Braves fans already have plenty to adjust to this season with the changes in television coverage. They'll also have to get used to a lot less of Skip Caray on the radio.

The play-by-play voice of the Braves for the last 32 years will only be broadcasting only home radio games for the Braves for the foreseeable future because of health concerns.

"Hopefully as the year goes on, I may do some traveling but it's too early to tell," Caray said prior to Monday's home-opener against the Pirates, as he was filling out his lineup card in the Braves radio booth.

Caray, whose TV duties were reduced in recent years, did not travel to Washington DC for the season-opener on Sunday night.

"I've got diabetes, I've got congestive heart failure, I've got an irregular heartbeat — which is called arrhythmia — and I've got, at times, reduced kidney and liver function," said Caray, whose doctors need to keep a close eye on him to monitor his medicines.

Caray, 68, missed several weeks of games last September because of a health scare, and then had an even bigger scare after the season.

"I almost died in October," Caray said. "I was in intensive care for three weeks. I don't remember any of it. I woke up one day and all my kids were there and my wife, and my cardiologist. I woke up and said 'Where the hell am I and what are y'all doing here?' I had no idea."

Needless to say, he feels fortunate to be doing any games at all this season.

"My wife told me she went in there one day and they were wheeling me off to the side in ICU and she said, 'Great, is he getting a room?'" Caray said. "And they said, 'No, ma'am, we've done all we can do for him. Make sure that his next of kin is close.' So it was that close.

"And I do remember somewhere in there — I don't know when — but I woke up one time and I remember thinking, without any fear, 'So this is what dying is like. This isn't so bad.' And the next thing I remember, the doctor and my family are looking at me. I just woke up."

Caray said a combination of problems put him back in the hospital.

"One of the doctors put me on a medication to help my kidneys and it threw something else out of whack, and my liver failed," Caray said. "I don't understand it all. I hate to talk about it because I'm afraid I'll give bad information."

Caray said calling baseball games again gave him something to shoot for all winter.

"I love the game," Caray said. "The games are great. And I love the people, seeing [my friends]. And the laughs we have with my partners. I'm not going to miss the traveling much. I would do it if I were physically able because it's part of the job."

His biggest problem lately, Caray said, is a lack of sleep. He's only been sleeping a couple hours a night, he said. Despite his fatigue, that familiar sense of humor still comes through.

"They're trying to put me back on sleeping medication which I've been off of since October," Caray said. "I haven't slept since October either."

Caray said during the actual game, he's fine.

"When I'm working, I'm fine," he said. "When Pete [Van Wieren] is working, or whoever I'm working with, you have to just not think about it. You know intellectually that you're exhausted, but so what? Concentrate on the game. I know this: I'm not going to embarrass myself. If I can't do this, I think I'll be the first to know it. I've had a hell of a run, so I've got nothing to complain about. If I die tonight, I've had a great life."

But Braves fans are counting on having him around for a while. That would be great by him.

"I've got six grandchildren I want to get to know better," he said.

For the time being, Chip Caray and Joe Simpson will fill in on the radio, but they have their own TV obligations with Turner and Fox, respectively. Caray said both the Braves and Turner have been very supportive of him.

"I haven't always agreed with my friends at Turner, but they've been very nice about all this," he said.