PODCAST · society
Three Strikes and Still Beating
by A.K. Thiagaraj
Was I lucky to survive three brushes with death — or unlucky to still be here, sorting through the wreckage? A heart attack. A cardiac arrest. A heart valve replacement. I survived all three — and now I’m figuring out what survival actually looks like. Three Strikes and Still Beating is my twenty-two-episode documentary memoir — a limited series that follows my journey from the morning of my first heart attack, to the near-death experience of cardiac arrest, to the slow walk into my home after open-heart surgery — a story that unfolds over seven years. It’s about hospitals, doctors, uncertainty, and fear, yes, but also about marriage, fatherhood, work and career, faith, and what it means to keep rebuilding a life when it gets torpedoed. This isn’t a podcast about advice, inspiration, or being strong. It’s raw. It’s honest. Sometimes dark. Sometimes funny. Just me, processing the absurdity of what happened — physically, emotionally, spiritually — and saying the
Episodes
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Start Here – This Is a Serial Podcast
Before you hit play — quick note.This is a serialized podcast. The story starts at Episode 1 and goes all the way to 22. In order. Don’t jump around — you won’t follow the story. You’ll be confused, and then you’ll blame me. Some platforms like to show the newest episode first. So if the episodes...
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Episode 22: Strike Three
Series Finale. The final strike. The valve that was supposed to last ten years ran out of time. Open-heart surgery, new scars, and old fears — all over again.I survived once more… but survival isn’t the same as living.
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Episode 21: Defused
The meds were working, the shocks stopped, and life finally felt steady— until fatigue set in, my golden retriever got sick, and my heart broke for an entirely different reason.
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Episode 20: Aftershocks
After experimenting with meds, my heart was finally tamed — but the process was exhausting. Between Costco phone calls, side effects, and a doctor vacationing in Hawaii, life somehow stayed absurd. Even calm came with conditions.
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Episode 19: Shock Wave
I thought I’d made it through the worst—until life gave me another jolt right before a big work presentation. Turns out, just when you think your heart’s under control, it decides otherwise.
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Episode 18: Lockdown 2020
The world shut down—but for me, the fear hit different. I’d already survived death once. Now, every cough felt personal. From toilet paper panic to Zoom therapy, backyard wine nights to a Facebook fundraiser in Chennai, this episode captures the strange, heavy, sometimes absurd reality of living...
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Episode 17: Survival Mode
Fresh out of cardiac arrest and still reeking of antiseptic, I told my boss I only needed two weeks off. Why? Because fear, money, and ego make a hell of a combo. In this episode, I talk about rushing back to work, learning to breathe again (literally), descending eight flights of stairs in a...
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Episode 16: The Wand Test
Fresh out of surgery, I walk into my electrophysiologist’s office — the same guy who just wired my heart to a machine. What follows is part science lesson, part tech demo, and part existential crisis. From “plumbing vs. wiring” to watching my heart get remotely controlled by a wand, this episode...
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Episode 15: Homecoming with Upgrades
Back home after cardiac arrest—with CPR bruises, pneumonia, and a $50K shock device in my chest. My dog barely noticed. My family tried to keep things normal. I felt anything but. This episode covers the first painful, disorienting, and darkly funny week of recovery—when survival didn’t feel like...
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Episode 14: Spark Plug
Fresh out of cardiac arrest, I wake up to meet a new kind of heart specialist—the electrician. What follows is part absurd, part profound: a blur of drugs, Easter timing, and my family scrambling to choose which implantable defibrillator will literally keep me alive. Between morphine buttons,...
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Episode 13: Strike Two
In the middle of a speech contest, my heart decided to drop the mic — literally. This episode picks up from that collapse: the ambulance ride I don’t remember, my wife’s panic, the déjà vu of returning to the same hospital, and the surreal moment I learned the difference between a heart attack…
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Episode 12: Shock Value
One minute I was delivering a speech about Alabama football.The next, I was on the floor — blue, pulseless, and unconscious.In this episode, my voice fades and others take over: my wife, my friends, and the strangers who tried to bring me back.Five shocks. Thirty minutes without an ambulance.A...
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Episode 11: Roll Tide Roll, Then Fall
New job. National sales kickoff. Toastmasters win.Everything was finally starting to feel normal again—until it wasn’t.In this episode, I navigate the highs and hidden struggles of post-heart-attack life: imposter syndrome, medication fog, jury duty guilt, and the return to public speaking.Then…
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Episode 10: Fifty, Football, and a Fresh Job
Cardiac rehab was done. A new job had started. And I turned fifty.This episode covers the messy in-between: adjusting to meds, proving myself at work, battling new-job anxiety, and trying to feel normal again over the holidays. I talk about my 50th birthday party (complete with a dad compliment…
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Episode 9: New Job, Same Old Heart
I try to reassemble the pieces of my life after my heart attack — one cardiac rehab session, one improv class, one job interview at a time. This episode is about recovery in motion: not the clean, triumphant kind, but the messy, reluctant, often absurd version where you’re icing your chest while...
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Episode 8: Road to Recovery with Bumps
After the heart attack, life didn’t just go back to normal—it limped, laughed, and stumbled toward something almost like it. In this episode, I take you through my first post-heart-attack vacation (yes, we still went), returning to work (awkward), and starting cardiac rehab (with a side of senior...
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Episode 7: Sticker Shock: Dog, Friends and Family
Coming home after a heart attack isn’t the end—it’s the beginning of something strange. In this episode, I talk about that first week back: being greeted (or not) by my dog, peeling off hospital stickers like trauma souvenirs, trying to parent through fear, and realizing that “normal” might never...
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Episode 6: Wait, what? The Heart Has a Valve?
After surviving a heart attack, I figured the worst was behind me. Then a doctor walks in and tells me I have a leaky heart valve—from birth. Congenital, he says. Casual, like he’s pointing out a flat tire. Suddenly I’ve leveled up from cardiologist to cardiothoracic surgeon.This episode walks...
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Episode 5: The Cath Lab – Sedation and Stents
The Cath Lab. Sedation. A stent in my heart. This was supposed to be the fix—but it left behind more questions than answers. This episode dives into that strange in-between: the moment after the heart attack, when you’re alive, but everything feels… off. There’s sarcasm (still intact), paperwork…
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Episode 4: You’re Having a Heart Attack—Sign Here
You’re having a heart attack,” the doctor says.Then he mentions groin access.And just like that, my remaining dignity packs its bags. This episode covers the next wave: the groin panic, the stack of consent forms, the casual phone call to my manager (yes, during a heart attack), and the real...
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Episode 3: Coat Checked – Ego and Dignity
The ambulance doors open. A swarm of medical staff waits. Suddenly, I’m not a person—I’m a case.Vitals, wires, stickers, floral gown with an open back.My ego? Dignity? Coat-checked at the door, no claim ticket. This episode dives into the surreal chaos of the ER: the pit crew efficiency, the gown...
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Episode 2: Eighteen Hours - Give or Take
After eighteen-ish hours of chest pain, denial, and enough bad decisions to fill a medical textbook, I finally gave in: urgent care. What follows is a blur—baby aspirin, blank stares, and an ambulance ride that felt more like a backstage pass to my own collapse. No one said “heart attack” right...
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Episode 1: The Bill Comes Due
It started like any other workday — until a sprint to the train turned into something else. Denial, bad decisions, and two cans of Coke later, I found myself facing a family legacy I didn’t ask for. This is where everything changed — the day the bill came due.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Was I lucky to survive three brushes with death — or unlucky to still be here, sorting through the wreckage? A heart attack. A cardiac arrest. A heart valve replacement. I survived all three — and now I’m figuring out what survival actually looks like.
Three Strikes and Still Beating is my twenty-two-episode documentary memoir — a limited series that follows my journey from the morning of my first heart attack, to the near-death experience of cardiac arrest, to the slow walk into my home after open-heart surgery — a story that unfolds over seven years. It’s about hospitals, doctors, uncertainty, and fear, yes, but also about marriage, fatherhood, work and career, faith, and what it means to keep rebuilding a life when it gets torpedoed. This isn’t a podcast about advice, inspiration, or being strong. It’s raw. It’s honest. Sometimes dark. Sometimes funny. Just me, processing the absurdity of what happened — physically, emotionally, spiritually — and saying the
HOSTED BY
A.K. Thiagaraj
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Three Strikes and Still Beating have?
Three Strikes and Still Beating currently has 23 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Three Strikes and Still Beating about?
Was I lucky to survive three brushes with death — or unlucky to still be here, sorting through the wreckage? A heart attack. A cardiac arrest. A heart valve replacement. I survived all three — and now I’m figuring out what survival actually looks like. Three Strikes and Still Beating is my...
How often does Three Strikes and Still Beating release new episodes?
Three Strikes and Still Beating has 23 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Three Strikes and Still Beating?
You can listen to Three Strikes and Still Beating on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Three Strikes and Still Beating?
Three Strikes and Still Beating is created and hosted by A.K. Thiagaraj.
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