It looks like the surgical version of a jury pool.\u00a0\u00a0People are nervous, fidgeting with bags, doom scrolling on their phone, inhabiting this surrealist diorama as best they can.\u00a0\u00a0Kind of here,\u00a0<\/em>kind of not.\u00a0\u00a0I am the newest visitor to this pop-up ohana and am carrying Craig\u2019s clothes in a big plastic bag.\u00a0\u00a0His wedding ring and wrist watch are stashed deep in my purse. \u00a0Just an hour and a half ago I was setting up for my Thursday ukulele class on Zoom.\u00a0\u00a0And suddenly I\u2019m sitting in seat number 14, grasping what looks like a medical bingo card, with Craig\u2019s ID number scrawled across the front with a black sharpie.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s my job to follow his progress on a big flashing technicolor screen by the receptionist\u2019s desk:\u00a0\u00a0 Arrival, pre-op, procedure, recovery\u2026\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Like many of us, my husband has medical issues, but heart problems\u2026nope.\u00a0\u00a0So what happened?\u00a0\u00a0Craig was swimming laps at the local \u201cY\u201d when he was jolted by an unusual pain in his chest.\u00a0\u00a0The lifeguard watched with concern as he got out of the pool.\u00a0\u00a0Was this just a muscle pull<\/em>?\u00a0\u00a0Craig wondered.\u00a0\u00a0So he showered, but by the time he got home the first words out of his mouth were \u201cI think I\u2019m having a heart attack.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0By then he was experiencing some shortness of breath, nausea and mild pain pushing down his left arm.<\/p>\n We got lucky. Very lucky. The pieces had to fit together perfectly and on this Thursday afternoon, they did.\u00a0\u00a0We also know it could have gone very bad, very fast.\u00a0\u00a0If I had called an ambulance they would have taken him to\u00a0the nearest\u00a0hospital.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0A big \u201cNO!\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The traffic lights were mostly green as I drove to the emergency room at UCLA in Westwood.<\/p>\n Despite a busy waiting room, they led him immediately into a small triage area where the ER doc, who reminded me of a svelte Santa Claus with a stethoscope, read the EKG and within seconds Craig was rolled to a giant triage room, surrounded by a dozen or so doctors, nurses, tech people, a gaggle of residents and fellows. This is a teaching hospital, after all.<\/p>\n From onset of symptoms to the insertion of two stents, it was about 90 minutes.\u00a0\u00a0Just under the wire.\u00a0\u00a0Craig was having a massive \u201cwidowmaker\u201d heart attack.\u00a0\u00a0This is the big daddy coronary artery which feeds two-thirds of the heart and it was\u00a0100% blocked<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Something like that is just about impossible to grasp.\u00a0\u00a0But a couple pictures?\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s a big reality check. The stent doc showed us the\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0after<\/em>\u00a0images they took during the procedure.\u00a0I\u2019m telling you\u2026there is nothing, no blood flow in that Left Anterior Descending Artery.\u00a0\u00a0But in the next image, the beautiful blood is back,\u00a0like nothing had happened<\/em>.<\/p>\n Decades ago, I worked in an emergency room, on the graveyard shift.\u00a0\u00a0Our staff consisted of one doc, two nurses, two orderlies, the radiology tech lady and me, the lowly admitting clerk.\u00a0\u00a0When things got crazy, which they sometimes did, I got in on the action because there was no one else to bring supplies, take nursing notes, hold someone\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n In those days we kept family members away.\u00a0\u00a0But here I am, sitting in a spare folding chair by a portable x-ray machine, hearing every word spoken, watching this cardiac team work like an exquistely rehearsed ensemble of musicians. I feel strangely calm in this whirlwind of flashing lights, beeping sounds and scurrying bodies.\u00a0\u00a0Craig doesn\u2019t look<\/em>\u00a0like someone in a lot of distress\u2026considering.\u00a0\u00a0He is answering their questions.\u00a0\u00a0We are keeping steady eye contact with each other.\u00a0\u00a0So I am going with that\u00a0calm feeling\u00a0<\/em>because, sometimes, denial is a wonderful thing.<\/p>\n 🩷<\/p>\n In Maddy\u2019s Room I am slowly welcomed into the\u00a0corner-of-the room\u00a0<\/em>ohana.\u00a0\u00a0The gentleman next me has been here all day waiting for news about his wife.\u00a0\u00a0Brain surgery.\u00a0\u00a0A woman nearby brings him some energy bars and coffee from the cafeteria.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou really need this,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u00a0He hasn\u2019t heard any news since early morning and will still be there, waiting, long after I leave.\u00a0\u00a0He lends me his cable and adapter so I can charge my phone and we exchange emails, which is how I know his dear one survived the surgery.<\/p>\n Another woman apologizes for\u00a0eavesdropping\u00a0<\/em>on our conversation but\u2026she has to tell me that my husband will be okay because the cardiac department here at UCLA is the best.\u00a0\u00a0Gosh, is she psychic or something, but I am struck by her exuberant confidence.\u00a0\u00a0Her son, who is every inch a teenage boy–edgy, gangly, on the cusp of\u00a0cute<\/em>–is sitting next to her.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHe has a heart transplant, this one,\u201d she smiles.<\/p>\n I am old enough to remember that earthshaking day when Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human-to-human transplant ever.\u00a0\u00a0In Cape Town, South Africa.\u00a0\u00a0Can you guess the year?\u00a0\u00a0It was 1967.\u00a0\u00a0Almost six decades later and this surgery is routine.\u00a0\u00a0Robotic procedures and immunotherapy are giving people more years to live.\u00a0\u00a0My husband is benefiting, at this very moment, from the breathtaking innovations in modern medicine.\u00a0\u00a0Of course we know how the story of life ends, for all of us, but what a bouquet of beautiful<\/em>\u00a0when our dear one gets\u00a0a second chance.<\/em><\/p>\n We get a second chance too.<\/p>\n Later that evening, Craig is finally moved from recovery to the Coronary Care Unit where he is met by the cardiology team that helped save his life.\u00a0\u00a0Suddenly he hears a voice, \u201cMr. Brandau, is that you?\u201d<\/p>\n Who is asking?<\/p>\n My husband was a beloved teacher at Venice High School where he taught world history for umpteen years. He saw terrific kids come and go including this one who is now a young doctor training to become a heart surgeon. \u201cThank you,\u201d the guy in the lab coat says, \u201cit\u2019s teachers like you that made it possible for me to become a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n POSTSCRIPT<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s been a month and Craig is doing better and better each day.\u00a0\u00a0When he\u2019s tired, he rests.\u00a0\u00a0We call it a\u00a0lay-down.<\/em>\u00a0I made a spread sheet of his medications — what each pill looks like, when you take it and what for.\u00a0\u00a0This is the medicinal recipe that\u2019s designed (and tweaked) to help his heart heal. We won\u2019t know how things are progressing until more tests down the road.\u00a0\u00a0But he\u2019s feeling and looking mighty fine and getting with the groove at cardiac rehab.<\/p>\n Yes it\u2019s really a miracle which is why I want to share my own heart story. To put things in perspective.\u00a0\u00a0Back in 2021, Craig and I made the same mad dash to the emergency room at UCLA, but this time it was for me.\u00a0\u00a0I was having very mild chest pain with indigestion, my breathing was a little huffy puffy, along with a woozy nauseated feeling.\u00a0\u00a0Even with severe Covid protocols in place, I was whisked away quickly because something was\u00a0not right<\/em>\u00a0with my EKG.<\/p>\n When the muscle cells of the heart are stressed or injured, they release a specific protein that leaks into the bloodstream.\u00a0\u00a0Measuring the amount of this stuff, \u201ctroponin,<\/a>\u201d helps doctors assess the level of possible heart damage. The first test they ran on me came back normal:\u00a0\u00a0four.\u00a0\u00a0By that evening it had peaked in the eighties. I had an 80-90% blockage of the widowmaker. \u00a0A stent was inserted.\u00a0\u00a0A couple days later I was sent packing with a bag of pills and a hot date at cardiac rehab.<\/p>\n In contrast, Craig\u2019s initial troponin level was\u00a0twenty thou<\/strong><\/em>sand<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0By the time he left the cath lab, it was\u00a0two-hundred thousand.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0When the Santa Claus ER doc stopped by later that night, just to check in and say hello, he said that most people with this kind of heart attack don\u2019t make it out of the emergency room alive.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot for anyone to wrap their mind around especially as life inexorably pulls us back into the piddly stuff of everyday \u201cbeing here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The memories?\u00a0\u00a0They\u00a0slowly<\/em>\u00a0disappear into a dreamy haze.<\/p>\n So\u2026let\u2019s look at that brochure again\u2026<\/p>\n 🩷<\/p>\n \u201cThere are only two ways to live your life. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n One is as though nothing is a miracle. <\/em><\/p>\n The other is as\u00a0though everything is a miracle.” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Albert Einstein<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So you just got born.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s an eventful day and you are sent hurtling into this new world with a \u201ctravel brochure.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0It has little boxes to check and a space to make your own boxes.\u00a0\u00a0Like this\u2026 ☑ You want fair?\u00a0\u00a0Ha ha ha. ☑\u00a0Messy?\u00a0\u00a0You got it. ☑\u00a0Marvelous?\u00a0\u00a0Yes people, the land, the sky. ☑\u00a0Monstrous?\u00a0\u00a0Yes people, the land, the sky. ☑\u00a0Sh*t happens?\u00a0\u00a0Yes. ☑\u00a0Green lights happen?\u00a0\u00a0Yes. ☑\u00a0Why me?\u00a0\u00a0Come on\u2026why not. ☑ Nothing is a miracle\u2026or\u2026everything is a miracle. You decide. ☑\u00a0Second chances?\u00a0\u00a0Like every day\u2026when … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[305,303,304],"class_list":["post-12781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogentry","tag-getting-lucky","tag-heart-attack","tag-modern-advances-in-medicine"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}],"post_tag":[{"value":305,"label":"getting lucky"},{"value":303,"label":"heart attack"},{"value":304,"label":"modern advances in medicine"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Craig-in-cardiac-care-768x1024.jpeg",768,1024,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":146,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":146,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":305,"name":"getting lucky","slug":"getting-lucky","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":305,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":303,"name":"heart attack","slug":"heart-attack","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":303,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":304,"name":"modern advances in medicine","slug":"modern-advances-in-medicine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":304,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12781"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12791,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12781\/revisions\/12791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Craig-in-cardiac-care.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n