You used the heal rod in conjunction with the heal helmets, and you took 3 turns to use it to save on magic. I'm sure.
The Heal Rod casts HEAL. It's one of the poorest spells from the start. It only heals about 20 HP, and hits everybody. Once you hit the Castle of Ordeals, Where the enemies are pounding you for 50 damage or so, the Heal Ros is a turn better spent killing something.

But I lied about it's usefulness. There's nothing cooler than reviving all your gus at the near end of a battle (With a monster that can no longer take down your HPs faster than the staff can raise them), but I usually need the helmets being used as well to speed up the process. I have no patience otherwise.

And it sounds funy that you wouldn't use it in other games. But we all have our own style, I guess.