When it rains it pours. Ginnie and I went through the ringer with her hysterectomy, and me being sent to the emergency room with Influenza A while trying to care for her.

But it wasn’t over. It got worse. After a few days and I wasn’t getting better, I called my oncologist in Iowa City and told him about my bloody “trots,” the colitis, nausea, sore throat, dizziness, chest pounding and that I could hardly breathe. He told me to get to the ER in Mt. Pleasant. I didn’t want to go because I’d just been there. (“Oh, you again?”) But I went anyway because I knew the oncologist would ask me if I went.

I’m glad I went. The ER did a CT scan and informed me that I had a small pulmonary embolism (blood clot in my lung). Boom, I was admitted to the hospital.

It’s sort of a blur. There were all kinds of tests, blood work, medications, nebulizers (breathing treatments) and being woke up every half hour. But I knew I was where I was supposed to be and was being taken good care of.

I’m really impressed with our Mt. Pleasant hospital (HCHC), which is part of the Great River Medical System. The emergency room as well as the hospital communicated directly with my cancer team and oncologist in Iowa City. They figured things out. Normally for a blood clot in the lung they use a blood thinner. But with my bloody “trots” they didn’t want to risk more bleeding. So it was a conundrum. But they did come up with an applicable solution that everyone, including me, was happy with. They determined that my breathing problem, nausea, colitis, etc. was caused from side effects of the cancer treatment, not the small blood clot, which my body may dissolve on its own. They sent me home with a nebulizer and my breathing problem and chest pounding has lessened. I go back to my oncologist in a week.

I’m in good hands.

The real miracle of healing, however, came from chicken noodle soup. Yes! Ginnie made me homemade chicken and noodles, and did it the Iowa way–over mashed potatoes. Oh boy, takes me back to the days of baling hay and farm lunches. That was chicken-and-noodles x 1.

The next day, Sunday (I spent two nights in the hospital), both Ginnie and I were too wiped out to go to church, which disappointed me. There was a knock at our door. One of my creative writing students was there with her chicken noodle soup and homemade bread. How nice! It was lunch time, and Ginnie and I sat right down for chicken noodle soup and bread and dove in. Oh, man, it doesn’t get any better than that!

So, I am feeling better and I’m crediting my recovery to homemade chicken-and-noodle soup x 2. Sometimes it’s the old fashioned way that still trumps modern medicine and high-tech equipment.

I want to give a big shout-out to HCHC. We were treated in a friendly, professional manner by everyone, without exception, from the emergency room door, all the way through to when they wheeled me out of the hospital. The doctors, nurses and aides, even the food were outstanding. We are fortunate to have such high quality medical care here in Mt. Pleasant.

I celebrated by installing a medicine cabinet in my bathroom. Ginnie and I have our own bathrooms, and mine didn’t have a medicine cabinet. Why? I dunno. This necessitated the myriad of pill bottles and pill boxes (I have three) to be on display on the bathroom vanity. I was embarrassed to let someone use my bathroom. That problem is fixed now, so no one knows how many pills I take. Ha! Chicken and noodles works good over bread, too.

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Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm

in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him

at curtswarm@yahoo.com. Curt is available for

public speaking.