Bret Michael: Returns with full energy even in injury

Despite suffering several medical maladies over the past two months, the "Celebrity Apprentice" champion Bret Michaelis moving forward with his tour, album and a VH1 reality series that promises to show the rocker in a new light.

"I think this is good for my soul," Michaels said " in a phone interview Thursday from his latest concert stop in Minneapolis. "Honestly, I'm taking every precaution. I'm not doing anything stupid. I'm going on stage and telling the fans that I'm going to give 100 percent of everything I've got, but if it's only 75 or 80 percent, I think they will understand."

Despite suffering medical problems over the past two months, "Celebrity Apprentice" champion Bret Michaels is moving forward with his tour, album and a new VH1 reality series

Michael underwent an emergency appendectomy in April and was expected to make a full recovery. Days later, he was rushed to the hospital after complaining of headache and was found to have had a brain hemorrhage. While recovering from the hemorrhage in May, he suffered a warning stroke and was diagnosed with a hole in the heart.

"I don't want my legacy to be that I had a brain hemorrhage," said bret. "I want it to be that I rocked, I treated people with respect and I made a lot of good friends along the way. I think that came back to me when I got sick. I truly believe if you're a good person, and you spread love, then that love will come back to you."

After winning the third season of Donald Trump's NBC reality competition "The Celebrity Apprentice" in May, Michaels surprised "American Idol" viewers when he joined finalist Casey James on "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" on the Fox singing contest's ninth season finale. A week later, he resumed his "Custom Built" tour in Biloxi.

Michaels said his doctors weren't crazy that he returned to the scene so early, but he's following their directions on the road to recovery, including taking it easy on and off stage, exercising to increase mobility, laying off the liquor and taking blood thinners to prepare for a fall surgery to repair the hole in his heart.

"At the moment, I can't throw-down like I would like to," said Michaels.

Production on Michaels' new VH1 documenty-reality show, "Life As I Know It," was halted when he was hospitalized. Unlike his tawdry VH1 dating series "Rock of Love," this one will focus on Michaels' relationship with his daughters, Raine and Jorja, and their mother, Kristi Lynn Gibson, Michaels' on-again-off-again girlfriend.

The pilot episode featuring candid footage of Bret Michaels before his health scares aired Monday, and new installments in production now are scheduled for the fall. VH1 executive vice president Jeff Olde promised "Life As I Know It" wouldn't turn into a medical show, but viewers should expect to see a different side of brets.

"I've never heard him sound better and happier," said Olde. "I think he's genuinely happy to be alive and happy for all the things he has in his life, but he's really always been that way. Bret is not a different person now than before his health issues. I think maybe his priorities have shifted, but they were already shifting."

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Bret Michael's Sister Says:he is fine

Recovery from the kind of brain injury suffered by Poison singer Bret Michaels requires patience and very careful monitoring. And according to his sister, the rocker is making slow but steady progress.

"He's doing good," said sibling Michelle Sychak in an interview with the Omaha, Nebraska-based "Todd N Tyler Radio Empire" morning-radio show on Wednesday.

Michelle said her brother's speech was good, considering the seriousness of the brain hemorrhage he suffered last Thursday. "Things are definitely looking up. ... He sounded good — as good as you can when your brain's throbbing," she said. "He seems very coherent to me and like he knew what he was saying. ... [He] does sound like Bret. Truth be told, I think he'll outlive us all." She spoke to him recently and said, though he's stable, her brother is still in the intensive care unit.
Earlier reports indicated that Michaels was suffering from slow or slurred speech as a result of the buildup of blood at the base of his brain. He continues to be hospitalized at an unnamed clinic in the intensive care unit.
"He's doing good," she said. "He's not by any means out of the woods, but he is getting better every day." She said the fact that Michaels lived through the initial rupture was "a miracle in itself. I've never known anyone that dodged so many bullets in their life, both figuratively and literally."
Despite speculation that a staging mishap that resulted in Michaels being hit by a curtain at the 2009 Tony Awards might have caused the injury, she said doctors may never know what caused the rupture.
The news came a day after Michaels' road manager, Janna Elias, posted a note on the rocker's website indicating that, "Provided there are no further complications or setbacks," Michaels, 47, could be back out on the road in time for a May 26 date in Fort Smith, Arkansas. "I think good news is around the corner," she said.
"Even though yesterday was a minor setback, doctors remain hopeful for a full recovery and plan to release more specific information next Monday," Elias wrote, referring to a not uncommon side effect of the brain hemorrhage called hyponatremia, a lack of sodium in the body that can lead to seizures. Doctors told Michaels he "is very lucky, as his condition could have been fatal," she wrote.
"With further testing and rehabilitation, they are hopeful that Bret will gradually improve as the blood surrounding the brain dissolves and is reabsorbed into his system, which can be a very painful recovery and take several weeks to months," she said.