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Anyone who has undergone invasive surgery — and what surgery isn't invasive once the skin is cut? — should have learned the same lesson I did.

If you're in good condition physically before you need surgery — if your body isn't encased in fat and your muscles aren't atrophied — chances are that you'll have an easier time of it. (Or at least the guy with the knife, your surgeon, will.)

And recuperation is faster, easier and less painful for those who watch their weight and exercise regularly.

So couch potatoes, beware. Slicing through layers of fat to get to the problem of a diseased body part is much more risky than making a slim, clean slice that gets right to where the doctor wants to go. That in itself should be a good motive for cutting out all those fatty foods that make your joints ache with the weight of them.

Eating is fun. I love French fried potatoes and fried chicken, but a couple of pieces are just as satisfying as eating the whole plateful. The first bite of anything is always the best.

Getting sick is always frightening. But when you're in obvious good health and feeling fit, it's especially difficult to grasp the concept of your body going awry.

"It can't happen to me," is the first thought that comes into your mind when you get the bad news.

When you need to go to the doctor, denial and postponement can kill you.

Bad things can and do happen, no matter how much green tea we drink and tomatoes we eat. Mother Nature is an equal-opportunity giver of the good and bad tricks of life.

When you're in good physical condition, you can recognize when something is wrong with your body very quickly. That's because you're used to feeling good and functioning well. When you're in good shape you avoid many of the aches and pains suffered by those who choose to let themselves go. When your machine works smoothly most of the time, symptoms are more easily recognizable.

Before my surgery, I had a couple of disconcerting experiences.

The nurse or technician at the hospital where I was sent to do my preoperative work did a lousy job of taking my blood and EKG. She was so bad at her job that several veins in my hands collapsed as she tried to take blood. Her ineptitude was even worse when it came to my EKG.

The results of her efforts were terrifying. They told me I had had a heart attack and would not be able to get operated upon.

The person doing the EKG hadn't the faintest idea how to do it. I should have realized right off she didn't know what she was doing. She was very nervous.

However, I did know from past experience, where she placed those little electric transmitters on my body wasn't the way my primary care doctor's nurse did it.

Still, finding out later that day that the results showed I had a heart attack was enough to almost give me one.

Lesson: It's important to have a family doctor to whom you go once a year for your checkup. These exams are the baseline of your health history. If I didn't have such a history, the results of my EKG that the idiot at the hospital took would have been believable.

My primary care doctor had me take another EKG at his office. It showed that all was normal and well.

I had the operation, and it was a success. Three weeks later, I'm feeling fit and loving every minute of waking up feeling better each day.

Recuperation is easier when you start your medical voyage in good physical condition. Being an optimist helps, too.