I appreciate the warm welcome I have received from my Fountain Hills friends since I returned to work June 1.

I was gone just over two months after coming down with a nasty case of pneumonia that landed me in Chandler Regional Hospital (just a couple of miles from my house).

I spent just over three weeks at Chandler Regional, including a week or so in intensive care. I came out in a weakened state and needed another two weeks in rehab, which was at HealthSouth in East Mesa/Gilbert.

I really didn’t know how sick I was until doctors were talking to me later, when I was in rehab.

A neurologist visited me there and asked me what I remembered about my hospital stay. My reply, I believe was somewhat odd, but seemingly very correct. I told the doctor that I suspect that much of what I remembered from the hospital didn’t really happen anyway.

As I have talked to family since my hospital stay I am finding that is indeed the case. It seems they were using a very strong antibiotic for treating me.

Perhaps the memory I trust the most is one that many would consider the strangest. While in ICU I was for a time unconscious or in a coma.

I would become aware of a dense fog surrounding me and about once a day or so a doctor or nurse would call my name, tell me I was in the hospital and asked me to look off to one side toward them.

I would see through the fog just the outline of a head and face. Apparently, since I was able to do as I was asked in looking toward the person I was told, I was doing fine.

For those five weeks or so the primary fashion for the people in my world was medical scrubs in shades of blue or green with the occasional white coat.

These are people; doctors, nurses, technicians and therapists who are faced with the difficult task of taking care of people who may be in despair and frustrated because they cannot take care of themselves.

To a person, the medical professionals who helped me were just that – professional; facing their task with dedication, friendliness and good humor.

There were probably close to 100 I came in contact with, a number too difficult to thank everyone personally.

But just like we do for military personnel and veterans we meet along the way, the next time you see someone in the blue, green or gray scrubs tell them thank you for the care they provide.