SARATOGA SPRINGS - On Aug. 23, Dennis King left his cardiologist's office with one thing on his mind – a $4 deal on two sausage Egg McMuffins at McDonald's.

And that's all that he remembers. That's where McDonald's staff picks up the story.

"All I heard was someone was down in the drive-thru," said Karen Robison the shift manager at the city's South Broadway McDonald's. "I thought someone was hit by a car."

The fast food restaurant's Manager Paige Eaton and Robison sprinted outside to the pay window and found King slumped in his seat suffering sudden cardiac arrest. With his car still in drive, but his foot on the brake, Eaton threw the car in park.

Robison felt for a pulse on his wrist and neck. There was none.

"His lips were blue and he wasn't breathing," Eaton said.

While Eaton was screaming to the workers inside to call 911, Robison struggled to put down his seat.

"I pushed every button and nothing was happening," Robison said.

She started administering CPR on him as he was sitting upright. Inside, with 911 on the line, the dispatcher kept asking if he was breathing.

"I got sick of answering 'no, he's not breathing,'" Eaton said. "We were so scared."

And Robison was getting tired.

"Paige told me to keep on going," Robison said. "We couldn't switch. That would have taken too long."

That's when city police officer Lloyd Davis, Jr., who was nearby on West Circular, arrived. With his help, they pulled King out of the passenger side, positioning him on the concrete with his head propped up by a car cover. From there, Davis took over.

"He did gasp for a breath," Davis said. "That was a good sign, but he was still critical. We didn't know which way it would go."

When the fire department arrived minutes later, they got him breathing with a CPR machine. Yet King was still unconscious.

"I died," King said who returned on Thursday to McDonald's with rose-accented bouquets for both women. "The paperwork from the doctor says I died in the field. If it wasn't for them, even if I was resuscitated, I'd be stupid. They saved me."

CPR, the American Heart Association's website notes, keeps the blood flow active so that a patient suffering cardiac arrest can be resuscitated successfully by trained medical staff. When he regained consciousness, he felt like he was beaten up.

"I was sore for weeks," he said.

The 74-year-old has had heart issues, including afib and tachycardia, for 40 years. After spending a week at Saratoga Hospital, he was sent to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City where he underwent open-heart surgery. He remained there until Oct. 7.

"The doctor says I'm good until 80," said King who is a former realtor and carpenter who is back home in Saratoga Springs. "I feel like this is giving me a second chance in life. I wonder why me."

King said recovery has been slow and at times painful, but dying was easy. He said it was like falling asleep. He didn't see a light, deceased loved ones or his life flash before him.

"It was black," he said.

King tells it in a matter-of-fact way, in contrast to both women, who recall the incident in an animated fashion as if it were happening all over again. They say they are relieved and elated to know that he survived.

"Last time, I saw him he was being put in an ambulance," Eaton said.

After the ambulance head for the hospital and the crews managed to clear out the backup of cars in the drive-thru, the two women broke into tears. Then they tried to find out what happened to King.

"I called the hospital, but they wouldn't tell us anything," Easton said. "I'm so happy to see you. You look so much better. You look good."

The kindness warms King who has suffered from a broken heart most of his life. His father's career in Air Force as a Russian interpreter stationed him in locales where a family could not follow. He believes his father chose to keep his family at bay because his mother suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness. She was combative; and when she and his father were together, they wouldn't speak to each other for months on end.

As an adult, he got married to avoid the Vietnam War draft. When his marriage failed, he married second time. That didn't last either.

"I just walked away," King said. "I don't know why. I was a disaster from a romantic standpoint."

King, who never had children, admits he's disappointed with his life and believes he now has a chance to make things right.

"I became a hermit," he said. "I was comfortable with that. With the time I have left, maybe I'll get some therapy and discern what happened in my life. I wonder if there are things I can improve. I'm not sure how to approach it. How do you change the way you have been? It's hard, but it's great to have the opportunity to rethink and maybe straighten out my relationships."

He does cherish is relationship with Robison and Eaton, whom he calls his angels. He also plans to reconnect with Officer Davis.

"I'm thankful for them," he said.

He will see them because he hasn't changed his taste for McDonald's. But he is trying to improve his diet. Instead of a sausage Egg McMuffin, his last breakfast sandwich was an egg-only McMuffin with no sausage or cheese.

"I've been told they do serve salads," King said, glancing over at the women with a smile.

He also discovered he's still owed his two sausage Egg McMuffins that were paid for in the second before he collapsed. Eaton promised she'll make sure he gets his McMuffins. Robison said he can have whatever he wants and she would pay for it.

"I love this man," she said. "We are bonded for life."