. Which is like destiny because you grew up there. And and my mom had been a teacher in Sherwood forever. And so when I got my first job, she was still teaching, and so they were hesitant to hire a a son with the with the mother in the school. So so I went out on my own and did my own thing for 12 years, and then um met my wife in in the Centennial District, and we um we had our son um in 1999, and my mom was driving across town to babysit um two or three times a week. And um by that time she was retired and no longer working in Sherwood. So um I got a call from Sherwood um asking if I was interested in a job out there, and so that's a pretty good deal. Yeah, it made sense to to move back to Sherwood and have the the um babysitter close by.

Growing Up In Sherwood, OR

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'll be honest with you. Um people like my kids will be at school and I'm talking about my life, and my mom lives like a mile from me, and a couple of my brothers live pretty close to me as well. And it is a luxury to have a parent who can babysit, first of all, financially. That's without saying, they're not normally charging you and you trust them, you know. So it's my kids have spent very little time with strangers, you know, or I mean they're not usually a stranger, but like some teenage kid who's more into their phone than whatever. So I think it's uh it's a real blessing to have that close by. And um, you know, especially when your kids are young, give you a chance to breathe a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Yeah, and the beauty now is that um when our kids were fairly young, we moved into the house that I grew up in, um, which just happened to be next door to my grandparents' house. And so my mom moved into that house, and so we're neighbors now and we've been neighbors for the last 20 years. Oh, that's incredible. So you live even closer than I do to my mom. My kids got the same childhood that I got um growing up next to grandparents and living in a in a compound, we call it because I have cousins that live in the same same neighborhood as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Yeah, it's so I will say this, you know, like my I've got the parents who like they'll walk right into your house or like right into your backyard, and you're like, whoa, what are we doing? I mean, you can't say much about it, but I think that's why it's probably good that they are one standard foot-by-foot mile away from me. But, you know, I guess who needs boundaries? Right, right. I who needs them now. You like when you walk in here, and and this is gonna come into play, but when you come in here, the first thing I notice, and I knew this about you because we had talked is that you're a slender guy, as in like you you look fit. Um, and you look like a lot of the people I see here at the club who they're they they're active and they move and and you know they're functioning like that. Now, you wrote to me and said that you rode your bike to school on a daily basis when you were teaching?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, teaching in Sherwood. Um now that it was a mile and a half, so but it's still productive. But yeah. Um over about a 10-year period, I just got into the habit of riding my bike to school every day, rain or shine. Um did you have like a little rain suit, or would you just come in all sogged? I would keep a change of clothes at school. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

So you had backup options, you weren't just like coming all sogged out.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

I I sort of got addicted to it, you know, just the the idea that you know, I was exercising. It wasn't, you know, it was a 15 minutes of exercise, but it it was something. And and I think it's great. One of the things that I do, and I I'll get into this more later, is that um I like to keep things on spreadsheets. So when I'd get to school, I would log my my Oh, yeah. Okay. So over a period of years, I I logged over 3,000 miles on my bike just to and from work.

Education and Early Career

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah, three miles per day. But and you know, that's not lost on me. I mean, we it's been on this podcast that I've logged my push-ups for years and years and years. And I also, one thing I don't really talk about is if as far as bikes are concerned, is I think if I were to pull my phone out, I think it's like a I have a 900-day Peloton streak. It's just that the idea that you you do your routine and that routine kind of keeps you from going backwards, you know. And and I think that you doing that is brilliant. Um, and it it's what and obviously genetics also help to keep you thin, but it doesn't hurt when you're, you know, the person who slobs their way to work while they're eating a bagel and then they crush a diet coke, like that that's a tougher ride. And so you you can't have a snack on a bike most times. So that's a that's a good deal. Now, growing up, you were an athlete, a two-sport athlete, played basketball and baseball, um, which speaks into being a healthy person. Again, we're kind of uh putting together like a collection of things that make it seem like you would be in the healthy category who doesn't need to worry about much. One thing I'm extremely jealous of, and it's kind of a side note here, is a two-handicapped golfer, come on now. I mean, have you always been that good or did you work at Definitely not?

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Um, golf was something that I picked up as a teenager and and you know, did it from time to time. And when the kids were young, I'd maybe play like once a week. Um, but as the kids got older and and now that I'm tired, I I you know, I play a hundred plus rounds a year. Wow. So, you know, that that helps a lot.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

It really does. And I love golf, you know, but as my as I kept like adding kids, it's like, and here's the funny part. When my first daughter was born, she was it's like a couple days old, and Amy's like, just go play golf. I think she just wanted me to leave. And so I went and played golf. And I and I had played golf like three times a week, every week for years, because I had no kids and I'd get done with a radio show and I'd just go play golf. And these people who I knew out there were like, wow, this is crazy. Like, your kid is three days old and Amy's letting you golf. And I was like, Yeah, this is sweet. That's like one of the last times I remember just like hanging out and golfing like that, because you know, now it has to be scheduled out. And it's like, well, we've got three soccer games, and you know what it's like when you're kind of you're going through the dredges of raising the kids because they are more important, but man, I miss that.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Golf is a commitment. You know, if you're gonna play 18 holes, you're talking four or five hours at the day.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

So and I think that um, and I don't know if it's all wives or or ladies, but I think they forget the how long four and a half, five hours is because it'll be like right up four hours. It's like, are you still playing? This is always the time where you have forgotten that this takes a long time. But my wife likes gulp. So if you get a cart and you get the kids somewhere else, uh, you know, I can get her to join for that four hours, which is pretty sweet. Um, now, so you're you're an athlete, and you say though, that your dedication to fitness and cardio varied over the years. So when when you say that, what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I'm definitely not into like running or you know, I mentioned biking every day to work. Well, that was that was it for biking. I wasn't going long like a 20, 30 mile ride on the weekends and things like that. So um and and really like scheduling a time for fitness and focusing on getting the heart rate up for 20, 30 minutes a day.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Um, I equated being active with being physically fit and what you see in the mirror is good enough, right? And I I really do think that that's an issue for thin guys. And I was just talking to a guy yesterday who I was telling him that you were coming in here, and he's like, Oh, you gotta watch out for the skinny guy because that's the corndog guy. That's the guy you can eat a corndog, and nothing happens to him in the mirror. And so I'm fine. Like I burn the stuff off. You know, how many times in your life do you just think that like I just got the metabolism for it? We're good. I mean, am I putting words in your mouth?

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Oh, that's exactly the case. And you know, as I hit my 30s and the metabolism started to slow down, and you know, I I have habits that you know, I would eat ice cream every night, and you kind of get into those those kinds of routines and it just compounds and piles up you know, over the year.

Heath Warnings and Cholesterol Concerns

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Days and days turn into weeks and months and years, and then you're the dryer's ice cream guy. What was your flavor? Oh, chocolate chip cookie dough was that was it. Oh, so you had the it wasn't just vanilla you're gonna big bowl, too. And I used to go like five scoop too, you know, where it's just the whole bowl is loaded like almost like a little Mount Hood inside that bowl. But that um, you don't need me to tell you that that's not a great idea. No. Um, it's delicious, but it's not a great idea. Um, but we're gonna get into why it's not a good idea. And I and your story to me is I'll just tell you that it frightens me a little bit because I'm I'm physically fit on paper. Like if you take me to a doctor and they try and squeeze my fat and they do all the things, I'm physically fit, but not all of my numbers read magically because, you know, having more of a carnivore y type diet, not a straight up carnivore, but you know, eggs and meats and things like that, where, you know, you almost convince yourself that those stats that they've got are archaic, almost like the food pyramid. But what we're gonna find out is that is not necessarily the case. This all goes down um March 19th, 2024. So it's not that long ago. You're you're in pretty good shape. Now, before I want to get to something, before um we talk about the night in question. Had you had any warnings from doctors about your health? Uh, had was there any like, hey, you should do this or you should do that? Um, because, you know, as you get to your age, you know, uh people start to like doctors in particular, they want you to do things to stay healthy. Like my dad takes a medicine because and statins, I think it's called, and so that he can prevent big cardiac events and things of those natures, uh, of those nature. Has that anything like that were you discussed with you?

SPEAKER_01 16:27

So going back to my twenties, I think was the first time I actually had a blood test, early 20s. And even then my cholesterol was sort of in the medium high range. Yeah. Nothing that concerned the doctors enough to prescribe medication. But they just talked to you about it. Yeah, they told me about it, you know, something to watch. Um, we're talking like 200 level, which is you know, in the medium to high range. And so that was always in the back of my mind. Um, but you know, in your 20s, you're bulletproof pretty much. So yeah, you don't really you hear I hear you, but I don't hear you. I'm not gonna change habits. I'm gonna still crush the pizzas and drink the beer and all and you're burning it off, you know, because you're you're active still.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

And when you were in your 20s and 30s, you're still playing competitive softball. So and now granted, it's not that's not like dead sprints all the time, but you're an active guy. You're not so in your 20s, I remember being told, like, hey, you know, watch the cholesterol. It's not alarming, but it's on the board and it just in one ear and right out the other.

unknown 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

And so then when we get to my early 40s, probably 15 years ago, a doctor actually prescribed statins. Oh, he did. Yeah. And I filled the prescription, opened up the bottle, and saw the size of the pill. You know, when are they big? Like I I don't know what they look like. They're big. Um, not that that should matter, but just kind of gave you boss. The whole idea of taking any sort of medication uh I was definitely against. And so so I put the pill back in the bottle, closed it up, put it in the cupboard, and thought, okay, I'm just gonna change my diet and exercise and I'm gonna get those numbers down. And which worked, but um, I will admit I was pretty cranky for several months because I what kind of food w had you transition to at that point?

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Because you probably even have a little different diet today, but at that point, what are you doing to I guess the best example would be if we're out to dinner, I'm not ordering the steak, I'm ordering the salmon. Oh, okay. Okay, yeah. So you you lay off the red meats and the the heavy booms.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

And whether or not my plan was was solid. It was just in my mind, it was a tangible way of changing what I was doing. I was thinking about what I was eating or maybe eating a little less or well, it is a good start.

Dizzy Spells and Health Signals

SPEAKER_00 18:52

I mean, it it's an absolute it's not like you were doing nothing. And there's something about me when I'm it at a restaurant, I don't want the salmon. Like I eat salmon. I love salmon, it's delicious, but I don't want to eat it at the restaurant. Like I'll I'll barbecue it or I'll put it on the smoker at my house, but like at the restaurant, I want the burger or I want the steak because, you know, for me, uh, I normally, and now steak is kind of doesn't fit the bill for this, but I normally want something that wouldn't taste exactly the same at home, you know. And and I think growing up on fish, a lot of white fish at my parents' house in the poor days, you know, and you just never want that when you're out at the restaurant because you kind of want to like live large. This is a tree. Yeah, exactly a hundred percent. And if I'm gonna pay for my meal and all these other people's meals, I want the steak. And now, but that's it's that type of thinking that has gotten many, many men and women in trouble over the years of uh what do I want right now? Um, so you you've switched to kind of the salmon. Are you a big carb guy? Are you crushing a lot of bread?

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Well, more recently I I went sort of to the no carb or low carb. But that first time. But the first time it was a fairly short-lived change, and I did get my numbers down and maybe felt a little bit more secure and things, but um as the years passed, you know, the numbers kind of creeped back up. And ironically, like the year before this event, um I was in for my regular checkup and I talked about it with the doctor again, which you know, I it was I had something that I talked about with the doctor, and I was I'm pretty good about going yearly and stuff. We talked about the the merits of taking statins and what we concluded was that what I if I started then, which would have been about three years ago, I would be paying it would pay off in 15 years when you know when maybe you wish you had taken them and uh okay caused the the problems. And so as it turns out, the 15 years had already you had already you had already surpassed that 15 years. 15 years before I I probably should have started the statement.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

So how are you feeling uh day to day before March 19th? So like when you're just living your life uh just take me like a week ahead of that. Not a true event, but how are you feeling day to day? Are you having any health issues or are you I actually do have a some true event?

The Night of March 19th: A Turning Point

SPEAKER_01 21:37

So feeling pretty good, feeling normal. But um I'd had a couple of strange dizzy spells. One was while I was teaching. Um I stood up to start the lesson and got lightheaded. I felt like I was going down.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

I just grabbed a table and kind of leaned and the the kids were just waiting patiently. I didn't really tell them what was going on. It just kind of acted like I was thinking or whatever. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

And then it fade away.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

And then that same type of thing happened two more times within probably a week or two of that first one. And did you report that to anyone? Did you tell your wife? My wife was she concerned? And then the third one happened while she was like in the same room. And I said, Hey, it's happening now. I was just sitting at the computer. I wasn't even Oh, you didn't even get up. No. Oh, that's concerning. I said it's happening. And she said, Yeah, you look pretty flushed. And we agreed at the time that if it happened again, that I was gonna get it checked out.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

So you had had three warnings.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

And you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Because the first couple times, and I don't know, you you tell me how your wife is, but when I'm like, yeah, I didn't feel right or something, it's kind of like, eh, well, it's probably you probably got a head rush. Like it happens to all of us. Yeah, and that's exactly what it felt like. Yeah, and so you're like, okay, well, well, it's fine, but when it starts to repeat itself, then I mean, you're probably not at red alert, but you're like, God, I hope that doesn't happen again.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Well, and you know, living in the the age of COVID, I thought, well, maybe I like a long COVID type thing. So I even I did a test just to see in no COVID. So kind of hoping you have COVID at that point.

A Day Like Any Other

SPEAKER_00 23:44

So Yeah. I was uh it's a story for another time, but I was like mystery diagnosis for three years. I call it the thousand days of sadness. It'll be its own podcast. But it was like you'd go in for tests to try and like find out what's wrong with you, and you're like, you're like hoping you have all these debilitating diseases just so you have something to fight. Yeah, I want to battle here. Um, but you did not have answers at that point. You're listening to the Fit for Radio podcast brought to you by the Stafford Hills Club. It's a place, let's be honest, you gotta check it out. Of course, it's the premier indoor outdoor tennis facility where you can take lessons, you can play with your friends, tournaments, all kinds of stuff. Also, saltwater pool, an amazing kids' club with a group of people who take care of my wild kids, and that's saying a lot all by itself. So check it out staffordhills.com, all the amenities, you're not gonna be disappointed. Voted the best health and wellness facility in the Portland area. And of course, tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation at the Stafford Hills Club. All right, I want to get to what we've been talking about. People are probably like, what happens on March 19th? Um, but I wanted to kind of go through your day. Um, what does this day look like? What did you do in the morning? Uh, what was what was the plan?

SPEAKER_01 25:05

So it's it's a Monday on the week before spring break, um, three days before March Madness. So I'm gearing up. I I help run a big pool. And so dealing with emails and oh yeah, you know, people I get to work. Yeah. So so that's going on. Um at this point, I I I'm teaching a part-time uh math class, and so I teach until nine in the morning. So got up and taught my class and then went directly from my math class out to the golf course and played golf. It was a beautiful day for March. Um, I look back at my um my camera role and I took pictures of mounthood. I play um golf out at Forest Hills. Oh, nice. It's a beautiful place. Yeah, some great panoramas out there. And so I took some pictures there. And then um, there were pictures of my garden. Um, I was kind of getting ready for gardening and all that. And kind of your typical March, early spring day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

So um, I mean, it's kind of funny that all these beautiful things that you're like taking in on this day, you're like, oh, well, this is a pretty perfect day. You've already done your job, play a little golf. I'm married to a massive green thumb. I know how you guys feel about the garden. It's it's a thing, it's worse than a drug addiction. Um, so you you've you've had a decent morning, probably into the early afternoon there. And how does uh how do things kind of round out?

SPEAKER_01 26:35

So normal evening. Um uh my wife and I typically will watch a show and have a little snack before um bed. So pretty typical. Um the funny thing is I really don't remember the evening, and maybe it's just because of everything. Most evenings just kind of run together. Yeah, they're like a lot like yesterday and the day before. Right. So it's very typical. You know uh went to bed probably between 10 and 11 o'clock. Mm-hmm. Did you have your bowl of ice cream? Um I no longer have ice cream.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

But so you were you were already retired from ice cream before in 2024. We're doing a little more sensible stuff. Okay. I just I had to know. We know you had a long-running addiction. So uh no ice cream, but a little snack, standard night, a little movie, and then what happens?

The Night That Changed Everything

SPEAKER_01 27:28

So sometime early in the night um after I'd been asleep for maybe an hour, probably around midnight, maybe 1230, um I get up. And all of this is very hazy because I really don't remember It's pieced together post-game. I have little images or flashes of things that happen. I guess probably the first image I have is waking up my wife. Okay. So you remember that. And probably the reason I remember it is because she kind of jumped. She was it startled her because I was standing beside the bed and shaking her. And they do the eyes that like they kind of fill full of energy. And according to her, what I told her is that I don't feel right. We need to go to the hospital, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Okay. I'm glad that you said it bluntly, because I tend to go, well, and wish wash, but you clearly did not feel right.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yeah, and and clearly knew that there was a problem. Um, a lot of people have asked me, well, what were you feeling? What did you know? I don't know. Because all of us want to know what do we have to watch for. What am I watching for? And so I think probably because it happened while I was sleeping, um, I was already maybe in some sort of shock mode or maybe um a little bit of oxygen deprivation or something along those lines. And or even just, you know, sort of still I'm in that REM cycle of sleep or whatever. Yeah, you're kind of coming out of it. Partially sleepwalking, because there is evidence that um we sleep upstairs, there's evidence that I went downstairs because my wife later found a cup of water. Um, and we think maybe I was searching for aspirin or something. Because I think that somewhere in my mind, well, actually the story is that I kept a couple of aspirin in my bedside table just for this scenario? Yeah, just because I read somewhere online maybe that an aspirin could save your life. Yeah, maybe if you're having a stroke or something. So Okay. So and the aspirin we didn't find until later, and I'll give that. But um there's evidence evidence that I'd gone downstairs.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Now, do you think that partial that or partially that is um just trying to kind of whatever it is, trying to walk it off, maybe a glass of water, and if I go sit in my chair for a second, like it's sit up.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

I was the water was found by my recliner. So I actually went into the living room and maybe sat there.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Because it, you know, there's always that initial thought. Is that am I having indigestion? Am I having like, do I have heartburn? Like, what is going on? Because uh and you know, when when that type of stuff happened, a lot of time people just want to sit up or stand up or walk it off, get a glass of water, but maybe you're having a sixth sense at that point. Yeah, you never know.

Emergency Response

SPEAKER_01 30:31

And and going back to my past, I'd had like situations. Well, I could I had a chest pain once and had been checked out and passed a stress test and and then had some like palpitations and things like that. So it was on my radar a little bit, but nothing serious. Yeah. So um wake up my wife, and I do remember getting dressed, um, or just pieces of that and throwing on some clothes, and remember walking out to the garage, maybe throwing on a jacket or something, and we made it to the car. Um, I was in the passenger seat, um, getting buckled up and and all that. And then my last memory was sitting in the in the passenger seat and sort of listing to the side. Like You felt like you're some gravity pulling you, or what? It was just sort of like well, I guess if you've ever been under anesthesia, you know, that moment when it's taking you, you're counting down like three, two, and you don't get to one because you black out. Well, uh it was that feeling of blacking out, and I'm you know, sort of falling it aside. And also, um, my wife, Stacey's um, her reaction as I was falling, like there was a panic there.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

And so it that's sort of my last that you just kind of have that flash and that's it. And that's it. You go dark. Right. And so at this point, y your memories have been uh given to you from the other person in the car.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Your memory my next memory is two days later. So uh everything in between was relayed to me by by Stacy.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

So Stacy is in the car, she's already alert, she's ready to drive you to a hospital, you fall into her lap, and what is her first move? She calls 911 or which I did some research because I will admit that my CPR training is lapsed, and that it actually is the first thing on the checklist of when something like this happens is not to try and engage, but it's to call emergency personnel. So she's made a good decision.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Get that rolling immediately and then and then figure it out. And so the the 911 operator told her to start compression, to start CPR. And so she tilted the the seat back and just did administered CPR right there in the car in our garage.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

So I'm just for the visualization of it, what kind of a car are we in? How much space is in there? Is this a sedan? Is it Messi B? Sedan, a Honda, a cord. And so she just kind of crawls up on top of you. Yeah, I kind of picture that she's just like full audio. Working those triceps.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

So she starts in on this. Now, have you asked her what was her oh and you would know this. What was her did she have any certification? Did she had was had she studied up on any of this, or was she being led blindly over the phone?

SPEAKER_01 33:47

I think it was a little both. Um the the the operator is definitely telling her what to do, but she's a teacher as well. And as teachers, we've you've done some stuff. You know, we we have to be certified. Okay. Um on a you know, every few years we have to take a class.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Because I'll be honest, I will try and save your life if you fell over right now. I would I would do my best to save you, but I wouldn't I would feel like I need some guidance along the way, you know, just because I haven't had the class in so long. Um, but she's on top of you and she's pounding away. How long is it that she's having to administer these things before somebody comes to help?

SPEAKER_01 34:32

I'm sure for her it probably felt like a year, a year, hours, you know, whatever. But I think we're talking in the space of less than 10 minutes that the first responders arrive.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

They are so quick. Yeah. They were at my house on Friday at a dishwasher catch fire, but they are there so quick. It's a it's truly amazing. And um, they're they're heroes as well. But so when they get there, they roll up on the scene. Stacey's still attempting to resuscitate you. Yeah, and as they roll up, they told her don't stop.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

You know, they keep on going until I'm on them. Until they're they're ready to take over. So I mean That's surreal. This is pretty serious. You know, you once you start compressions, you want to keep them going.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

That's wild. Because you would think, okay, they're here, step out and step in, but they're like, no.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Yeah, because you know, we're probably seconds or minutes away from brain damage at the very least.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Yeah, you're you're on the edge. And as a math teacher, that is a lot of wasted brain. We cannot be having that. I've taken those classes, they're not easy. Um, so they're getting ready. When they're getting ready, what are they doing? Are they getting paddles? Are they getting a board? What are they doing?

SPEAKER_01 35:49

That part is unclear. And the sick side of me kind of wishes that I'd had our security cameras on that night because a lot of this.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

And especially since you're sitting here alive right now with me, then it's a little bit more of a show it to your buddies video.

Critical Condition

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Exactly. So um I know at some point they pulled me out of the car because I have the uh road rash to prove it. Oh, so they dragged me along out in into the driveway, I suppose. Or somewhere you know, near the garage. Cuts and bruises are the last thing they're worried about. Yeah, I would at this point, police, fire, and emt are all there, um, lights blaring and all that. And I think one of the police officers maybe pulled Stacey aside and kind of kept her out of the situation while they just in case. And so from what I've heard, it was about 40 minutes of work by the EMTs before they're able to stabilize me enough to even transport me to a hospital.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

40 minutes?

SPEAKER_01 36:57

That's an eternity. Right. And so, you know, they gave me the the paddles, the defibrillator, um, three shocks in order to get my heart going again. So at that point I was in V fib or ventricular fibrillation, which is a bad one because you it if your heart it's the lower part of your heart that's basically fluttering, and so which means it's not pumping out oxygenated blood to the rest of your body.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Oh no. So the clock's ticking aggressively at that point. So is there in that 40-minute window? I'm guessing because it's 40 minutes, they've gotten your heart started at this point, or is it just there?

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Yeah, I think they had gotten me out of V fib. Um it was just making me stable enough to transport so that they didn't have to do it again or again while they were in on in transport.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

So the three shocks, what is I don't it's a dumb question. What are the standard amount of shocks? But like what's the what at what point do they stop trying?

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Well, I thought that three or four was the max. I right on the edge. I looked it up and it isn't a hard and fast rule, but some people probably just don't give up. And they're like, we're gonna shock until the cows come home. I mean, but you know, if at that point you're you could be doing more damage than good anyway.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Now um I don't and I I do want to circle back on that because I want to know, you know, when you get basically electrocuted, what that feels like down the road. But in this moment now, they are they can't they can't uh move you, but when they finally get are able to do it, they move you via ambulance? Yes. Okay. And how far are you from a hospital?

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Well, probably 10 minutes to the nearest hospital, but the the best local cardiac hospital is a little farther, St. Vincent's, which is probably about a 20-minute is that the one right by here? Um it's up um in the West Hills.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Oh, yeah. So they had to take you for a ride. You know, middle of the night, so there's no traffic. You know, getting to that particular hospital can be an hour-long ride in traffic, but probably a 20-minute ride in ambulance.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

So yeah, I think it's worth pointing out how observant I am. Uh my kid got uh born at this hospital right up here, and I have no idea what the name is. I just like blindly asked me which one is yeah, oh yeah. What a what a good time that was. I I was happy with the result. I'll just say that. So they get you up there, and um I think it's a smart move that even though it's a little bit farther, you want to get the best possible care because you are on the ropes at this point. And you'll learn uh later that that is, I mean, even in your notes from doctors, that it's not looking good at all. Now, it says that he that there was a note on your chart that said the patient is critically ill with acute impairments of the following organs, uh cardiovascular and nervous. He has a high probability of life-threatening deterioration. What like what does that mean? That that you were just gonna whittle and die?

SPEAKER_01 40:07

Get me to the ER and do their thing with you know, the cardiac procedures, you know, they they're basically they're checking for damage and for the cause. So um they determined that the cause was likely the uh ramus artery, which is if you look at a picture of a heart, it's kind of that artery that has the fork that goes right over the top of your heart. And so they figured that that was probably where there was some blockage. And so they they actually inserted a stent into that artery. I think it was right in the the ER to clear up the that artery so that the blood could flow normally through that artery.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Now, Stacy, she does the miracle stuff, hero mode, keeps you alive till they get there. It's pulled aside by the police. Where does because she's not safe to be driving now, probably. Did she get to ride with you in the ambulance? Because sometimes that's not allowed.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

No, they they weren't gonna allow that. And so I mentioned that we live in a family compound. Yeah, so where are they? Sirens blaring, lights flashing. Um, my family are hard sleepers. I uh would they don't wake up? Nobody woke up. Um, my cousins don't want to bother you guys, but I'm dying in the driveway. And so, and even Stacy was calling everyone, and so she did finally get a hold of a friend, and the friend came and gave a ride. And I followed the ambulance to a goodness.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

So, and then you know, that's a just a traumatizing thing for her as well. And she's sitting there while they're trying to do emergency surgeries to save your life. Um, for her, you know, she clearly was very brave and and in the moment, how was she handling all this at the time? Was she thinking she was losing you? Did she or was she in battle mode?

SPEAKER_01 42:05

It probably doesn't help that they're asking, does he have a do not resuscitate order or anything? So scary question. They're asking questions like, do we perform heroic procedures if things are going bad? So like absolutely. Yeah, we're yeah, because I'm I'm still young. So and this is you know, no previous health issues. Yeah. So we want to fight this as hard as we can. We're gonna look to save you. And you know, certainly more trauma in in many ways more traumatic to her than to me, because I don't remember a nap. And fortunately, our kids are older, and um our son was living in Portland at the time, and so she was able to get a hold of him um fairly early in the morning. Our daughter happened to be in New Zealand of all places. Oh my goodness. As far away as you can possibly get.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

On the other side of the world.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Yeah. So so um it was a little bit harder to contact her, but the word the word got out pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

So I I mean, I think that that's one of the lucky things in this. And when you told me the story of the first one of the first questions I asked you was, where were your kids? Because I could only imagine if my girls were watching this from the window or whatever as I'm laying in the in the driveway. It'd be something you'd never be able to get away from. Um, did your kids panic? Did they uh I'm guessing your son was able to come over from Portland, but the other your daughter's in New Zealand.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Yeah, and I think her first thought was, how can I get home as quickly as possible? Because she had I think sh still had planned to be there for like another two months. Oh, wow. So that's um as things kind of settled down, we decided that it wasn't worth it for her to change her plans. And with modern technology, you can FaceTime still talk and so so that That part worked out. But my son um went into like helpful mode. Like he took over the attorney bracket and made my picks.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

And oh, look at that. So I mean, we all did you blame him when you didn't win? For sure. What were you UConn? Uh I don't even know who who won that year. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 44:22

I think it was been a little Yukon special. You know, the funny thing is, is people will do whatever they can to be home sick that week so that they can watch basketball. And how many people have had vasectomies that week?

Waking Up to Reality

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Yeah, you beat them to it. You know, it that's the yours is a much more difficult way to the couch, uh, but nobody's sending you to work in that scenario. Um so you don't remember any of this. You're going through all this stuff. At some point, though, you do wake up, right? And how long has it been from the when you fell into your wife's lap in the garage to the moment that you woke up?

SPEAKER_01 45:02

So the event happened on Monday night, Tuesday morning. And I woke up in ICU, it would have been Wednesday evening. So roughly two days, pretty pretty close to two days.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

And that's a long, long time. Uh, I just had a great guy, Nick Magistrali, on the show who was in the similar situation that you are in. And with every moment that you're asleep and you've had a an event that could have caused oxygen deprivation to your brain, there's fear that if you wake up, because it's an if, if you wake up, you're not going to be the same, or that there's going to be side effects associated with all this. Was this a warning delivered to Stacy about you?

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Definitely. Um, you know, they performed tests throughout the time. I think part of it was they they did keep me sedated. Um, because there were times when I was maybe thrashing around a little bit. And um the body is wild.

SPEAKER_00 46:05

Like even when you're not there, it's reactive.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

I was actually restrained, like my wrists were tight. I had you locked up.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

Just kept slapping a nurse. Come on, Brad. Let's get these arms down. Um, so you're strapped down, and when you walk me through the moment that you remember being awake.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

Okay, so I wake up to the feeling of a tube being pulled out of my throat. Oh. Um, which was I was being extubated and taken off the ventilator. That's your breathing tube. The first time that I had was breathing on my own. So um, and I think they'd tried that one other time and I didn't respond very well. So they gave me a little more time. And um, this time I woke up um very disoriented. You have a sore throat, do you remember? I just don't know.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

I mean, that thing's been in there just lurking.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Not sure. I I think I was probably on some good pain medicine. In fact, I found out that I was even on fentanyl, which was Yeah, you were all the way in. So we're like the street people. Yeah, so um Stacey was over me, and then um uh nurse, Sophia, was there. She was the one that did the excavation. And immediately I'm thinking, where am I? What happened? But I couldn't speak, you know, just from dry throat or or whatever. And so they handed me a pen and paper, and I kind of scribbled out the first thing was what happened? You can barely read it, but they knew what you were trying to say. That's the question. And so it was explained to me that I'd had a heart attack and that I was at St. Vincent's in the ICU, and I immediately started crying.

Facing Mortality: A Life Forever Changed

SPEAKER_00 47:53

The Fit for Radio podcast is brought to you by the Stafford Hills Club. And if you've never come here and taken one of their classes, you really should do so. Their instructors are really good. I took the Pilates Reformer class here, and she made me feel like I could be comfortable in the room. Let's get it right, though. I've got a lot to learn when it comes to Pilates, but that's how you do it. You just got to show up and give it your best right here at Stafford Hills. They make you feel comfortable, and it's a family environment, not just being able to bring your family here, but also the people together feel like a family. Check out everything to offer at staffordhills.com. Tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation. I would guess that you would be crying because you just were kind of informed out of the blue. You just woke up from a nap, somebody's, you know, abusing your throat, and now you get told that all this stuff has happened. And it's got to be for you, it's got to be like multi-tier because you're worried about yourself. And then as you're kind of like going through it, you're finding out that your wife had to be like straight up ER nurse and save your life, which uh let's let it be said now that there is no, you don't even have an argument for I'm not taking the garbage out. You know, like it for the to the end of the day, she's all well, you know, I could have just waited five minutes. Uh, and so she, and all jokes aside, she's an absolute saint. And um, if I get the opportunity to to meet her, I would I would love to tell her that to her face. Now, you've been told this, you're super uh emotional. What's going through your mind and kind of like where do you go from there?

SPEAKER_01 49:36

I think what's flashing in my mind is that life will forever be different. Um that feeling and of invincibility is now gone. Um You've been warned. I've been, yeah, this is like the ultimate warning. Like you can't shuck this off. And and just the feeling that maybe I'm broken now. There's and and maybe I won't get to enjoy the things that I enjoy out of life.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

And so I totally get that. The mortality factor is shocking almost that you're like, well, I like you you work hard your whole life so that you can enjoy things. And now, especially when you haven't done it yet, you're like, but all my favorite foods and all my favorite luxuries, and uh whether it's a a cold beer on your golf course or it's just like crushing a smash burger, like these it's all it's gotta be all on the plate, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Everything is going to be different. And maybe as I find out, maybe not quite so dramatic, but yeah, but that's those are your initial thoughts. It's that this this is a gonna be a big change. And I think one of the so I asked other questions uh after what happened. Um I think well, being a teacher, I I wanted to know like who's who's got my math class because it's sort of the teacher dream, like you wake up and you've you're late for school and then you've got a class full of kids. Yeah, you're not there. You've let everyone down. So I was reassured that that was all taken care of. Um but yeah, you didn't call in, Brad. No, I didn't get to call in.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

There's no excuse for not calling in. We've told you that time and time again. Uh, but no, I'm glad that they took care of that. And I'm sure when they were notified of the situation, that was a no-problem.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

And then I remember this specifically, I I asked if I had any brain damage.

The Journey Through Surgery and Recovery

SPEAKER_00 51:33

Well, smart enough to you have your heads together enough to ask.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

It's probably a good sign if you have to ask that maybe things are functioning properly.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

You want to add you're asking a sophisticated question and you just asked about math class. So I think you know, if you started barking or something, it would be more than through the checklist, you know, what what else is wrong? What else is wrong? So And luckily, because it's your heart and it's not a stroke, it's not paralyzed any of your face or your your limbs or anything like that, right? So it's your most of your problem is directly in your chest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Potentially I I could have walked out of the, well, maybe not walked out of the hospital, but have been wheeled out in a matter of days. Mm-hmm. Um, as it turns out, they wanted to run some more tests. Fair enough. Um the left ascending artery, um, they had some concerns about. That's the artery that they affectionately call the widow maker. For good reason, because that's the one that knocks the most people out. And so um a few days later, they they went back in with a catheter and checked that one out um and decided that I that I needed open heart surgery to repair that. So and what how frightened were you to hear that you were gonna do that? Pretty scared. Uh you know, having your chest open and knowing that there's complications with things like that. I mean, obviously, with modern technology and modern surgeons, um, you're in good hands.

SPEAKER_00 53:03

You are, but you still, and I'm guessing you had to do this as well, or you or Stacy, depending on your estate. Like when I had laparoscopic, pretty aggressive surgery, but you still are signing away that you could die from this. You know, like they once you're getting put under for a certain level of surgery, like the paperwork is frightening. Yeah. And you've heard enough stories about things that could go wrong. Open heart's normally the one in the movies where the whole team comes running in with the triage team and or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

Yeah, unfortunately, I only needed us the a single bypass. That one artery needed to be bypassed, and they didn't need to harvest veins or arteries from other parts of the body. So that's good news. Um had an amazing surgeon, Torin Fitton, who was just super confident. I remember uh meeting him and he he said, I I have no hobbies, I don't do anything for fun, I'm a heart surgeon. So that's what I do. That's incredible.

The Role of Healthcare Providers

SPEAKER_00 54:04

And I actually have the uh very blessed to know one myself, um, who, you know, my kids are friends with his kids, and they have something about them. They're almost like it's almost like top gun, you know, like they're so confident to be at the helm that we need we need their confidence in order to feel like it's gonna be okay. It was encouraging. Yeah, and he clearly did a good job because you're you're sitting here today, you'll probably never forget his name. For sure. So do you ever get to um, you know, because like there's a doctor that I tribute to fixing my long running sickness. And, you know, I I always like look for him because like I want to find him on a message board because doctors are kind of removed from us standard issue people. And I always just want to like find him again, just to say, like, I hope you know how grateful I am that you saved my life. You know, like did you did you ever get to come in contact with him again?

SPEAKER_01 55:03

I never saw him again. I did go to his office. Um, he wasn't in that day, but I do want to say that all of the healthcare providers were amazing. Um, I did stay in touch with Nurse Sophia, the one that was there when I was at Homa and um through Facebook. And so um I think I needed that because they become sort of your family. Um, and and I was there for 18 days, so so I met a lot of it's like summer camp.

SPEAKER_00 55:33

You're there for a a run.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

Even the uh the ones that I called vampires because there was the 3 a.m. blood test every night, and they would come in and wake you up, poke my hand, and and yeah, sleep was sort of a come and go type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

But even the vampires deserve a tip of the cap because, you know, it's so incredible what these people do, uh, and that they that they're in these rooms because your story is a great story, but across all hospitals where the situation can be dire, um whether it's a heart attack or even in when they're delivering babies, the glorious moments and and the rewarding moments are so great, but like there are the moments also where they watch people die, they try to save your life, they come in in the middle of the night to try and prick your hand, and then you do quote unquote deteriorate and they lose you. And so it has always blown me away the investment they make in a stranger out of being kind and being good. And it's just you can't you can't thank those people enough for dedicating their entire life. I mean, outside of probably like two days off in the week, every single day they're going into the gauntlet and they're doing that stuff like that for people like you. And the reason I'm guessing that you're still in contact with the lady is like the genuine compassion and like the care for your survival. And and they're also kind of like a friend and it's motherly, and it's all these things that you need when you can't do anything yourself.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

I really felt like they were rooting for me. Um there was a lot of surprise, I think, when they first met me, wondering why in the first place I was there, because I wasn't a stereotypical patient that they would be dealing with.

Life After Surgery

SPEAKER_00 57:21

So so because you're what 5'10, 5'11, 140, 50 pounds, 100 something like that. That's not on the chart. No, you think of like the chubby guy who's red in the face all the time and having trouble walking upstairs on a standard issue. But um I think it's a warning to a lot of us who just go about living our lives and do so in a fashion where we think it's gonna be fine. And, you know, maybe have been warned a time or two about our health or don't make this decision or don't do that. And it's like, all right, I'll take that into consideration. It's like treating it like a brainstorm rather than uh an actual call that's a great idea. I'll do that tomorrow. Yeah, let's chat later on that. Now, after your 18 days, you finally get released and you get to go home. Yep. How's the body doing? You've just had open heart surgery, you're probably pretty weak. What what's that feel like?

SPEAKER_01 58:19

Amazingly weak. Um, where you know standing is gonna be an issue, you know, because there's a lot of lightheadedness. Um walking upstairs was definitely a challenge. Uh, the first trip into the house was you know, straight to my recliner and just rested there. And um going upstairs to the bedroom, you know, there was maybe a stop halfway up and then definitely sitting down when I got there, sitting in the shower.

SPEAKER_00 58:50

Were you warned of all this or was this concerning?

SPEAKER_01 58:52

Yeah, and I think part of it is medication as well. Um they still have you on the pain there. And while I was in the hospital, they were trying different meds out. And there were days when I was miserable, and it's you know, they're trying out things like beta blockers and ACE inhibitors, and um, a lot of those have side effects that can make you woozy or dizzy. And so getting that dialed in was a challenge, but just getting my stamina back. I'd I'd done some walking around in the hospital, but but there were days when I couldn't even really get out of bed.

Rehabilitation and Regaining Strength

SPEAKER_00 59:28

And at the hospital, it's all kind of like a haze, you know, and it's like and you they've got you on so many medications. I remember being on those walks where you're like getting tangled up in your cords, like maybe I just turn you need to turn left, and I'm always turning right. But I I remember at one point a nurse is like, what are you doing? Like having to untangle me. So like when you get home, it's more like real-world experience. You're like, oh, these are my stairs, and I used to jog up these or I used to bound right up these, and now I'm sitting down two times. It's got to be frustrating for a guy who still feels pretty strong day to day right before this.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:02

And psychologically, um getting home, you don't have that safety net anymore of being attached to a monitor where they can be at your side within seconds if something's going wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

That's a good thought. Yeah, you are now it's a another 911 call or something happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

I definitely felt cared for and watched over by Stacey. And I think probably for her, having me home for the first time was was difficult too. Just she's getting accustomed to wanting to take her eyes off me and just kind of making sure that everything's okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:37

Yeah, because she can breathe when she knows that there's a team of professionals that are going to take care of you. But now that you're home, she's like, I really don't want to crawl up and save this guy again. Um I can't do this every week. Um, but it's incredible that um you get home, you st you you are having a little bit of that, but then gradually you're getting stronger. You're starting to um you're starting to walk the neighborhood, right? And um is that feeling more like yourself? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

Um you're under strict directions to not lift any more than 10 pounds, which is pretty impossible. Yeah, I was gonna say that's pretty light. And that's because of the chest incision. Um they they literally wire your chest shut. You don't need that popping like a baked potato. Yeah, they said if you mess that up, it's a real problem to put it back. So Oh man, just the thought of that going is too much. You know, being the active um loving yard work, garden work, and here we are heading into the height of spring. It's season. You know, I um in a way it's nice because I'm able to just kind of relax and watch a lot of TV and get weighted on and all that. But in the back of my mind, I want to kind of get get rolling, get going again. And so yeah, I'm walking the neighborhood. And at first it's a major trip just to walk over to my mom's house, which is maybe 50 yards away. And and then I think one day um I walked down a hill that's nearby, kind of just went about halfway down, and when I came back up, I felt pretty good. It's like I don't need to sit down. Um you were making progress. So uh probably two weeks in I'm starting to see a little bit of a difference, which is nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:22

That's incredible. And at some point, because you weren't allowed to drive during this time uh for a couple of weeks there. Um, and at some point you're feeling good enough to feel like you can get behind the wheel?

Finding Joy In Hobbies

SPEAKER_01 1:02:33

Yeah, so my I guess it was my two-week appointment after being home. So we're talking later in April, um, I was cleared to drive, um, which was nice because then maybe we could bring in the equation, maybe going back to work to my part-time job teaching, which I had just fully expected to not go back to for the rest of the school year. And so um three weeks after being released from the hospital, I was back in the classroom.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:04

That's amazing. Now, when you get back to the classroom, I don't know how it is at your school, and you're only teaching part-time, but is any fanfare there? Oh, the kids are great. Yeah. And because I would think that you deserve like a hero's welcome and the cheering and the I mean, kids can make you feel pretty good about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:24

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:25

Yeah, and I've taught now for 38 years or so. Which is incredible in itself. And I didn't get a chance to say this, but thank you for doing that because I do feel that a teacher is so underappreciated um in our world and that it's the most important thing we can do for our kids is to educate them and prepare them for a life that can be successful. And so for you to do that for nearly 40 years is incredible. And I'm glad that those kids celebrated you because I could only imagine my favorite teachers if somebody were to tell me back then that something like that had happened, you know, I'd probably have a banner in their yard.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:02

Yeah, there was a big welcome back sign on on the bulletin board. Nice. So it was good feeling to kind of get back into the routine. And um, I was still pretty tired, you know, at the end of the day. And so you're getting it done. But it was a step in the right direction. Um, mid-May, I'm allowed to start cardiac rehab therapy. Okay, so that's what's gonna try and get you back to strength. Yeah, and so and and this is you know, basically I'm allowed to work out under supervision. Yeah. So um I did that um in at Providence, Newburgh. And again, great, great people there. Um, Dana and Anna were great.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:46

Um they're such motivators and and coaches, and you just know they're on your side, you know. Um there's an energy about those people, like when you get to them and they're like, okay, we're gonna do this. It's like it's not like we might do this. We're gonna do this together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:02

And so I'm getting on a treadmill, um, wearing a heart monitor. And so they're they're watching how the heart's reacting to the more exercise. Um again, still not allowed to lift any weights, um, not allowed to run on the treadmill. I'm just walking for 30 minutes and maybe hopping on the bike. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:23

Oh my goodness. So as that's going on, you're feeling are you feeling stronger all the time? Are you having setbacks? Are you are you feeling like you're turning the corner?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:34

We did end up going to the ER one day. Did you have I was having some reputations or fluttering? Um, and my primary doctor had said, you know, fairly normal, but if it's something that continues, then you should probably have it checked out. And I remember we were going to Costco and I was kind of feeling it as I was driving. Stacy was with me. And we got to the parking lot at Costco and I hadn't said anything yet, but um before we opened the doors to go into the store, I said, you know, I've been feeling some fluttering. We should probably get it checked out. We get to the ER and of course it stops. Oh yeah, you're in the case. It didn't happen for three hours when I'm sitting in the ER. It happened, but it's not happening. When we got to the car, uh leaving the ER, it started up briefly. I didn't go back in.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:30

But I think what would uh be frightening to me is because of what happened to you. You know, it's I would and it's such a traumatic thing. I'm just gonna use a grand scale. If somebody raises their hand and slaps you, they don't have to slap you again for you to have that feeling. As soon as the hand comes up, all those feelings return of like, oh, all my progress, all everything. And then what are we gonna have to go have another surgery? Are we gonna go have to start over? Am I gonna lose all this energy I've got now? I would be, I would be worried about it as well. But you you make it through the flutters?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:06

Yeah, and they did put me on a monitor for a couple weeks, and um my cardiologist checked it out and explained what it was and that it's fairly normal. Okay. Um, there was my heart did suffer a little bit of damage, and I feel like now it's probably almost full strength again, but there was maybe some damage that maybe won't ever completely come back because it, you know, it is a muscle.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:33

Well, it seems like it started to come back a little because at some point you gain the confidence to start pushing your exercise uh to a level above just going up the stairs or walking up a hill or around the block.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:45

Yeah, eventually, um, of course, uh, you know, being uh a golfer that I am, I wanted to get back out on the course. And so I went out to the course and saw all my buddies out there and practiced a few days and um went out to the range and did some easy swinging. And um, my doctor did say it was okay to do that. Um physical therapists weren't quite as on board. Um, they were a little bit surprised, but but I was careful. Um, and when I got to that 12-week period, then um when they started letting me lift weights, then you could swing away.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:19

Yeah, swinging. That's awesome. And honestly, to get back out on the golf course, beyond just the physical part of it, it's the mental, it's the letting you back out to the place where you were taking pictures of the scenery. I mean, it's your happy place, that and your garden.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:35

Full circle mama.

Establishing a Home Workout Routine

SPEAKER_00 1:08:36

Yeah, I mean, uh if you if you get to do that and you get to go home and lodge some bulbs in the soil, you've you've had a full day. Uh so being back on the course, and I, you know, I spent a long time playing golf, and I still love golf, and I love the feeling of being there. And it uh it's something that my grandma before she passed away, she was like, go out, play golf, and don't forget to soak it in. You know, just take, let the watch the wind go through the trees or whatever. There aren't many places where you can go where it's quiet and it's serene, and you get a smash the heck out of a golf ball. I mean, so it must have been nice to be back. Yeah, for sure. The Fit for Radio podcast is brought to you by the Stafford Hills Club. And when you come here, you will notice the difference. The sense of community is amazing. People smiling, happy. They hold the door for you around here. And of course, it's one of those clubs that when you sign up, they want you to come back. They want you to be happy and healthy, because then we can all be together for a long time. Check out all the amenities and everything they have to offer at staffordhills.com. Tell them Drew sent you and get half off your initiation. You know, now that you're doing uh the some of those workouts, you're hitting the treadmill at home, you're you're able to use some weights, you actually purchase some weights and you're you've you've set up a little bit of a workout routine for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:59

Yeah, we have a little gym at home and accountability spreadsheet. You know, I have a spreadsheet that basically I'm accountable for writing down what I did the day before. And so I don't want to write down nothing. Yeah. So um it started mainly with just going on lots of walks. And then I gradually started running on the treadmill. And so now it's you know, three, four times a week I'm running on the treadmill, getting that cardio. Um really important to get your heart rate up to as you know, to you know, like 140 for 20, 30 minutes a day if you can.

The Importance of Accountability in Fitness

SPEAKER_00 1:10:39

And and most people don't do that. They don't, uh even if they are working out, they're doing like a walking from one machine to the other. And I I do a lot of that too, but I do always try to work that cardio in. And it's tough to always be at 140. You know, I'll admit there are days where you know it's like a Sunday morning and I've been doing this for like days and days and days that I just want to check the box and maybe it won't hit 140, but as long as you're getting on there, it's better than nothing. And it's and you can look, it it's so wild. And, you know, not everybody has is the same like vascular as the next guy. But like, for example, for me, if I'm riding a tra if I'm riding a uh stationary bike, when it gets to about 15 minutes in, my arm starts to look different because like the the veins start to raise up. And I, to me, that's like the tunnels are full, you know, and now we're pumping blood all over this body. And and that's like, and aside from the quote unquote vanity of it, which isn't so bad, it makes you feel like you're it's the power of progress. Yeah, it's that visual evidence that things happening doing something. Yeah, exactly. So, and I actually want to commend you also on setting up a little workout station at home. It's the same thing if somebody learns the guitar that you shouldn't put the guitar back in the case. It should sit on a rack so it's accessible. One less thing in the way of doing it, no excuse from point A to point B. And now it's no, there's no secret that I also love to work out at Stafford Hills Club, but I have a gym at my house with the stall mats and the Peloton as well, but the weights so that there is never an excuse. Like, oh, well, you know, I I can't, you know, I can't put my kid in kids' club today because we got to go do this, uh, check a zero. Because of your consistency and your spreadsheet and kind of like the thing you worked through on your bike all those years, is it's a letdown to yourself if you break the streak or the consistency. Is that where you are too? Because for me, if I like because I have these long streaks, the thought of failing is devastating because that ends all the progress. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:56

Yeah, and listening to your journey of the uh you know, the thousand push-ups a day is kind of spoken to me in a way, you know, knowing that you're committed to something and then you know you're accountable to it. So I sort of feel that way about exercising my heart. So, you know, before maybe I thought of exercise just for the body. I'm I'm more thinking about exercising my heart, which is harder to do because you don't see it.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:24

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:25

Which is smart of you. And and that's probably why you're a little more educated on the um the actual beats per minute and stuff that you kind of got to get. And you know the feel, you know, you you know what makes you feel good. And I think that everybody should kind of be like that, where you morph your exercise for what you need, you know, and and I feel like if I'm working with somebody who's working on their nutrition or their health, I can't just like pass them a packet. I have to figure out what it is that makes them tick or what they're trying to fix. And there is no one size fits all. Like you with your heart is going to be a different workout than say somebody who's just trying to like get rid of some back fat, you know, which the dreaded back fat everybody wants rid of.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:06

And and there's certainly the side benefit of all this is it's made me a better golfer. It's made yard work easier, cooking in the garden easier, you know, it's made starting the lawn more, you know, just pulling the cord. You know, it's just there's all those benefits of just generally feeling better.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:24

And you know, you talk about exercising your heart. Really, what it almost is doing as much, though, is it's exercising your mind. There's nothing that gets me out of my own way more than exercise, especially like early morning hours is the most anxious time of the day for me. And if if I'm exercising, then I'm focused on something else. And then all those natural chemicals and endorphins and everything start to flow, and we don't even notice sometimes, but that's it's actually kind of peaking your mental health in a good direction. And so while you're exercising your heart, you're exercising your brain, you're getting stronger, you're probably, you know, it's good for everyone. It's good for your wife that you're not a loaf, you know, like there is or that you're grumpy or disconnected. And there's a lot of clarity and stuff that comes with it too.

Fitness Goals and Nutrition

SPEAKER_01 1:15:11

One of the things that I learned uh to appreciate is feeling good. And I don't want to feel bad again. And so for me, that's meant, you know, changing my diet. Um, I used to have the daily drink, and um that doesn't make me feel good anymore. So, you know, now it's more of like the occasional social drink instead of the required one daily drink.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:40

All right, so you changed your diet considerably in order to, you know, uh up your chances of these things not happening to you again. Um you had mentioned at some point that you're like you're very routine uh with your stuff. So your eating habits used to look like what? And what do they look like now?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:00

Well, part of my breakfast routine for years was scrambling up three eggs and throwing a little cheese and bacon bits on the top.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:09

Ooh, the bits. See, that takes it to another level. Um, I feel like bacon bits have always been overpriced to save your life. Um, until Kirkland came out with the big bag. Have you seen that? Yeah. The Mondo. I'm a victim of those. You've had you've had some of those. That might be part of the problem. Um, but it's an incredible deal for real bacon. They even say it's real bacon. It's not like a bacon. It tastes good. It is so good. And uh, so I I definitely had like a family intervention at one point where they're like, I think you've had too much bacon. Because I'd have a salad and like grilled chicken on it, but then like a fat wad of bacon. Yeah. And just to because I don't have a ton of like the special dressings and all that. Like it's one of those deals, and that's what's frightening a little bit about your deal is salt and things like that have always been my vice because I don't have the carbs and I don't do the dairy, you know, and dairy, like just putting that cheese on top of there, the inflammation that that causes to your body. I mean, I I would, I would say to even try it. Like you do workouts all the time. You work your workouts around a healthier diet. Try it with and without dairy products. Now, I don't think that yogurt is in the same boat as cheese. I really don't. Or as the same as like milk or ice cream or something along those lines. If I eat those things, like if I were to just crush a bowl of ice cream, there'd be all kinds of ill effects, like not your standard lactose issues where you're like hugging knees and like trying to figure out why your body is evacuating itself, but like my complexion, the oiliness of my hair and my skin, my joints, my fingers, my ability to push through the last rep or the last um, you know, mile or or whatever. And I think we've all had that meal where, say, you have to go to a brunch, but then you still want to do a workout. And so you've eaten an ill-advised amount of things, and then you try to do that workout. It's like working out in like a like you're trying to get through cement. It's just it's counterproductive. And I think that dairy is one of those big things. Now, what is your intake in that world now? And so what did you replace eggs, bacon, and cheese with?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:26

Typically, my mornings now would be a banana and a protein drink. Okay. Along with the my meds, you know, just to kind of help digest everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:36

So And I don't think that there's a problem with that. I've I've fasted for many years, and at first I was like, I cannot do this. And then I got good at it. And then, but then I realized that if you do workouts every day, you should have a different meal plan than on the day that you don't. Or and now a rest day looks different for everyone. Like, I'm always gonna do the push-ups and I'm always gonna do the peloton. But like, if I'm not gonna work out, like lift weights, then I will fast. But I'm not going to fast and and put a heavy weight over my head. That's that's a recipe for a broken nose. Like you, you should fuel the body and then the body burns it off. Um, I so I think that your protein shake is great, your banana's great. I mean, I would, in a perfect world, I would ask, is that a whey protein shake?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:23

Yeah, not something I need to research for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:25

You know, it'll say it right on the front, like whey, or it'll say vegan, or I mean, it's really just a very small finite number of either a plant protein or whey is the mega one. And it works really well, and some people's bodies deal with it just fine. Um, but it's like you can throw anything into a dumpster fire and it'll burn up. And I don't want to, you know, sit and say people shouldn't have whey protein in general, but I think it's something worth looking at and seeing how that can affect whatever, because, you know, as we age, it's not as easy as a game anymore. And, you know, you tell me, I mean, you do a lot of workouts, you probably feel the effects of some of that.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:04

Yeah, there's the daily aches and pains. I do think that it's gotten better because I've incorporated more stretching and the the the weightlifting that I do is fairly light, more of a cardio weightlift and more of a um flexibility type of exercises, mainly for my shoulders and chest.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:24

Yeah, I think honestly, as as we get older, it's more important to be flexible than it is to be super strong. I mean, you don't really have to defend your honor in front of a bar anymore. You know, it's like most things are conversational and you're moving your body enough to where at least you can um you can jog away from trouble if needed. Now, um, so you're done with the eggs, you're going with a lighter diet, you day-to-day, you're not having those red meats. Do you feel that that make is making you feel better, or is this just all part of a plan to go long term?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:59

Yeah, I think the consistency is good for me. And that's, you know, like for lunch, now I'm I'll do carrots and nuts and maybe a fruit smoothie or something like that. Yeah. Instead of a heavy, you know, like a big sandwich or something like that.

The Importance of Medical Check-ups

SPEAKER_00 1:21:16

And that stuff will kind of drag you down in the end anyway. Now, if you as we're uh winding it down, what would you say to people who are hesitant to go to the doctor and to listen to their body?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:30

Well, I mean, this is the wake-up call that I I probably didn't need to have. You don't want to come within seconds or minutes of your of your life because you refuse to do something 15 years ago. And and you know, doctors and all health healthcare providers are they they want what's best for you. You know, they're they're on your side, and so they're looking to to help you.

The Life Saving Value of CPR Training

SPEAKER_00 1:21:55

Yeah, I think it's important to let the pros be the pros and don't let the don't let the bro in you get in the way, you know, like we're too strong, we're too stubborn, we know everything. We also don't want to be told what we don't want to hear. I think that's you know, there's so many buddies that don't want to go because they don't want to lose their ability to crush a Philly cheesesteak, but I still see them huff and puff when they come up some stairs. So, you know, like something's gotta give because if it's happening to you, Brad, it could then it can happen to any of us because you, if we were just to like put a hundred people in a room and play the guess who game where we're knocking down all the tabs, your tab would probably be on the last shelf left of the guy that it wouldn't happen to. Uh, so it is important. I I do think you should be proactive and you should take care of yourself. Think about yourself 20 years from now and to live every day to the fullest. You know, I can't say it enough that, you know, I've I've spent so much of my life looking ahead, or if only I had this, or if I just work a little bit harder, I can get that, and then I'll be happy. And in all the time, if you would just take a breath and look, you've got this beautiful family and this beautiful, you know, environment and all these other things that are around you, that if you just suck it up while you're healthy, you're better off because I've been sick for thir three years and you've nearly died. And it puts things into perspective that just to feel okay, like to feel like I'm not hurting or sick or like on the verge of having a heart attack, that is a blessing, right? And to be able to garden and to be able to play golf, even if you're not a two-handicap, even if I'm, you know, hitting a 15 over, it's still every one of those should be counted as a magic moment. The last thing I would say is what would you say to people um when it comes to CPR training after what's happened with you?

SPEAKER_01 1:23:48

The message should be that CPR isn't that difficult, the actual but but you need to go through the process of learning it. And when you're in an emergency situation, you want to be able to react, not panic. And so I think in Stacy's case, you know, she reacted without panicking. She had that background of you know having the training. And even though she'd never administered it before, she did it.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:14

And that training was huge because I'll say it again, and I'm gonna make it clear. She is a hero and should be celebrated. Um, you're two to three times more likely to survive if somebody immediately starts to administer CPR. You can't always rely on other people to take care of these situations because what if you didn't have a cell signal? What if the call didn't go through and nobody could be there to tell you? So I'm gonna make that pledge that I am gonna, I'm gonna get the CPR training so I'm not just an anvil when things go down. You know, it's just my kid actually almost drowned in a pool when she was two years old. And I remember feeling so helpless because I didn't know how to get the water out of the lungs of a two-year-old compared to what you do with a full-grown adult. And you're paralyzed in that moment. And out where we were, um, out near Black Butte in Oregon here, there was no signal and somebody had to run for help, and you're just holding a blue-in-the-face baby. So it is so important uh to get that training, and I'm gonna do that. So maybe I can save a life like yours, Brad. Because it's important. Yeah, and it's important that you're here, and I'm I'm so glad to know you. I'm glad that we were able to connect. I want to stay in contact, I want to play some golf. I'm gonna get just drummed uh when we do that. But I'm pretty good on the putting surface. You know, like I might just like totally fall apart, but there will be a couple putts where you say that, buddy, wasn't so bad. So thank you for coming in, Brad. And uh Brad Baines is the man. I'm glad you're alive, and uh, I can't wait to someday meet your wife in person and shake her hand and say thank you for saving a good life. I appreciate you having me, Drew. Of course, buddy. Have a great day.