Having survived cancer, and struggled through most of the side effects of treatment, I had only two remaining complaints: shortness of breath with some chest pain, and dizziness. I told Ginnie, and whoever else would suffer my whining, I’d be a happy camper if this shortness of breath and dizziness would subside.

The shortness of breath was so bad I wound up in the emergency room several times, culminating in being hospitalized for bilateral pulmonary embolisms, ie, blood clots in both lungs. I was put on a blood thinner and sent home.

Hallelujah! I thought. The blood clots in my lungs are obviously the cause of the shortness of breath.

It wasn’t. I was still short of breath. I had all kinds of tests: stress (treadmill), CT Scan of my heart, ultrasound of my heart, cardiograms, you name it. I tried inhalers and a nebulizer. Nothing worked. I’ve always had low blood pressure. The doctors were sorta stumped.

On my next-to-the last trip to the ER in West Burlington, I ran into a brilliant ER doc. He was one of these Traveling Docs who are widely used nowadays to alleviate the shortage of medical staff. He talked to my Primary Care Physician, looked at the results of my CT heart scan, the stress test and cardiograms, and said, “I think I see a slight narrowing in the main artery going to the heart. It’s probably insignificant, but it’s worth doing a heart catheterization to see if there’s a problem.”

Bingo! A 70% blockage of the “Widder Maker” Artery was discovered. Two stents and a balloon were put in. Why the blockage wasn’t discovered by the stress test and CT Scan of my heart is a mystery to me. BTW: A heart catheterization is no walk in the park. They went in through my wrist, it took about 2.5 hours, and I was conscious the whole time. But my shortness of breath should be cured.

It wasn’t.

Hardly able to walk across the room without huffing and puffing, it was back to the ER. It was decided to do a second Heart Catheterization to see if anything was missed.

A-ha! Another tiny blockage was found and repaired. BTW: the cardiologist who performed the heart cath was also a Traveling Doc. He was brilliant.

A little hallway walk at 1 in the morning with a nurse sealed the deal. No huffing and puffing. No chest pain. Yipee! Ginnie (the would be “Widder” ) and I celebrated by going to Chick-fil-A. Aaargh! (Not to worry, Ginnie has ordered two heart-healthy cookbooks.)

Now to work on the dizziness, or light headiness. A neurologist told me the dizziness is caused from neuropathy. Because of the numbness in my legs, my brain isn’t sensing where my legs are. He also told me there is no cure for neuropathy, and that it’s only going to get worse.

I can hardly buy that.

Maybe I needed grounded. I surprised Ginnie with a set of Grounding Sheets for Christmas. Grounding Sheets are sheets laced with silver thread. The silver thread is connected to a cord that plugs into the ground socket of an electrical outlet. (Ground is ground the world round.) The theory is that the Grounding Sheets simulate sleeping on the ground. They ground out static electricity in your body, curing aches and pains. This may all be a hoax, I don’t care. I’ve spent more money on sappier gimmicks. If it cures my dizziness, and Ginnie’s painful shoulder, PTL! Stay tuned.

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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.