Was Friday the 13th a curse or a blessing?  I'd like to think of it as both.  Like the old martial arts philosophy of Ying-Yang,  there has to be a balance.  

Friday the 13th will live with me for the rest of my life because that was the day my doctor found an abnormal reading on his e.k.g. machine concerning my heart.  I thought at first it would be a breeze with this exam, after all, I didn't feel anything different.  My doctor though, knew something was terribly wrong and scheduled an angiogram for Monday morning, and on Tuesday I was on the operating table for surgery to bypass four clogged arteries.  The surgery was of a major, major proportion; first, the doctor was to cut into a good leg to secure a good vein that will be used for the bypass, then they literally cut into your chest to get to your heart, then of course they sew you back together again with what I'd consider a second change at life with a rebuilt heart.  My brother, Joe, wasn't so fortunate, he died of a heart attack at age 59.  His karate uniform hangs in the studio in his memory.  

Having this surgery has made me realize how fragile my life is...that anything can happen in an instant.  My conditioning throughout my martial arts career the last 30 years and being aware of my diet were the reasons that I didn't have a fatal heart attack before this operation.  I also found out that my heart conditions are genetic in the family.  Sifu Fred and I are so lucky that we caught our problem early.  

There is a physical and psychological trauma that happens with this type of operation.  There is this feeling of not being able to breathe and you can't sleep at night.  The constant pain on the chest because it has been opened and expanded.  All the nerve endings and bone has to fuse back together naturally.  The unstoppable emotions that affected Sifu Fred, Shihan John Damien, and Instructor Jim Seely hasn't hit me yet, but am sure that I will go through this process before I am well again.  
My wife, Arlene, is truly my life.  Even though I had the surgery, she suffered right along with me during the operation and felt every pain that I felt.  To all the students and non-students, to Sifu JoJo, Sifu Frank, Sifu Rudy, Sifu Rick, Instructor Jeannette and her two girls, to the parents, who dearly had concern for my well being is beyond words.  Sifu Fred knew that I would recover from this operation without any doubt.  

I am back at home in Las Vegas, and my prognosis is good.  I start a strict diet and exercise, and I adopted the number 13 as my lucky number.  I will always think of Friday the 13th as a blessing.