Viewers of NBC KNTV (San Francisco) have been wondering where Tech Reporter Scott Budman has been.

The longtime Reporter missed the Apple event and has been off the air after suffering a heart attack.

“We had come back from a family hike in Point Reyes (way out of cellphone range) on Sunday (before Labor Day), followed by a two-hour drive home,” he wrote. “It felt like nothing I’d ever felt, and I am extremely lucky that it happened when it did, at our home, near the hospital.”

He ended up having open heart surgery following the attack. The prognosis is good, Budman said, but the recovery is expected to take a long time. Budman has been with the station since 1995 after beginning his career in Orange County. According to his station bio, he grew up in Oakland.

“Breathing is strained,” he wrote. “I walk like a robot, and because of a lack of sleep, my mind plays tricks on me. But each day is a little better”

There is no timetable for Budman’s return to the station. He called his cohorts at NBC Bay Area his “family members” and said his recent return home is “a good launching point for recovery.”

H/T The Mercury News