Three Beautiful Things 08-18-2026: Christy Gets Settled, A Longed For Discovery, Improving Balance

 1. Around 9:00 this morning, I texted Carol and Christy, wondering what kind of night Christy had and how things were going this morning. Christy's mind raced during the night so she didn't sleep very well, but she wasn't in much pain. She was in good spirits this morning, told me she didn't need any help from me, and I didn't hear anything else for the rest of day. 

I took this as a good sign that Christy exercised and her day was uneventful. 

Hope I'm right! 

2. Reading our Science and Nature Book Club's next selection, The Birds That Audubon Missed, got me wondering what's going a with the Audubon Society in Spokane. Next I'll check out Coeur d'Alene. By doing this, I learned that there's a wetland area near Greenacres called Saltese Flats along with the Doris Morrison Learning Center. 

After reading about this area and looking at pictures on flickr taken by Jack Baratta, a superb amateur photographer, it looks likely that I've discovered a place to go to fill the void left by no longer living near Eugene's Delta Ponds, Alexandria, VA's Huntley Meadows Park, and Washington DC's Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and Ponds, three of my very favorite places to walk and take pictures. 

All I have to do is plan a trip to the Saltese Flats when the air is cool -- like early in the morning. 

(Btw, looking at Jack Baratta's flickr albums also brought back to mind that ever since we moved to Kellogg I had been thinking about going to the Turnbull Wildlife Refuge and haven't made that trip so far. Gotta change that!)

3. Reading all day has one drawback: I spend a lot of time sitting. 

Throughout the day, I put down my book and do exercises designed to improve my balance and make it less likely I'll fall. I enjoy doing them and fervently hope they are working, are doing the trick. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-17-2026: Christy Heads to Carol and Paul's, Big Pharma Harmless Phone Farce, Canadian Football League Connections

 1. At about 1:00 this afternoon, Carol rocketed up to the Shoshone Medical Center and picked up Christy. Yes, you read that right. Today the hospital discharged Christy and she will continue her rehabilitation at the rehab center in Smelterville, starting on Wednesday. On Wednesday, she will go over what the PT staff will have laid out are the goals and the plan for the next stage of her rehab. In the meantime, Christy will exercise her legs by walking with her walker in Carol and Paul's house (where she is staying now) and do exercises the physical therapy staff has given her to do at home. 

2. So that Christy could secure a new prescription drug on a free 30 day trial basis, I spent forty minutes or so, in a pharmaceutical farce of sorts, working with Carly, the Yoke's pharmacist, who authored none of the farce, and then calling a helpful representative at Squibb Pharmaceutical Company who asked me the right questions and then pushed the right keys on her computer to get the free trial card activated and processed. 

I managed not to get frustrated and to remain jolly As I endured recorded corporate messages, the options trees ("if you are a medical provider, push 2"), having to answer questions spoken to me by a robot, and eventually getting to talk with the human rep, I managed not to get frustrated and to remain jolly by imagining myself as The Dude ("this aggression will not stand, Squibb"), playing it cool, and trusting that I would get back my rug -- er -- I mean I would secure Christy's pills. 

And I did. 

3. It's not every day that telephone conversation with Debbie sends me onto the World Wide Web looking up connections between the Canadian Football League and Wallace, Idaho and also Whitworth College, but that's what happened today. When I looked into former Whitworth head football coach Hugh Campbell's extraordinary success coaching the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos (FIVE Grey Cups), somehow that led me to check up on some people I really enjoyed at Whitworth during the years of Hugh Campbell's tenure and it looked to me like they are living happy lives and so I had the sparkly feelings that come with combining late 1970s Whitworth nostalgia with the uplifting realities of the people I enjoyed doing well in the present.  

Three Beautiful Things 08-16-2026: RIP Mary Woolum -- Nine Years Ago, Christy's Pain and Laughter, Back to Reading

 1. It's August 16th. Nine years ago today our mother passed away sometime after 10:00 p.m. One of the nurses told me earlier in the evening that she thought Mom was very close to losing her life. When Carol and Paul went in her room and sang to her, they left shortly before 10:00. She was alive when they left. The nurse had told me earlier that it was likely that four of Mom's senses had most likely shut down, but not her hearing. I like to think that the last sounds she heard before passing away were Carol and Paul's singing voices accompanied by Paul on guitar. 

2. I visited Christy late this afternoon and brought her a bottle of sugar free A & W root beer from Carol and Paul's house.  

Christy had had pain in her right leg during the night that had kept her awake. She thinks it was a result of the working out she did Saturday. Some heat on her right leg and a pill relieved the pain and today she wasn't in pain and she had a good workout in the afternoon with her physical therapist. 

She also had a lovely visit from Amy, a member of our lifelong friends the Holland family. 

She also had laugh-filled, boisterous visit from Peggy, Barb, and Janet from the Class of 74, joined by Joni from the Class of 75. Janet and Peggy have both had hip replacements and gave Christy some good advice about staying in motion. 

Christy will have more sessions of workouts tomorrow. She'll keep moving. She'll build strength. 

3. The fact of the matter is that I've found it difficult ever since Christy was in septic shock and then had her right hip replaced to read. I haven't been able to concentrate and I've wanted to sleep when I've been home after paying Christy visits.

I'm not complaining. At all. It's just the way things have been. 

That changed today. 

I had thought about leaving town this morning and doing whatever, but I didn't do that. 

I read. 

I cracked open our book club's next book entitled, The Birds that Audubon Missed and so far I've learned not only about John James Audubon, but about bird taxonomies, searches in the wild for different birds, the art of drawing and painting portraits of birds, and more. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-15-2026: Christy Comes Outside, Christy Climbs Into Her Car, I Fix a Fun Wrap

 1. Answering Christy's call to action, Carol and Paul brought Christy's Subaru to the Medical Center and I buzzed up in the Camry. Before long, Christy and the physical therapist, Morgan, she was working with, popped out of the hospital's main entry. 

Christy was walking slowly, deliberately, and with very little pain with the help of a walker. She had a belt around her and Morgan kept her hand close to the belt in case Christy lost her balance or had another problem. Morgan also was in charge of pushing a wheelchair in case Christy needed to stop walking. 

This part of Christy's therapy session today was to open the passenger door of her Subaru and get herself into the passenger seat. 

Morgan wanted her to sit herself in her own car. Paul, Carol, and I were there to witness Christy do this so we knew how she'd do it once she was in our care again. 

Christy completed this task beautifully. 

She then practiced stepping up from street level to the sidewalk, negotiating a curb. 

My observation in watching Christy complete these tasks, including walking with the walker, is that she's not in a lot of pain, but needs to keep working on building strength throughout her body. I told Debbie this later on and said that I thought she needed to strengthen herself from her chin to her ankles! 

It looks to my untrained eye like that that's exactly what her physical therapy sessions are all about. 

2. Christy went back the Physical Therapy room and continued to work out with Morgan. After a while, once the session ended, she texted me with a request for a dish with two scoops of ice cream, each a different flavor. 

I bopped over to The Beanery and purchased a scoop of salted caramel and another of honey churro in a bowl, delivered the bowl to Christy, and hung out. We gabbed for a while. 

3. I fixed what turned out to be my main meal for the day late this morning. I had leftover rice and some mushroom slices. In the wok, I heated up the rice and cooked the mushrooms. In a separate pan I heated a big burrito sized tortilla and when I flipped it over, I put a slice of Swiss cheese on the flip side and it started to melt. 

I cracked two eggs over the mushrooms and rice and cooked them together. 

I put the tortilla on a cutting board and put the last bits of leftover Trader Joe's eggplant, onion, and tomato I had in the fridge over the melted Swiss cheese and topped it with the mushrooms, rice, and eggs. 

I folded the tortilla into a wrap, cut it in half and enjoyed a wrap unlike any I'd ever eaten before and felt nourished when I finished my meal and felt the pleasure of moderate hedonism! 

Three Beautiful Things 08-14-2026: Rest, Documenting, Reunion

 1. Things. 

Slowed. 

Down. 

Today. 

Christy continued working out in rehab. 

I visited her this afternoon. 

I rested. 

Yesterday's fantabulous Class of 72 Turns 72 party left me depleted with the sweetest possible fatigue. 

I had two great conversations with Debbie. 

I fixed myself a rice and egg stir fry. 

2. I experienced some blogger gratification today. 

Stu and I had been trying to figure out when some breakfast/lunch get togethers with friends had happened and who attended them. 

I had a record of each one in kellogg bloggin'. 

It was great not to have to guess what happened when. 

I'd documented it. 

3. Carol and Paul brought Riley up to the Shoshone Medical Center for a reunion with Christy. 

I wasn't there, but Christy posted pictures of being in a wheelchair on a medical center patio sharing human/dog bliss with Riley. 

Peak joy. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-13-2026: Christy Progresses, Class of 72 Turning 72 Party, We've Mellowed

 1. This was an exceptional day. 

First, I learned from a text message exchange with Christy in the afternoon and a visit to her room in early evening that she had another day of successful exercises and walking in two physical therapy sessions and experienced added more success in her sessions with the occupational therapist. 

If you feel moved to ask me when her rehab time at Shoshone Medical Center will end, my answer will be, "I have no idea." 

All I really know is that Christy is doing a variety of exercises using a walker, rehab apparatus, and an exercise machine. 

She's getting help with strengthening herself above the waist, including her arms and hands. 

She's progressing. I don't know if it's speedy. I do know she's progressing. 

2. Starting at 11:00 this morning approximately forty-five people met at Carol Lee and Jake's home on Rose Lake to celebrate that in late 2025 and through much of 2026, members of the Kellogg High School Class of 1972 have turned or are turning 72 years old. 

Our birthday party was festive and merry with all kinds of conversations buzzing at many tables: catching up, talking about aging, sharing memories, reporting on current situations in our lives, missing those who couldn't make it and those who have passed away, stories about past escapades, and more. 

We enjoyed broasted chicken from Yoke's accompanied by a wide array of snacks, salads, fruit and vegetable plates, desserts, and other delicious offerings that partiers contributed to the potluck. 

The weather was moderate and comfortable, the lake gorgeous to gaze upon, and as the party progressed, the title of John Paul Young's mighty hit song, "Love is in the Air" kept popping into my mind. 

3. Yes, mortality presents us with many challenges. At today's party, I saw, and I include myself, longtime friends who have experienced any number of health difficulties whether from falling down, being injured at work, having had serious surgeries, having had cancer treatment, some degree of memory loss and cognitive decline, mobility difficulties, and more. 

That's sobering. 

But on the positive side, aging and confronting morality has also had a mellowing effect on us. It's slowed us down. It's increased our appreciation of one another. It's had a leveling effect. Whatever else we might have achieved or failed at in our lives, when it comes to knowing our lives will end, we are all equals, we are all in the same boat. 

I felt this presence of mortality during our party and it wasn't depressing. I felt the loss of the growing number of our classmates who have died, but this sadness was balanced out by my happiness to be with those who are alive and were together today. I cherished our fellowship. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-12-2026: Christy Bounces Back, Navigates the Hospital Room, Takes an Impressive Stroll Up and Down Hallways

1. In the world of sports is called a bounce back. Now Christy didn't have a bounce back game or a bounce back season, but she did bounce back from Tuesday's bout with the gout and had a very good Wednesday.

2. Today (Wednesday), Christy talked with several pros and had good visits with friends and with family. That all went very well.

After being in debilitating pain from the gout through the early and late hours of Tuesday morning and having it subside Tuesday afternoon, today the pain was gone thanks to medicine. 

So, now, get a load of what that being free of gout pain meant for Christy today: always under the watchful eye of a medical pro, Christy can pull herself up and sit on the edge of the bed; today, she used her walker to get to the commode and placed herself on it; again, with her walker, she walked to the shower stall, positioned herself to sit in the shower chair, and she showered. 

All breakthroughs. 

3. She had a most successful time with today's physical therapist. Under his attentive eye, using the walker, she walked out of her room, down the hall to the nurses' station, and down another hall to the Physical Therapy room. With the help of the therapist, in the PT room, she was walked up four stairs and back down those stairs again.

Then she walked back down the two hallways to her room. 

Now granted, it's a modest sized hospital and the hallways are of medium length, but going on these strolls today far exceeded anything Christy has been able to do for weeks coming into her surgery as well as in the four days or so afterward. 

If I were to be featured in one of those Dos Equis parody ads, I would be portrayed as the The Most Cautious Man in the World.

I can hear that iconic narrator telling my story:  

"He checks to make sure the stove's burners are off six times before he leaves the house."

"He has two smoke alarms in every room of his house." 

"He has never driven in the passing lane on the Interstate." 

"He washes his produce twice before putting it in the refrigerator, twice a day before he uses it, and two more times before he makes his salad and breaks or tears the vegetables because he won't use a knife." 

"He wears a hazmat suit when he goes out in the sun." 

"He is The Most Cautious Man in the World."

So, with that in mind, I'm cautiously optimistic about Christy's recovery. In bearing witness to her recovery, I am taking everything a day at a time, trying not to speculate the speed of her recovery or when she can be discharged, but today was encouraging. 

I'd sure like to see Christy continue to progress like she did today. 

No more setbacks! 

No more need for bounce back days! 

Three Beautiful Things 08-11-2026: Christy's Gout, Christy's Three Good Workouts, Yakkin' with Debbie

I'm writing this blog post on Wednesday morning, looking back on Tuesday and including a bit of Wednesday morning news. 

1. I woke up Tuesday morning to Christy's news that she'd had a painful night, but the pain wasn't coming from her right leg or her right hip, the location of so much pain over the last few months. 

No. It was coming from her left ankle/upper foot. Tests and x-rays revealed that gout had set in. 

This development set things back some, but not entirely. 

UPDATE: In a text message she sent this morning (Wednesday), Christy reported she was not feeling pain in her ankle/upper foot. I fervently hope the gout is clearing up and that the pain stays away. 

2. Christy's physical therapists had to trim back their original plans for what they wanted Christy to do on Tuesday, but they did not call off exercising her. She had two successful PT sessions with a session with the occupational therapist tucked in between -- her OT session focused on her upper body strength. 

I visited Christy in the late afternoon. I could tell in her face that the hours between my Monday visit and my Tuesday one had been hard for her and we talked quite a bit about how she's got a long haul in front of her, not a speedy recovery. 

My sense is that she's bracing herself with determination to do what she needs to do, however slow the process is. 

3. You might remember that Debbie has been in New York since late May. Debbie and I have become adept over the nearly twenty-nine years of our marriage at keeping things going between us pretty well during periods of separation. Our adeptness was very much at work Tuesday evening. Debbie called and we had a great conversation about a variety of things, including beginning to anticipate her return to Kellogg (sooner than later) and what we have to figure out about a variety of pragmatic things when she returns. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-10-2026: Christy's Last Ten Days, Christy Returns to the Kellogg Hospital, Christy Looks and Feels Way Better

 1. The focus on Christy's medical care keeps sharpening. When she was admitted into ICU on July 31st, the focus was on bringing her out of septic shock, raising her blook pressure, and possibly identifying the source of the infection her immune system went into overdrive in response to, putting her in sepsis. By Monday, with Christy out of sepsis, the focus switched to Christy's hip and the orthopedic surgeon planned to replace her hip on Tuesday -- but Christy was in AFib in pre-op, the surgery team postponed the surgery, and a new focus, in Christy's heart, took over. 

Her heart settled back into rhythm. On Friday, she was fit for surgery and it proceeded successfully. 

By Sunday, the pros at Kootenai decided she was ready to be transferred to Shoshone Medical Center on Monday where the pros over here in the Silver Valley could focus on her rehab through physical and occupational therapy. 

2. So, today, Monday, August 10th, the pros at Kootenai Health helped Christy into a wheelchair, wheeled her into a transport van, and she arrived at Shoshone Medical Center in the mid-afternoon. 

Her room in Kellogg is furnished with a comfortable recliner and when I arrived to visit Christy, she was in this recliner eating dinner. 

Today, she's been able to stand up from a seated position with the aid of a walker. Using the walker, she was able to walk the few steps from her bed to the recliner. 

Depending on staffing day to day, Christy will have one or two sessions of PT each day. I don't know how often she'll meet with the OT. Christy will sit with a physical therapist on Tuesday and answer questions and set goals and get to work. It would be great if they also set a schedule for the week tomorrow. 

3. Christy looked many, many times better today than she had over the last ten days or so. Her mental energy has increased. For the nearly an hour I was with her and Carol today, Christy's  pain levels seemed well managed. I'd say she's eager to get going with the rehab work, challenging as it can be, and is full of determination to be mobile once again. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-09-2026: Positive Numbers, A PT Workout, Highly Likely Transfer to Kellogg

 I visited Christy for a couple of hours or so starting at 11:00. Cosette and Saphire also visited. I left soon after they did and a bit later in the afternoon, Carol and Paul arrived. 

Here's a recap of Christy's day. 

1. It was a good day for Christy at Kootenai Health today. She had a list of questions for her nurse this morning and the nurse sat down, reviewed Christy's records with her, and assured her that her bloodwork has looked good, so have her heart numbers, her white blood cell counts, and the results of other tests. 

2. When Christy's physical therapist arrived this afternoon, she worked Christy out a bit. She helped Christy out of bed. After a trip to the bathroom, the therapist transferred her to a wheelchair and Christy turned the big wheelchair wheels herself and made her way down the hallway. Back in her room, Christy used her walker and was able to stand up at ten second intervals. She felt, in her words, "very little pain", but they brought this exercise to an end because Christy felt some lightheadedness. She sat back down in her wheelchair so she could sit up for a while -- I don't know for how long -- before she returned to bed. 

When I texted Christy about twenty minutes ago to confirm my sense that she'd had a good day, she said she had indeed because, in her words, "I felt accomplished." 

3. It's not 100 percent certain, but it looks very likely that tomorrow (Monday) Kootenai Health will transfer Christy to the Shoshone Medical Center where she will focus on rehabilitation. She will work with therapists who also work at the Shoshone Medical Fitness Center in Smelterville, therapists she's spent a lot of time with in the last few months and back when she rehabbed after her second knee replacement. 

We don't know how long she'll be at Shoshone rehabbing before she's released to (most likely) return to Carol and Paul's house. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-08-2026: Visiting Christy, Morning Housework, Learning to Enjoy Delays and Slow Travel on I-90

 1. I arrived at Kootenai Health soon after 1:00 and Christy had just finished lunch. Immediately, I observed she had better color in her face. That was good! She's being medicated at regular intervals for pain and as the time drew near for each of her pain pills this afternoon, taken an hour apart, her pain grew. 

Christy knew at some point today she would have a session with a Physical Therapist. When I left the hospital around 4:00, the therapist hadn't visited yet and Christy really needed exercise. 

A therapist, accompanied by a student nurse, arrived sometime after 8 p.m., thank goodness, and Christy messaged me that she was pleased with the exercises the therapist put her through and she told me she learned a lot as the therapist was teaching the student nurse. During these in bed exercises,  Christy experienced, in her words, minimal pain. 

It's Christy's understanding that after being in bed most of today, she will be helped out of bed Sunday morning. 

I don't know if she'll have added PT later in the day. 

I'll find out when I visit on Sunday. 

2. I didn't go over to CdAlene in the morning because I took care of some domestic tasks: laundering my over a dozen pairs of compression socks, cooking chickpeas in preparation for making more black olive hummus, laundering towels, and cleaning up the kitchen some more -- this kitchen clean up never seems to end. 

3. I listen to Sirius/XM's classical music channel, Symphony Hall, on my drives to Coeur d'Alene and back. Because of a few stretches of one lane highway in both directions, travel over the 4th of July Pass can be very slow and is a source of much consternation and complaining locally. 

I've decided to make the most of these delays by enjoying the additional amount of music I can listen to as I crawl over the pass. Luckily, I'm not on a pressing time schedule, so I have the luxury of turning what could be a frustrating, even maddening, slow drive into a source of enrichment and enjoyment. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-07-2026: Christy's Surgery a Success, Dizziness, Riley Hangs in There

 1. As it turned out, Christy's surgery took place around 7:30 as originally planned. The post-op news was all good and Christy returned to the room she's been in since leaving ICU. I arrived to visit Christy around 2:00. Paul and Carol arrived soon after that. Christy had eaten. She was animated and chatty. She also articulated a clear understanding of what had happened earlier in the day. 

Her pain levels seemed low to moderate and when she messaged me this morning (Saturday), she told me she was wound up overnight, making it a challenge to sleep, but she had, and I quote Christy, "not much pain". 

2. Friday afternoon, Paul, Carol, and I left her room when her positive-minded, invigorated, wide smiling Physical Therapist arrived. Christy messaged me after their session that she got up out of bed all right, but became dizzy, so they cut the session short. It's common, I later read, for blood pressure to drop some after surgery, and it was low blood pressure that caused Christy's dizziness. 

3. Usually, during this time of Christy's hospitalization, Riley spends the nights at Carol and Paul's house. But, the Barnes family is staying at Carol and Paul's with their dogs, so Riley is at his house both Friday and Saturday night. 

I sat with Riley for about an hour and a half this evening and completed the Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle. Riley rested comfortably. I hope he had a good night's sleep after I left.