A Little Drama on the Iowa Bluffs

I’m back from Iowa, safe and sound, but not without a bit of drama before actually pulling back into my garage on Sunday afternoon. Rest assured that Tom-Tom did his job. Not once did we receive any incorrect directions and we covered a lot of miles between Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoon. During that time Lorna Seilstad and I spoke at two libraries, I did some additional research in the Amana Colonies and Cedar Rapids, and we also did a book signing at the Parables/Lemstone bookstore in Cedar Rapids.

In addition, and I know you’ll be proud to hear this, we managed to taste-test the bakeries in almost every place we stopped. On this trip, I’m going to give my vote to the Czech Bakery in Cedar Rapids. Delicious kolaches—I had rhubarb. You can see in the picture below left, that they come in a variety of flavors. Please notice the forkful of chocolate bread pudding (made from chocolate crescent rolls) that I’m trying at a wonderful bakery in Omaha. I’d say it as a toss-up because that bread pudding was delish! That’s Dawn Ford beside me and Mary Connealy in the orange jacket. Lorna was busy taking the picture. Please don’t overlook all those pastries on our table.

But, back to the drama. I didn’t tell Lorna, but I hadn’t been feeling particularly well, at least not during the last two days of our trip. On Saturday night I spent most of the night reading because of some pain in my chest and back. I didn’t ‘fess-up’ until after we’d finished a delightful meal in a Czech restaurant in Cedar Rapids and were on our way back to Council Bluffs. Little did I know Lorna had decided a visit to the emergency room was in order.

My visit to the Council Bluffs hospital resulted in an overnight stay in the ICU. My EKG looked sketchy and nitro was ordered. After the second nitro, my blood pressure dropped and because they couldn’t get it to come up, they decided an overnight stay at their lovely facility would be much nicer than the local Fairfield Inn. I’m thinkin’ the cost was a little pricier than the Fairfield, as well. However, I received excellent care, had more tests than I wanted, and answered questions about research and writing while the cardiac doctor put me through a stress test on Sunday morning. The doctor declared my heart in excellent condition and released me to come home. I’ve already been to my doctor and we should soon have an answer. I’m thinkin’ it’s probably got something to do with all those rich pastries, so don’t tell!

Next week I’ll tell you a little about the rest of the trip.

May you find joy as you become excited about the Word of the Lord. ~Judy

P.S. I forgot to add something. My HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS to CAROL COX on her new three-book contract with Bethany House. Glad to have you on board with BHP, Carol!!