Three Beautiful Things 01-16-2025: Patrick Arrives, Joy Project, I Submit

1. Patrick will spend the weekend with us, through late Monday afternoon. He and Debbie have projects in mind, including setting up a keyboard and software to enhance Debbie's music composition.  

Patrick worked today, so his flight from Portland arrived soon after 8:30 in Spokane and, thankfully, my drive to Spokane and our trip back to Kellogg was easy, with especially great visibility on the return trip as nighttime clouds parted and the moon shone on I-90. 

2. I started an easy ten day project on Facebook today. It's a challenge that's been going around Facebook for a while to post a picture a day for ten days of something that brings participants joy, with no explanation. I'll break the no explanation rule here on my blog. My first picture brings back the joy I experienced in June of 2012 when Mary McGrail and walked the Brooklyn Bridge as the sun was setting. 

The picture is below. 

3. I am happy and grateful to report that I submitted scrupulously to the post-extraction care directions the dentist gave me and, so far, the healing and cleansing of the crater are going very well. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-15-2025: Good Recovery Day, Professional Help, GarrenTeed BBQ Hits the Spot

1. Recovery day. The discomfort above my mouth and below my eye settled down. I rested. Napped. Enjoyed Copper's company.  Rinsed my mouth with salt water every time I ate or drank anything (besides water). 

I had a good day. 

I think I'm on the right track as I give the crater in my mouth the care and attention it requires. 

2. Kristin from Complete Dental Care called me to make sure everything is all right. I told her I was doing very well.  I had a question about the numbering of my upper right molars and her clear answer made perfect sense and gave me a fuller and better understanding of Tuesday's extraction. 

I also had a very helpful exchange via the patient portal, with my transplant nurse coordinator, Jenn. I had questions about antibiotics and infection prevention, not only related to Tuesday's extraction but also to next Thursday's dental cleaning appointment and I'm confident everything is in good order. 

3. Debbie texted me, wondering if I'd like her to bring us home some dinner. 

My response? 

PLEASE! 

After work, she dropped in at GarrenTeed BBQ and I was blown away by how delicious the brisket, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans were that she ordered for me. 

My post-extraction morale is in great shape thanks to rest, napping, salt water, Tylenol, antibiotics, probiotic yogurt, probiotic kefir, Kristin, Jenn, Debbie, Copper, and GarrenTeed BBQ! 

Three Beautiful Things 01-14-2025: Successful Extraction, Successful Bone Graft, Successful Recovery -- After Several Hours!

 1. It turned out that the root of the molar the dentist extracted today was fractured and brittle and was not supporting that tooth well any more at all.  

Like me, it had aged. 

The root's brittleness made it difficult to remove. The lower part of the tooth, as expected, required the dentist to apply pressure and he tugged and pulled and removed it and then he patiently went to work on the root with different tools, including his drill, and succeeded in completing the extraction.

I cannot overstate how grateful I am for whatever numbing agent the dentist uses in 2025. 

The upper right side of my mouth was comfortably numb the whole time, making it possible for me to endure all the effort it took to extract this tooth with very little discomfort. 

2. The dentist put bone particles in the socket to help my body grow new bone in the empty space and he placed a thin barrier, called a membrane, over the bone graft material. It acts as a protective shield.  Then he sewed up the area to hold the membrane and bone graft material in place. 

The dentist did not give his work a chef's kiss, but he was happy with how things went.

He gave me simple instructions: to ward off possible infection, begin a five day, ten dose course of antibiotics this evening and assured me he had used surface antibiotics during the procedure -- I had also taken a large dose of antibiotics at home before going to the office. 

I am to chew food on the left side of my mouth only. 

I am to follow up all eating and drinking with a salt water rinse. 

I return in two weeks to have the stitches removed.

I return in eight weeks to have the membrane removed. 

Then, at some point later, I'll have a bridge or implant put in. 

3. When the comfortable numbness wore off, I could tell the region of my face above my mouth and below my eye socket felt offended by all the pushing, pulling, yanking, and pressure the procedure subjected it to.

I wasn't miserable or in anything like agony, but I was uncomfortable enough that I found it difficult to sleep steadily until about 3 a.m.

My patience combined with some Regular Strength Tylenol paid off eventually and I slept comfortably for about four hours and, on Wednesday, I plan to rest, maybe grab some more sleep, and enjoy having my mouth and face return to feeling close to normal again, even with a gaping crater in the back of my mouth! 

Three Beautiful Things 01-13-2025: Fractured Root, Transplant Team Approves, No Recipe Shrimp Curry Vegetable Soup

1. From the outset when I enrolled in the Sacred Heart transplant program, I've experienced it to be a cautious program, comprehensive in checking out and monitoring many aspects of my health in preparation for the kidney transplant (May 11, 2024) and doing the same post-transplant.

I am grateful for this program's cautious and comprehensive approach. 

One aspect of my health they paid close attention to, from the get go, has been my dental health. 

I remember back in 2018 when Sheri, my transplant coordinating nurse at that time, told me that one of the primary reasons they couldn't list quite a few patients for transplant was because of poor dental health. 

So, today, when I found out the tooth that's been bothering me a bit has a fractured root -- a root canal I had years ago is breaking down -- and that the tooth can't be saved and needs to come out, I immediately contacted Nurse Jenn to make sure the transplant team was good with me having this procedure and the follow up work performed. 

2. This evening, Jenn's answer arrived. 

The team is good with me moving forward with the dental work. 

My primary task will be to monitor any post-procedure infections by continuing to take my temperature twice a day and look for any other signs of infection. 

So I'll take a big amoxicillin capsule a half an hour before my January 14th at 1:30 appointment and the doctor will set this procedure in motion. 

3.  Dental visits, however long or short, big or small, wipe me out. 

I returned home, napped, got a few things done, napped again, and soon it was time to think of dinner.

I hadn't thawed anything and I didn't want to go to the store, so I took some time and imagined what I could do with what we had on hand.

I thought, hmmmm, we have a bag of shrimp. Coconut milk. Chicken bouillon paste. Yellow curry paste. I began to imagine a shrimp curry soup. I looked in the vegetable drawer -- Eureka! Half an onion, a red pepper, zucchini, plenty of carrots, a few stalks of celery. 

I was in business! 

I sautéed the celery and onion with some black pepper and added the carrot pieces and red pepper and later the zucchini. In a separate pan I cooked the raw shrimp in butter until they turned pink. In a separate container, I mixed curry paste, coconut milk, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, and the chicken broth  I made from bouillon.

I poured this broth and the shrimp and the melted butter into the pot where I'd prepared the vegetables.

I added dried lime keffir leaves.  

That was it.

Debbie and I enjoyed a terrific no recipe shrimp curry vegetable soup for dinner. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-12-2025: Cocktails, Family Dinner, Gifts

1. Our family dinner late this afternoon was going to, in part, continue the celebration of Christy's birthday. Christy hosted today's dinner and assigned me to make Old-Fashions. Because I've quit drinking alcohol, I'm out of practice making drinks and I don't stock our liquor supply much any longer. 

I needed bourbon and blasted down to the liquor store to buy a pint. The liquor store was closed. 

I put out an emergency message to Christy and Carol, wondering if they had bourbon on hand. 

Christy did! 

So, game on. 

I shook off my mixologist rust and made the others what turned out to be a suitable blend of sugar, orange bitters, water, bourbon, an orange slice, and an upper shelf Maraschino cherry -- Luxardo, I think. 

2. Christy prepared a very delicious Italian Wedding Soup for dinner with toasted bread and Carol brought a fresh and crispy green salad. It was a simple and very satisfying dinner. 

3. A lot of conversation at dinner centered around yesterday's funeral with special emphasis on discussing our history with the Rinaldi family, what's happening these days with family members and other people who were at the funeral and reception, and some discussion of what kinds of television viewing we are enjoying at present. 

Carol and Paul gave Christy a fun 1955 themed tote bag that contained different items and lists related to 1955 and, as a tribute to the quail who have in recent times begun to visit our back yards, Debbie and I gave Christy a small flock, covey, or bevy of yard quails that she can add to her back yard's decor. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-11-2025: Donnie Rinaldi's Funeral, The Longshot Saloon and the Reception, Talking with Rosie and Deni

1. For as long as I've been conscious and as far back as my memory reaches, the Donnie and Rosie Rinaldi family members have always been present in my life. Dad and Donnie were born a month apart and grew up in Kellogg at the same time. They both went to Lewiston's  North Idaho College of Education (a.k.a. Tiger Tech). Mom was there, too, and graduated from N.I.C.E. Donnie and Dad worked at the Zinc Plant for several years at the same time. Our families visited each other. I remember in the 1990s, especially as Dad's health worsened, Donnie was an especially caring friend for Dad, tender with Mom, and helped out with different tasks around our house. I'll always remember that, as a way to thank Donnie for his kindness and assistance, Mom and Dad always tried to have a bottle of MacNaughton Canadian Whiskey on hand for Donnie when he came to visit and Donnie always enjoyed a smash. 

Donnie and Rosie's oldest son, Vince, and I were baseball and basketball teammates. Their daughter Deni and I are the same age. We "co-starred" in our kindergarten pageant at the end of the school year. Deni played Mother Goose and I played her faithful, ever-present cat. 

Deni and I walked together, side by side, by choice, in the procession and recession at our 1972 Kellogg High School graduation ceremony. 

Donnie was 94 when he died on December 18, 2024. 

This morning was his funeral at 11:00 at St. Rita's Catholic Church here in Kellogg, the church where Donnie and Rosie celebrated Mass and were active members for decades.

2. Family and friends from the Silver Valley and well beyond filled the church for the funeral, a solemn, dignified Mass combining grief and joy, the grief of Donnie no longer being with us and the joy of the promise of eternal life. 

Afterward, the Elks Club hosted a luncheon and reception and attendees packed the room. 

I have to be cautious about being in packed rooms -- especially ones like at the Elks with a fairly low ceiling, so I left after about ten minutes and joined Jake, Craig King, Bucky, Debbie, and Dood at the nearly empty Longshot Saloon. I strolled in and didn't actually see Dood, a disappointment -- he and Bucky and Debbie left shortly after I arrived and I didn't get to visit with them. 

I did, however, have a great session with Jake and Craig.

After some high quality yakkin', we headed back to the Elks and I could tell the crowd was shrinking.

All the same, I took a seat along a wall on the edge of the party. 

Shelley Church, Don Knott's sister, pulled up a chair next to me and we had a great conversation about life after Don and reminisced about good times we had with Don over the course of his life. 

3. Eventually the crowd shrunk some more and I could see that no one was visiting with Rosie, so I scooted over to her table and we entered into a wonderful conversation and, before long, Christy joined us.

This mighty day also had a running (or should I say a flying) drama going on. 

Deni (Mother Goose!) had booked a flight to Spokane, due to arrive on Friday. It included a flight out of Atlanta. 

Winter storms paralyzed Atlanta on Friday.

Deni waited and waited and waited and then waited some more to depart from Atlanta and finally flew out on Saturday, not in time for her father's funeral Mass, but in time to land in Spokane, rent a car, and rocket to the Elks around mid-afternoon and be reunited with her family and to see those of us who were still at the reception. 

I had at least two, maybe three, superb conversations with Deni, met her son Aaron, and Deni and I made tentative plans to possibly see each other back in the West later in the summer of '25. 

I gave Carol a ride home a while earlier and it was after 5 o'clock when Christy and I bade the reception farewell and I drove us back home. 

What a day.

What a sad and joyful day, a day of loss and uplifting reunions. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-10-2025: Little Green Cleaning Machine, Mouth Guard During the Day, A Fun Pasta Creation

1. When we lived in our apartment home in Greenbelt, MD and when the corgis were alive, they occasionally emptied their bladders on the apartment's carpeting. Debbie purchased a Bissell Little Green portable carpet cleaner and it worked perfectly to clean these small messes the corgis made. 

Well, recently, Gibbs has had a few indoor accidents near our front door on our living room rug. 

I decided it was time to bring a Little Green portable carpet cleaner back into our life and it arrived on Thursday. Today, I took the parts out of the box, executed a couple of small tasks and assembled it, and tried it out on those spots Gibbs left on the rug.

I enjoyed having this little machine back in my hands again and I thought it did a pretty good job of cleaning up Gibbs' problem spots and he has not repeated his violation of our living room rug. 

2. I am most grateful that my night time mouth guard also works during the day. The guard eliminates the discomfort I've been experiencing in my mouth. It takes some getting used to, wearing it while awake, but I'm accepting how it feels and am grateful for its effectiveness.

3. I got out the electric frying pan and cooked white onion, garlic, ground beef, bacon, red pepper, zucchini, and fire roasted diced tomatoes. We put this sauce over spaghetti for dinner and with the help of Everything But the Bagel seasoning and a few shakes of Trader Joe's Umami Seasoning Blend, I fixed a dinner that worked great for Debbie and me. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-09-2025: Post-Transplant Dental Quandaries, The Whisks Arrive!, Toasted Sandwich Heaven

1.  To protect extensive dental work I had done in 2018, I wear a mouth guard at night. Because of my transplant, I've had to put dental cleanings on hold. Recently, I've had some minor discomfort in a couple of areas in my mouth, but, luckily, if I wear my mouth guard during the day, it relieves me of the discomfort. 

From the outset, since I enrolled in the transplant program at Sacred Heart, my care team has always been concerned about infections post-transplant with some special emphasis on dental infections. 

I want to make sure that the occasional and minor discomfort I've experienced lately isn't tooth infection, so today I made an appointment to see the dentist on Monday -- the soonest I could get in. 

I had a good online conversation today with Nurse Jenn about my upcoming dental appointment and I'm going to write to her again on Friday and see if, with the help of taking an antibiotic before the appointment, it might be safe at this point, nearly eight months after the transplant, to schedule a dental cleaning. 

It might not be. 

Some post-transplant literature recommends waiting a year before having a cleaning done. 

2. I purchased an electric milk steamer in November. It comes with two tiny whisks that snap into the bottom of the steamer. One froths milk. The other creates a small amount of foam while the milk heats. Somehow I lost the attachment I used most often, the small amount of foam whisk. I ordered another pair of attachments and they arrived today. 

I paid heed to the warning that accompanied my order that these could be the wrong sized attachments, but upon examining pictures of the whisks I bought, I was about 95% confident that I'd bought the right ones. 

They arrived today.

They were the right ones. 

I'm happy they were the right ones and happy that I can make both lattes and cappuccinos, depending on which whisking attachment I snap into my milk steamer! 

3. I had a dinner tonight made possible by the gallivanting I do after visiting Sacred Heart for blood work. 

A while back, I bought a package of Colby Jack slices at Trader Joe's.

Tuesday of this week, I bought a loaf of Great Harvest's incomparable white bread and then when I went to Trader Joe's, I bought bacon.

Tonight, I got out my electric frying pan and made a toasted Colby Jack cheese sandwich with bacon on Great Harvest white bread. 

My only regret is that I forgot we had the dill pickle chips Zoe made and gave us as a Christmas gift. 

Next time. 

Those dill pickle chips would round out the perfection of this divinely delicious sandwich. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-08-2025: Ed and I Hit the Road, Relaxing at the CdA Casino, Pork Tenderloin Dinner

1. Another day on the road today. The wet snowflakes falling this morning didn't have much detrimental effect on the roads, so I had no problem zipping out to Kingston to pick up Ed.

I drove Ed to the Kootenai Medical Center's Cancer Center where Ed is nearing the end of about four weeks or so of radiation treatment. 

Everything went smoothly there and we headed down to the Coeur d'Alene Casino to spend some time taking our minds off of cancer and kidney transplants and other stuff for a while and just relax.

2. Upon arriving, we went straight to the Red Tail Bar and Grill for breakfast. Ed doesn't eat much in the late afternoon or evenings as a way to prepare for his treatments, so he was really hungry and, as it turned out, I hadn't eaten anything since dinner on Tuesday. 

Ed enjoyed his breakfast burrito and I was very happy with my half order of biscuits and gravy and a couple scrambled eggs and hash browns. 

The hash browns were especially fun for me because potatoes are high in potassium and, most of the time, I need to eat foods lower in potassium. But, my potassium levels were great on Tuesday and I knew I could enjoy these potatoes and then lay off of spuds again until my January 27th labs. 

I played some games I enjoy a lot, tried a few new ones, didn't have much luck, but succeeded in having a relaxing time.

I also protected myself the entire time on the casino floor by wearing a mask and putting on vinyl gloves. 

3. Back home, I browned and then roasted a Trader Joe's Peppercorn Garlic Pork Tenderloin and fixed a combination of onion, red pepper, and yellow squash with leftover basmati rice, heated up in the tenderloin's drippings. 

It was a simple and delicious dinner with a perfect amount of leftovers for Debbie to have for lunch on Thursday and for us to do something with at home.  

Three Beautiful Things 01-07-2025: Private Eccentric Pleasures, Great Harvest Pleasures, Multiple Coeur d' Alene Tasks and Pleasures

 1. I think it might have been a bit of self-aggrandizement, but back in around 1993-94, I used to encourage students to follow their lights and used myself as a possibly mediocre example. I told them about things I did, alone, that I called Private Eccentric Pleasures (PEP). 

I might have been overstating what I enjoyed by referring to them as eccentric, but they were personal and they always gave me pleasure. 

I frequented Eugene's WOW Hall to hear jam bands and other rock/jazz/blues music, almost always by myself, and joined other revelers and danced solo. I cocooned myself into a private dancing world, gyrated, perspired, grinned broadly, and enjoyed these nights while 100 percent sober. I never smoked weed or used hallucinogenic drugs and I abstained from alcohol from January, 1986 until October, 1996. This PEP was a natural high!   

Other Private Eccentric Pleasures I enjoyed included driving by myself to Portland just to see movies that often opened a week ahead of when they premiered in Eugene. I went to movies all the time in Eugene by myself, a pleasure I had first begun to curry in Spokane from 1982-84 and that continues to this day -- I just wish I went to as many movies in theaters in 2025 as I did all those years living in Spokane and Eugene.

But I really enjoyed the theaters in Portland, being in the city, being an anonymous person, and being able to think about and relive each movie I saw as I tooled back down I-5 to return home. 

Now my PEP is going to Sacred Heart Medical Center for labs twice a month and to visit the transplant team periodically.

That's what I did today. I was out the door around 5:30 a.m., drove to Spokane, glided into the parking garage I use, enjoyed the friendly greeting of the security guy I checked in with at the main hospital, went to the check-in area where I ran into and had a great visit with fellow Kellogg native Dave Macri, got checked in, and enjoyed the always friendly and efficient Angela as she filled vials with my blood and sent me on my way. 

Then, just because I enjoy the vibe there, I went down to the basement to the cafeteria, ordered a 12 oz double latte, and read more of Lone Wolf. I caught snippets of Sacred Heart personnel yakking about their work or giving each other a hard time or just relaxing on a break. 

I didn't listen hard. I prefer to mind my own business. Most of my concentration was on the book I was reading.

But I did catch fragments of conversation and caught the tone. I could tell some conversations were  earnest, others playful. The different tones created the good vibe I enjoyed. 

Eccentric? I don't know.

A pleasure. For sure. 

2. I left the medical center and cruised up Grand Boulevard to 29th and soon eased into a parking place in front of Great Harvest where I enjoyed an Oatmeal Blueberry muffin with a cup of coffee while reading some more of Lone Wolf. I enjoyed the vibe and energy of the people working at Great Harvest and the people, mostly my age or older, dropping in for food and drink, either to enjoy in the shop or take out. 

3. More Personal Eccentric Pleasures lay ahead in Coeur d'Alene. I stopped in at Supercuts for a haircut. 

PEP. I enjoy Supercuts.

I blasted over to Costco and fueled the Camry. 

PEP. I enjoy Costco. 

Then three major sources of pleasure -- are they eccentric? I sat at the counter at Breakfast Nook and read more Lone Wolf while dining on a Jack cheese and mushroom omelette, hash browns, sourdough toast, and coffee. I loved how packed it was, mostly with old-timers (including me), and the non-stop activity of cooks preparing meals and an army of mostly middle aged or older servers energetically and with friendliness and charm waited on customers with efficiency and warmth. 

Then I waltzed into good vibe central at Trader Joe's and picked up a few groceries for home and continued my waltzing in good vibe stores and bought raspberry kefir, freshly ground peanut butter, and a variety of delicious produce items at Pilgrim's Market. 

I returned home happy. I had bags of groceries. I was nourished. I had hardly any hair on my head! 

And, to my relief, the lab results looked stable, encouraging me that my body and my new kidney are doing pretty well together.