The Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden recovers from pneumonia and is back taping at the show

The Young and the Restless character Nikki appeared to take an extra day to locate Victor so that the two could fight over Jack Abbott last week. If you were wondering where Victor was that day, it's quite possible that his portrayer, Eric Braeden, was out sick and the show wrote around him. The good news is that Braeden, who had pneumonia, is back at the TV City studios taping scenes once more.

The Young and the Restless, Victor Newman versus pneumonia

Victor Newman is back in action on Y&R | Image: CBS

"Hello, everyone," Braeden, sounding hale and hearty, began a video on his Facebook page. "I haven't talked to you for a while. I had pneumonia for about two weeks, and I'm over it now."

The actor said that, actually, other family members grew ill, too. "I don't know where [we got it], but my son, [Christian,] and my granddaughter did, too."

Braeden praised "modern medicine" for helping with his recovery. "Thanks to antibiotics," he says. "How nice it is to come out of that kind of sickness."

The fan favorite, who celebrated his 46th anniversary with Y&R in February, says that pneumonia is "no walk in the park."

Braeden chuckled, "In fact, you can't walk. That's the point! It hits you like a ton of bricks." Fortunately, Braeden not only made a recovery but it was a speedy one, too. "About two or three days later, it got better and better," he says. "Now, I'm back to working out again, almost normally, not quite."

Lessons learned

Victor (Eric Braeden) is back in action, and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) had better watch out on Y&R | Image: CBS

The actor's "timeout" to recover has made him a bit philosophical. "I've learned over the years that coming back all of a sudden, it's not good!" Braeden offers. "Coming back all of a sudden to the level of intensity [that] you exercised with before is not good. You've got to do it slowly. Introduce it all very slowly.

"One thing age has taught me [is] to be more careful that way," the Daytime Emmy-winner adds. "I didn't use to. I grew up in sports, and as soon as one felt well, you went full-bore. Well, you can't anymore."

However, Braeden is focusing on the positive -- he's got his health back! "What a joy to be well," he enthuses. "What a joy to look at the sky, breathe fresh air, [and] not worry about this or that."

Braeden says that the show's production team works in a way that enables him to get caught up on any episodes he missed while being ill. "The last two or three weeks were a lot of work," he acknowledges. "A lot of double-duty days. But we survived it. I love being back to work, love being back with my colleagues. I twas nice to see Melody [Thomas Scott, Nikki], Joshua [Morrow, Nick], Mark [Grossman, Adam], Amelia [Heinle, Victoria], and everyone, really, Michelle Stafford [Phyllis].