GREEN BAY -- My editors tell me they've been getting some questions about my whereabouts. They've gotten a few calls and emails wondering why I've missed the first week of Green Bay Packers training camp. I believe there was one fellow hoping I'd been fired.

Sorry, no such luck, sir.

I was in the State Journal's office inside Lambeau Field on July 28 -- working on my position-by-position preview series and the story about Brett Favre's decision to jilt the Minnesota Vikings and remain retired -- when I started experiencing a sharp pain in my stomach.

Emergency abdominal surgery and a five-day stay in the hospital later, here we are. I basically went from running 10K on the day before my surgery to struggling to make it around the Bellin Health Floor 1South nurses' station the day after it. The surgery was a success -- I was hoping they might throw in bonus liposuction, but to no avail -- but since it was the first procedure of my life, bouncing back has proven harder than I realized it would be.

I've been home for a few days now, and I managed to write on Wednesday about the Packers' interest being genuinely piqued in Michael Vick, but I'm moving around gingerly and in more than a little bit of pain.

I'm not a sit-around-and-do-nothing type of guy, so watching Oceans Thirteen for the 13th time while sprawled out on the couch isn't my idea of a productive day. On the bright side, I did discover the Travel Channel's "Man V. Food," which I find quite entertaining. (And yes, there's something wrong about a guy coming off abdominal surgery watching a show about a guy who tavels the country taking on eating challenges.)

Thankfully, I have an incredible wife, Paula, who makes a terrific nurse -- for a banker. She has been a saint ... although my friends would argue she was a saint for marrying me in the first place,

My hope is to be back on a part-time basis starting next week after my follow-up appointment with my doctor on Wednesday. While I'm not going to be able to endure 2 1/2 hours on the Ray Nitschke Field sideline watching practice, I'm hoping to catch bits and pieces, resume doing interviews and get back to writing in time for the Aug. 15 preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns.

We went into training camp with some new ideas for the Packers blog -- including some video blogs, or "vlogs," from my office at Lambeau -- and we still are looking forward to putting those into motion. Just on a different timeline.

Right now, my goal is to report to camp before B.J. Raji does.

In the meantime, thanks to those of you who noticed I was AWOL, and thanks for bearing with us as I work my way back.