Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is recovering from a very recent health scare that landed him in the hospital. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Sajak had to undergo emergency surgery back in November to repair a blocked intestine, which forced him to take time off hosting the show he has appeared on for three decades. Vanna White stepped in to fulfill the hosting duties, and the pre-taped episodes are currently airing on NBC . Sajak is now opening up about that scary experience, admitting he thought he was going to die.
Sajak talked about his frightening health crisis recently with ABC News , via YouTube , giving all the details he felt while in the hospital.
“Suddenly, I wasn’t thinking about the pain. I just had these beautiful pastels and lovely faces coming out of it. In the background, I could hear my wife and daughter talking. It sounded like they were a mile off, but they were right next to me…And I remember thinking, not in a morbid way, ‘I think this must be death. This must be what death is like.’ Hearing their voices, I thought, ‘Boy, their lives are gonna change now.’ And I felt badly for them. I didn’t feel badly about dying. I felt badly that they were gonna have to deal with the aftermath. As it turned out, I was just high.”
It appears that while Sajak was in recovery, he was a little delirious about what was going on and whether he had crossed over or not. Thankfully, his confusion was due to his medication, and he’s been doing just fine since leaving the hospital. The 73-year-old noted he’s back in the studio filming new shows and is even spinning the wheel with no problems. Sajak joked “nothing has popped” so far when he spins the wheel. Once a show, the host will give the wheel a final spin to determine how much money the letters are worth in the final group puzzle of the game. He also said he’s been feeling “ridiculously good” in the weeks since his surgery.
The NBC star also complimented his Wheel of Fortune co-star for doing such a great job hosting while he was away. White was met with some criticism online for appearing awkward while hosting the show, but Sajak called her a “trouper” while noting she didn’t have to step in at all. The host called his friend a “team player” and said she could have refused the offer to step in as host, since that’s not what she’s there to do. Stepping in for White during these filmings was Mickey Mouse, who only stood on the side of puzzles and didn’t tap letters the way White traditionally does.