A couple of weeks ago, I had a close brush with the Grim Reaper. Of course, I use each and every experience I have had to be a learning tool in life and get the most from it that I can to improve and improvise what went wrong.

It was a warm Tuesday, and I had spent the day at work as usual but had some discomfort in my upper left chest. I was belching, and, every once in a while, I felt a burning sensation from within.

I called my family doctor and asked to make an appointment for the following week, as I knew how busy she was. The nurse, Susan, said that because of my history with two previous times having to have my heart fixed, for me to come in at 3:30.

I arrived and was taken to a separate part of the office where I had not been before. It was almost immediately that a cart rolled in and an EKG was taken. Not 10 minutes later, I was advised to go straight to the hospital less than a mile away. I returned home and got Nancy and left all my valuables at home and went straight to St. Luke's, where I was admitted within minutes.

They started an IV in my arm, and, suddenly, a cardiologist was there, talking with me about what was going on. The following morning, I was given a heart cath, and it was determined that I was suffering damage from the same valve that had been repaired just a few years before when the stent had grown together. It was also determined by that test that two other valves that during the original heart attack in '98 had, in fact, closed to 80 and 85% blockage.

Since the procedures that had been done on me previously were not working, open-heart surgery was suggested. I wanted no more of the 150-pound monster that had been jumping on my chest for the past couple of weeks and asked to speak to a surgeon to correct the problem.

Late Wednesday, a Dr. Shaw came to my room to speak to Nancy and me, and it was agreed to do the operation and correct the problems I was having ASAP. My daughter was called, as she wanted to be home for the surgery. Thursday at 1 p.m., I was taken from my room and prepped for surgery.

I, of course, knew nothing of what was going on and wanted it that way. Some seven hours later, I was taken to an ICC unit in St. Luke's for recovery. It was during that time that my kidneys had shut down on the doctors, and a specialist was brought in to assist. With the addition of some drugs, my kidneys kicked right back in, and I was back to doing what the doctors wanted … recovering.

The following Tuesday morning, Dr. Edge, my family doctor, came by to see how I was, in fact, doing. She was so pleased with the outcome that she asked if I wanted to go home to heal. I didn't hesitate for one minute and gave her hand a little squeeze to voice my pleasure. During that day, some six different teams of doctors that had looked over my progress from day one had come by to say goodbye to me. They sure made me feel like I was someone.

I left the hospital and came home, and my telephone never stopped ringing until some six hours later when Nancy finally pulled the plug for the day, as I was totally exhausted. Teri, my daughter, had printed out over 200 e-mails that I had gotten thus far from as far away as Australia, Japan and New Zealand. I had also gotten a lot of personal e-mails from family and fans.

I would at this time like to take a moment to acknowledge a bunch of great people that were there when I went down for the three-count and stood by me through the whole ordeal. Your friendship means more to me than any material thing I own. I owe each and every one of you a big hug for your being there for my family and me.

David Ring, Dan Roeglin, Dick and Wilma Beyer, Penny Banner, Tim and Tyger Woods, Chris Owens, Joyce and Sheik Farhat, Jim and Janet Brosius, Joyce Paustian, Rodney and Jeanette Olivier, Bullfrog Billy Miller, Boogie and Angel Valiant, Jim Melby, Karl "My Older Friend" Lauer, Baron Gatonni's son Rick, Bill Kersten, Vince Fahey, Suzy and Riley McCoy, Roland Alexander (APW-CA), Bob Orton Sr. and daughter Rhonda.

Ross Hart and the Hart Family of Calgary, James Zardoni, Irish Mickey Doyle, Mark Liebermann, J. Michael and Joan Kenyon, Joe Marino, J. Willis, Mark Bujan, Sharon Valentine and her sister Brenda Starns, Will Morrisey, Col. Russell Grunch, Mike and Bev Chapman, Duff Johnson, Dan Palmgren, Hank Bell, Larry Chimovitz, Fr. Jason Sanderson.

Tom Hankins, Dan and Delores Hodge, Chuck Shockley, Moondog Ed Moretti, Mike Bowman, Andy De Witt, Travis Weberling, Tommy Ace, Mike and Kat Cairl, Ari and a host of others from the Legend's Group I belong to, and lastly, to George Gunderson, who just signed his short note, "A fan since '66".

There are about 400 e-mails in all that I will personally address back as my strength progresses that have come through from all over the world with lots of compassion and love for me. It's a hard and tough act to try and follow but I will do my best in the next few weeks.

Please know again that I value your friendship, and I will do my level best to be at some of the gatherings coming up in the next year as I continue through the healing process.