THE LAST WORD:

When we heard last week that Rep. John Campbell was ill, we naturally worried about him. As we waited for word about what exactly was wrong, Campbell reported that he was going under the knife to have part of his colon removed to cure a disease known as diverticulitis.

Now, we’re used to Campbell’s witty reports from Washington, D.C., a place you can really only survive with a sense of humor, but, wow, what a surprise this was — he was even more amusing than usual.

“In car terms (I am ever the car guy after all), my muffler is bad and I’m going to be straight-piped,” Campbell wrote.

Then he riffed that maybe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was making his stomach hurt.

It’s really unfortunate, especially now with such big issues facing the country, that the congressman will have to sideline himself for about a month to recuperate. But we’re certainly relieved to see he still has his sense of humor — laughter is, we think, some of the best medicine.

Campbell ended his report with this invitation: “You can add your own jokes now.”

We’ll decline. We’d much rather say, “Get well, John, and hurry back to work. We need you.”