Where you been?

Sherm, where have you been the last week?

Well, let me tell you ...

I was minding my own business and keeping a routine appointment with my longtime heart doctor, Tom Lambert, when he gives me an EKG and I flunk it. Because he's been watching my heart and my lousy family genes for about 10 years, the squiggly lines on that EKG meant something a little extra to him.

"Let me explain the options and then I'll tell you what I would do," Dr. Lambert said.

"Skip the options, Doc. What would you do?"

He arranges for an angiogram the next morning. It showed an immediate need for bypass surgery. Lambert then "introduced" me to Las Vegas chest cracker J. Randy Feikes and 72 hours later I'm in heart surgery at Mountain View Hospital.

That was seven days ago. Dr. Feikes bypassed two arteries that were blocked.

I'd tell you more, but I can't remember a thing. When I look at my "zipper" scar in the mirror, I shake my head and say a little prayer for the miracle of not being able to remember.

At some point, I became aware of the attentive care of the nurses at Mountain View Hospital. Angels with first names like Catherine, Tamy, Jerry, Leilani, Suzi, J.J., who moved me from ICU to where I am now -- home. (I know there were many other nurses and assistants who had a hand in my recovery and I hope they'll forgive my inability to recall their names.) To the named and unnamed, you have my thanks for what you did for me and for what you do for others on a daily basis.

I'm feeling better, I guess. Every once in a while, wonder what kind of truck hit me. But I try not to dwell on that. Whatever it was, it was.

I'm home now, taking stock and seeing each new day for the opportunity that it is.