By: Dawn

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Several months ago, Jim Reynolds (Abe Carver) underwent heart surgery, as his fans stood by and prayed, hoped and wondered. Now Reynolds is back to his fun-loving self and shares his thoughts about facing a major health crisis.

Of course, my first question to Reynolds is how he is feeling these days and he tells me, "I’m feeling very well. As a matter of fact, I’m doing very well. In fact I’m going to go in to the gym for the first time in a while so I’m really looking forward to that…." This is already started to sound wonderful but I can't help myself: Did the doctor say it's okay, I demand to know, like a mother hen, to which Reynolds laughs, "Yes. You know, I actually probably hit it a little too hard early on right after my surgery. I was going out and walking constantly and doing all these things and they told me to pull back a little bit but… now is a good time to get back and do things again so I’m really looking forward to that."

What brought the surgery about? Reynolds was born with a bad valve in the heart, and unaware of this, it was not discovered until his primary physician stumbled across it and promptly sent the actor to a specialist. "I didn’t know anything about it," Reynolds states, "I’ve been seeing an asthma doctor for some time and he actually noticed that I had a heart murmur and sent me to a cardiologist, but they thought it wasn’t very bad. About a year after that we were checking on it periodically about every six months. About a year after that, I went in to have a check-up and he was a little disturbed by some things he had heard on the EKG and he scheduled for a series of tests including an angiogram. When the angiogram

Reynolds is in good spirits now, but surprisingly, he also did not have that 'what if something goes wrong' moment that most people have when faced with a serious health issue. "It’s kind of interesting … I’m always a little hesitant to say this because I don’t want it to sound like false bravado, but I didn’t and I don’t know why," he shares, "And I think a lot of it had to do with being concerned about my family, and it was so fast and so quick and I had a lot of details to take care of. I only had twenty-four hours between being told I wasn’t going home and scheduled for the surgery, I was pretty much on the phone for that entire time. Suddenly your life is turned upside down. You know you’re not going to really be able to do a lot of things for a couple of months. I think that had a lot to do with it and I’m grateful for that – I didn’t get apprehensive really until about a month after the surgery, so I had some sleepless nights actually at that point." My wife Lissa was extremely supportive, as was the show. Lissa kept fans abreast of Reynolds' condition through a blog created by family and friends but, "She wanted to be at the hospital. She and my son were just tremendous."

The show was equally tremendous. "Oh they couldn’t have been better," Reynolds smiles, "They said, 'Just do what you’ve got to do and we’ll be there for you,' and flowers started to show up and they started to call. They were just great. In fact, I was doing a reconciliation with Renee Jones (Lexie), yet another reconciliation with Lexie that following week and they made sure that those scenes stayed on the board until we got back – they could not have been better."

Reynolds' health is improving every day and he says, "They usually say about six months later is when you’re back to full health and so I’m waiting for that moment. I think it takes a little time to realize -I mean I had just a few hours to get used to this, and then they put me out and the next thing I’m waking up with tubes and a big scar down my chest. So I think it takes time to get used to the fact that I actually had major surgery. You kind of want to get your body back to what it was, and that twelve hours or so that I was totally out made it somewhat seem not real. I think that happens sometimes." To show just how fine and frisky he's really feeling, I point out that his Kansas Jayhawks effectively eliminated my dear Kentucky Wildcats in last season's basketball tournament. "They did," he laughs with gusto, "And I wasn't sorry to see it, I hate to say it. But I know you were!"

All kidding aside, however, Reynolds simply wants to embrace life to his fullest ability. He recently was the recipient of an prestigious award for his contributions to the military. "It came as a surprise to me," he admits, "I’m scratching my head a little bit! I was just a little and lonely enlisted man in the Marine Corps at the age of seventeen, so I’m just very pleased about that, and I assumed it (the award) had to do with me being involved in the USO and that sort of thing." As for the character of Abe, the show was taping the funeral of John Black at the time of this interview and Reynolds confesses that the cast was "very shocked." But he continues to be optimistic about Days future. "We have to be hopeful, we’re working very hard. So that’s the only thing I can really say about what we’re doing. There have been some changes that have been pretty positive, in front and behind the camera. You see a slightly different look to the show now, and some other things. We’ve never ceased to work hard. We’re doing everything we can so I’m hopeful that the audience rediscovers us and those ratings start to go up."

Rest assured that Jim Reynolds is taking it easy and taking whatever comes his way in stride.

Visit Jim's official website