Diary of a Woman Learning

On September 20th, my father-in-law collapsed at home. My mother-in-law called 9-1-1 and emergency crews arrived within a few minutes. During that time, he stopped breathing and had no heartbeat. Emergency crews were able to revive him, and he was transported to a local heart hospital. The next two weeks were nothing short of torturous. In order to stop potential brain damage, he underwent a procedure that chilled his core body temperature almost 10 degrees and then after 24 hours, warmed him to normal body temp. Doctors were unsure if he would awake. However, after 12 days on the ventilator, when it was removed, it was like someone flipped a switch. He simply woke up. Even the doctors were amazed. Still groggy from the medications used during that time, he remembers nothing from that time, until about 5 days later, shortly before he had his pacemaker installed. Twenty-two days after his "cardiac event", he was released from the hospital. Still quite weak, he continues to g...