This is the second in a series of articles about the writer’s recent open-heart surgery and the recovery process afterward.

My first heart’s journey column ended with the finish of a 50-kilometer run to celebrate my 50th birthday and raise $7,800 to fight cancer research. Things at that point were telling us Cobb’s heart reported “no problem.”

Unfortunately, I slacked off as I drifted into the euphoria of having completed the run. At the tender age of 50, I figured I had the right to play couch potato for a while. I gained back all the weight I had lost during training, got my legs lazy and soft and lost how nicely my lungs had responded by building up my wind with all the running. In three months without hardly any exercise, I was a physical wreck.

I tried to get back in shape  but found that the 50-kilometer run goal just was not there. However, I pushed myself and did a short run (2 miles) a couple of days a week, played tennis once or twice a week and did a lot of yard work. Oh yeah, I also shoveled snow two or three times a week. (New Jersey honored us with 10-15 inches of snow twice a week for about 20 weeks of the winter.)

Then a unique occasion gave me a deal to get back in shape. I applied to CBS’s “Survivor” television program in December 2001. I started running again and climbing stairs in football stadiums — a lot of times in the snow. I was contacted by CBS in late February and interviewed in New York City. I had to keep it all hush-hush and tell only my wife and my doctor. A male and female get chosen from each of eight regions of the U.S. I did not get chosen from the New York region. A policeman got picked, just six months after 9/11/01 in New York. He lasted two episodes.

Over a 15-year period, I was driven to the local hospital emergency room a couple of times when I thought I was having heart trouble. Fortunately, it was nothing to do with heart problems. Once I even had a full blown stress test. It was perfect. Thus, once again, no problem.

In 2004, I seriously separated my right knee. I ruptured my patella (knee cap) from my quadriceps. It was so serious that upon separation my knee cap moved from my front to the outside of my right knee. Very, very painful! Could no longer say “no problem.” A doctor removed the knee cap back into place. After three months of physical therapy came surgery to reattach the quadriceps to the patella. The surgery did not work. (Since that time I have had three different orthopedists tell me the knee cannot be repaired.) Yes, problem!

My newly repaired leg, (called “patella baja,” knee cap moved south), required a changed workout routine. I could run a little, but the knee was painful. I could walk pretty well, so that became my new routine.

In May 2005, I retired and moved to Salisbury and immediately joined the East YMCA. I usually worked on various machines and began to walk a  mile on the indoor track. I took up swimming and had worked myself up to half a mile in the pool after working out on physical apparatuses.

One day at the pool an adult life guard said the YMCA needed lifeguards. I had qualified as a water safety instructor in college, but that was many miles and years ago. I worked out to get myself ready to take the lifeguard test; even lost 10 pounds. Passed and took retests every three years and have been a volunteer lifeguard at East YMCA for seven years.

The swimming is good exercise, but I miss the ability to run. Will that be all it takes to keep my heart fit?

Ty Cobb lives in Rowan County.