The royal treatment

One week after triple-bypass heart surgery, Brother David Migliorino was back in his own home Sunday, in better health and high spirits.

"I feel very much in the hands of God, there's no other way of saying it," said Brother David, principal of Notre Dame Regional High School.

One of the arteries operated on was 80 percent blocked, while the other two were blocked significantly enough to contribute to the chest pain that initially prompted him to visit the hospital Jan. 23, which immediately led to surgery. He had not suffered a heart attack.

"The good news is that there was no heart damage," he said. Some future risks now include stroke, high blood pressure and heart disease, so eating right will be one way to reduce those risks.

"In six weeks, I'll be back to more quasi-normal -- even more crazy," Brother David said about how he anticipates reconnecting with the 480 students who attend Notre Dame. He hinted that he might have a couple of pranks up his sleeves.

In the meantime, the focus will be exercises that include walking, breathing with a ventilator and rotating his shoulders above his head. Each exercise needs to be repeated a combined 20 times daily, so little time will be left to help other people, and sometimes even himself.

"I like to do more than receive," Brother David said. "I'm learning to receive from people, and it actually is a pretty good feeling."

Teachers and students have been treating him like a king, coordinating various brigades that deliver food, sort mail, help clean and send encouraging messages. It gave him "comfort and a great piece of mind" to learn that the Notre Dame faculty and teachers have been running things smoothly without him, he said.

"It means that I'm not the school, that the school is alive, well and kicking," Brother David said.

The most unexpected response was from the community, which has overwhelmed him with cards, phone calls, visits and gifts, he said.

"I feel so humble," Brother David said. "I had no concept of how much I'm liked."

Yet one gift did make him feel kingly: an overstuffed recliner from Patrick's Furniture that extends to the length of a queen-sized bed, which he calls his second throne -- his first throne being the recliner he already had. Personal hospital visits from Bishop John Leibrecht and Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson were especially humbling, he said.

jmetelski@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 127