Ty Pennington Shares Health Update 8 Months After Emergency Throat Surgery: ‘I Couldn’t Breathe’

After a health scare last summer, Ty Pennington shared he is now doing “great.”

Pennington was hospitalized and underwent surgery in July due to an abscess in the back of his throat. He shared the details of the scare leading up to the surgery.

“I had this abscess in my throat and I woke up and I couldn’t breathe,” Pennington told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “I drove down the mountain to the hospital, and I’m just like, ‘Hey, can you give me a steroid to help shrink the swelling?’ And [the doctor] goes, ‘What if it’s more than that? What if you close up and can’t breathe?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ He’s like, ‘I think we need to fly you to Denver.’ And I wake up and I have a tube in my throat.”

During a new ET interview, the 59-year-old HGTV host joked that his near-death experience was actually enjoyable.

“You know what’s great is if you almost die, you get so much attention,” he said. “It feels so nice to be that loved. I’m planning another one… No, I’m kidding!”

Pennington has made a full recovery and will be hosting this season of Rock the Block, which premiered on March 5 on HGTV.

“It made me realize you just don’t know when your timecard’s gonna get pulled, so wake up, live every single day to the fullest,” he said. “I mean that’s why the 60s is gonna be like time to start doing everything, and that’s what I love about being part of these projects, because I think we all want to make sure we’ve done things to be remembered.”

Pennington was the long-time host of the popular series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.