HUOSTON – Just days after Houston icon Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale left a Houston hospital he and and his children sat down with KPRC Local 2 anchor Dominique Sachse to talk about the top secret surgery that stunned Houston.
He shared how he's doing now, how he broke the news to his family and the future of Gallery Furniture.
"How are you feeling?" asked Sachse.
"Good. I feel good," said McIngvale. He added, "I don't have, I still have a little energy drain, but I'm working on that."
Less than one week after heart surgery, Mattress Mack is back at work. But, the man we've seen for decades jumping up and down on television commercials flashing wads of cash, is now just a bit more reserved.
"I had a couple mini strokes back in May," said McIngvale.
Mack's family knew about the strokes, but only his wife knew he had a hole in his heart and needed surgery. He kept it from everyone else, including his children.
"He decided not to tell any of us. So we knew just as much as the public knew," said Liz, McIngvale's daughter. She added, "He didn't want to worry us, concern us."
"Tell me how you found out about the surgery and your thoughts," Sachse asked McIngvale's son, James.
James recalled the moment for Sachse.
"He called me shortly after it and word for word he said, 'James I just had heart surgery, post it on social media.' I said, 'What?' He said, 'I just had heart surgery. Post it on social media.' I said, 'Hold on, you just had heart surgery?' and he said, 'Yeah, but everything is fine. You know I'm okay.'"
Just like that, the news broke to his children and like wildfire to the rest of Houston.
Mack was flooded with well-wishes.
"How does it feel knowing so many people in this town truly care about you?" Sachse asked McIngvale.
"Well it feels great, you know obviously the feeling is reciprocal," said McIngvale.
Mack leaned on his faith to help him through the surgery.
"If it weren't for the grace of God I probably wouldn't be here and when I was on the operating table the other day it kind of, the seriousness came to life when the surgeon said I'm going to have this knife right around your heart," said McIngvale.
Before his health scare McIngvale already lived a clean lifestyle.
"Tell me some of the things you've done to stay healthy?" Sachse asked.
"I only eat green vegetables and fish and chicken and that type of thing. I only drink water," said McIngvale. He added, "I try to work out a couple hours a day, four or five days a week. But now the doctor says I can't workout for two weeks."
"What are some of the other things the doctors have suggested post surgery?" asked Sachse.
"Just work a little bit less and obviously sleep is very important. I'm big on sleep. I've got a good mattress!" said McIngvale.
As the baton passes what's next for Mattress Mack, Gallery Furniture and his family?
"He still comes into work, he still greets people. He sits at the front desk. Is that something that he just plans to continue to do here on out?" Sachse asked Liz.
"You know, I wish I could pull him away a little bit just to give himself a breather. But, no I think he'll do it until the day he dies," Liz said.
"So you can't stop can you?" Sachse asked McIngvale.
"I love to work. Work is who I am. That's what i like to do. So we're going to keep going, and keep trying to delight our customers and make the business better for everybody," said McIngvale.