DIAMOND IN A SEA OF CORN

1 hour ago
4 min read

For many of you around the Midwest, the name Terry Swails, is synonymous with weather. There's an association that goes back 48 years to the time I gave my first television broadcastcast for KWWL TV in 1978. My television days are behind me now, but not my passion for the science of weather that has brought 5 decades of me leading the charge against tornadoes, blizzards, and floods. I was they guy in the box for some of the most historic weather events ever in eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.

A week ago, I was preparing a forecast that became a near impossible task due to a vicious headache, neck pain, and waves of hot and cold flashes. My hands shook so bad that I was unable to type, let alone hold a thought. My body was throbbing with assorted aches and pains. After two trips to my doctor and one to the emergency room, my aches and pains had reached a new level of discomfort, one where I could barely lift my head to get out of bed. Monday morning, Carolyn agreed to take me to the emergency room for the second time in 5 days around six in the morning.

Once there my vitals were taken and my temperature blinked back at 105 degrees, (the point where human organs begin to shut down). Things began to got intense in the ER room with an all out effort established to get the fever down. At the same time the doctors in Dubuque were in contact with infectious disease and neurology doctors at the University of Iowa. The situation combined with some bleeding in my brain had me set for a trip to the Iowa City. Unfortunately, no rooms were available and the journey to Iowa City would wait until Tuesday afternoon. Another miserable night in a hospital bed for me.

Early Tuesday afternoon the ambulance EMT's loaded me up and off we rode to the the medical mecca known as the University of Iowa Health Care system. It's the number one hospital in Iowa, big nationally, and the only place with the specialists to treat my symptoms.

If you've been to the facility, it's a massive place with people of all cultures scurrying around in scrubs, many of them drinking coffee or ingesting power bars. I was pushed down the halls on my chrome accented gurney until I came to a stop at room, # 6055. Mine.

MAYA AND GEMMA. YOUNG MEMBERS OF MY SUPPORT TEAM WHO ARE EXCEPTIONAL AT THEIR JOB. THEY KEEP THINGS LOOSE BUT ON TRACK. PLUS, THEY ARE BOTH IOWA GIRLS. WHO NEEDS FLOWERS WHEN YOU HAVE THEM AROUND!

When I was pushed through the power doors, it wasn't long before the room was filled with people surrounding my bed. These were the big boys and girls, the gunslingers, the primary team assigned to solve my case. And this is where my story really begins, at the diamond in a sea of corn. The hospital next to the football stadium. Here I was in the midst of the best managers, doctors, and consultants in numerous medical fields. I remember thinking, this is like a dream. I was so dang sick, yet listening to their plans for me, brought the hope that had been fading for days. The faces in front of me belonged to warriors and they came to fight for me.

What I can tell you at this point is that I have an infection in my blood. Nobody knows how it got here but some of the team believe it goes back to another serious infection I had in 2016. Thoughts are that it remained in my body for 10 years, hiding in dark corners, waiting for a trigger. However it happened, the same blood infection has surged back to life and is freely riding my blood stream through my body. A blood infection is highly dangerous, especially when it approaches the heart. In a test yesterday, where one of the teams ran a camera attached to a catheter, (from my arm, to my neck, and finally into my brain), it was determined a serious problem existed. Bits of debris or "vegetation" as it's called, had slipped through the aortic valve, which allowed it to travel to my brain, where it created bleeding and a major stroke threat.

So now, my team knew an active virus/ bacteria was in my body and in a very problematic spot. The goal now was to eradicate it through medication. That means, I am on a high regime of antibiotics that are delivered through IV's. In a further attempt to isolate the bacteria, I am scheduled for a PET scan Monday. That means no sugar for me until the tracer is injected, that should reveal any chemical activity in organs and tissues. The team wants to find tthe hot spots and permanently slay them. So this test is another hurdle for me Monday.

Due to the numerous tests administered and serious nature of bacteria near the heart. I can't predict the regularity of my posts until this is defeated. I will try on the good days, and if nothing else, I plan to have daily updates on my condition so that those of you interested know the latest. I also plan to have interviews with my team members so that you understand what a true diamond this facility is and what its its doctors and staff mean to our region. It's really been an impressive eye opening experience for me.

I'm on a journey that nobody wants to take, but this is my path and I have great faith in my team. I want you to get to know these special people and the incredible work they do in some coming features. As Dr. Mwad Awan, a 3rd year resident physician who grew up near Des Moines told me today, "someone who gets sick and ends up here at Iowa should know, we are the ones whose mission it is to figure it out and get them well".

DR. MWAD AWAN AND HIS PATIENT, WHO LOOKS LIKE HE COULD BE WEATHERMAN

That's all for now but rest assured this story is far from over. I just need to pace myself. Thanks for your understanding and support. Roll weather...TS

By the way, severe weather is possible Monday and especially Tuesday afternoon and evening. SPC shows this for Monday's outlook.