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.  

Three Beautiful Things 08-06 & 07 a.m.-2026: New (Tentative) Time for Surgery, Riley Groomed, Christy's Thursday

 1. I'm writing this post at 9:00 on Friday morning. The time of Christy's surgery has been moved from 7:30 a.m. to10:30 a.m. and it's possible that time might change again. 

2. Today was grooming day for Riley and returned home looking fresh and handsome! 

3. Once Riley was home, I went to CdA and visited Christy. She had had a moderate session with a physical therapist. Christy was in a wheelchair and a nurse moved her into her bed later on. By the time I left, a couple of pros had been in to help reposition her in her bed and she was enjoying the tuna fish sandwich dinner she'd ordered. Wednesday's more ambitious PT session brought about quite a bit of pain Wednesday night, so I hope the lighter Thursday session didn't cause her pain Thursday night. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-05-2026: Calm Hospital Day, Winning Wednesday!, It's Even in a Pampers Ad

 1. After Monday, when the orthopedic surgeon dropped the news of Christy having her hip replaced the next day and after Tuesday, when the surgery had to be postponed because Christy had gone into AFib, today, Wednesday, was a quiet, I'd say, smooth day. 

I visited Christy twice and we yakked about different stuff. When I returned for my second visit, Christy told me she'd had a Physical Therapy session which went well.  Christy learned more about her injured hip and leg and about the virtues of a two-wheeled walker and that it'll be a while before she uses a cane. 

Today, with the aid of a walker, Christy walked around her room and tomorrow the therapist will help her navigate the bathroom. 

As of now, Friday's surgery is scheduled for first thing in the morning -- 7:30, I think -- or was in 7:00?

2. I thought in the midst of all that's been going on lately, I might enjoy a short stint at the CdA Casino, spinning some reels and ordering the Winning Wednesday Wings special with a garden salad at the Red Tail Bar and Grill. 

I did enjoy it. 

I won some money to stick into my "stupid money" envelope and I enjoyed sitting quietly in a corner booth of the bar and grill munching away on five chicken wings and eating a green salad for the first time in a few weeks. 

3. Today, on the Symphony Hall Facebook page, someone at SiriusXM raised this question: 

Someone's who's never listened to classical music asks for one piece to start with. What do you recommend first? 

I would have to recommend the person first of all acknowledge all the classical music s/he's heard just by watching Looney Tunes, scores of movies, television ads, television shows, and other popular media that integrate classical music into their creations.  

Music from Bizet's Carmen was featured in Friends as well as on Gilligan's Island. I first fell in love with Bach's 3rd Brandenberg Concerto when I saw Hannah and Her Sisters. Multiple pieces by classical composers were featured in Looney Tunes cartoons. An Old Spice ad drew upon Orff's Carmen Burina. 

Even Pampers got into the act, accompanying a montage of infants' pooh faces with Richard Strauss' Also Spake Zarathustra, made famous by the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.  You can watch the Pampers ad here: Also sprach … Pampers poop commercial

I'd have to say to the person asking, don't look to me for recommendations. 

You have been and will continue to be introduced to classical music in countless works of popular culture. 

Pay attention to it. See what you like. Look for and listen to other works by these composers, ones not found in the old Anacin ad (Beethoven's 5th) or in Ordinary People (Pachelbel's Canon) or in Bugs Bunny's performance of Chopin's Minute Waltz. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 08-04-2026: Delay, Invigoration, Rapport

 1. Christy went into AFib in pre-op this afternoon and the surgery team decided to proceed with great caution and postponed her hip replacement surgery. It's now scheduled for Friday. A cardiologist will visit Christy in her hospital room. She's now hooked up to a heart monitor -- the early readings have been solid. Christy has never been in AFib before and the EKGs she had taken in the days since she was admitted to the hospital last Friday showed no problems. Today's did, however, and we are hoping she'll be back to a good heartbeat and ready for surgery on Friday. 

2. Smoke-filled skies. Reduced visibility. Northwest Spokane a natural disaster area. Did I want to go to Auntie's Bookstore downtown for our six o'clock book group meeting. 

I decided to go.

I made the right decision in a huge way. The discussion of Is a River Alive invigorated me. I felt free to share some of my thoughts. I was especially stimulated by our discussion of questions around different ways of arriving at knowledge, different views of reality, how humans decide what's ethical, and how all of these questions can be seen as applying to whether a river is alive. 

3. On my way back to Kellogg, I visited Christy and am happy to say he was resting comfortably (especially once a couple of nurses repositioned her in bed), appears to be feeling patient about the delay, and is full of hope that the surgery will happen on Friday. 

I've been in Christy's room when several different nurses and other pros have come to see her and Christy gets along really well with all of them. They are willing and able to answer the questions she and the rest of us have. 

It's encouraging to witness such excellent rapport. 

Three-in-One Beautiful Things 08-03-2026: Christy's Right Hip Will Be Replaced on Tuesday, August 4th

 1. 2. 3. Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4th, Christy will have hip replacement surgery on her right hip. As I go to press, the surgery is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. 

Here's summary of what happened this afternoon: 

Sometime after 12:00 noon today, an orthopedic Nurse Practitioner came into Christy's room speaking on behalf of the doctor she works with and told Christy that now that she is out of sepsis and because of the avascular necrosis in her hip, the doctor wants to replace her hip immediately -- well, tomorrow. 

Christy agreed to this plan. She's ready mentally for the surgery and also ready to do physically whatever is asked of her afterward to promote the success of the surgery. 

I will post another blog post tomorrow evening when I arrive home from book club in Spokane to report what I know about the surgery and how Christy is doing. 

By the way, we don't know how long she'll be in the hospital after the surgery. For sure, she won't be discharged on the day of the surgery. 

Stay tuned. 

Three A Bit More Beautiful Things 08-01 and -02-2026: Christy's Out of Sepsis, Attention to Christy's Hip, Self-Therapy

 I'm writing this blog post on Sunday evening, August 2. I visited Christy for about four hours today and will once again combine two days, Saturday and Sunday, into one post. As always, if I've missed the mark to some degree in any of this summation, it's not by much and what I've written is in the ballpark. 

1. I learned this morning that sepsis is not a diagnosis but a constellation of symptoms resulting from the immune system's overwhelming response to an infection. On Friday, Christy's extreme tiredness, dropping blood pressure, perspiring, and disorientation were symptoms not merely of sepsis, but of septic shock. 

Christy came out of septic shock Friday and now has come out of sepsis. Her blood pressure is better, her heart rate is in range, her oxygen levels are in range, and she's not confused. I might have left out an improvement or two but you get the picture. 

What a relief. 

Still in question: where is the infection that triggered her body to respond the way it did?

It appears not to be in the tiny amount of liquid aspirated from her hip. 

I also might be that the antibiotics she's had infused into her system knocked out the infection and the source will remain unknown. This is not uncommon. 

2. Today, the medical professionals focused much more of their attention on Christy's ailing right hip and painful upper right leg. If all goes well on Monday, the orthopedic doctor she has an appointment to see on Wednesday will visit Christy in her room at Kootenai Health. Until the doctor talks with Christy, I'm going to hold off on writing about her hip and I don't know what kind of treatment lies ahead. (Oh! Before I arrived to see Christy this morning, a hospital orthopedic doctor had been in to see her, but I'm not very clear about what he had to say and the hospital doctor who visited Christy later on said his notes weren't available yet. So I'm putting that doctor's visit aside.)  

I do know, however, that while I was in Christy's room, two therapists visited her around noon, asked a bunch of great questions, washed her hair, helped clean her up in other ways, helped her get out of bed and into a wheelchair, apprised the nursing staff of how Christy ought to be helped physically while in the hospital, and were encouraged by how well Christy responded to the very limited kind of movements they helped guide and physically support her through. 

One of the pros was an Occupational Therapist and the other a Physical Therapist. 

Christy will be visited by therapy pros again on Monday and it looks to me like a larger plan for her treatment upon being discharged (don't know when that will be) is beginning to take shape. 

3. I've done a little self-therapy myself, mostly with food and caffeine. On Saturday it helped relax me after I left the hospital to eat tortilla chips, make myself a strawberry milkshake, eat a small bar of dark chocolate with almonds, and to put Trader Joe's eggplant, tomato, and onion on a piece of Indian flatbread and top that product with olive tapenade and crumbled feta cheese. 

I have enjoyed relaxing at the hospital at the Big Blue coffee counter with a 16 oz latte and a chocolate muffin both yesterday and today. I thought it was a very good sign today that Christy asked me to bring her a 16 oz vanilla latte which she said really hit spot. Christy's appetite hasn't been strong and I'm really glad the vanilla latte gave her pleasure. 

Three Barely Beautiful Things 07-31-08-01-2026: A Recap: Christy Goes to ER, ICU, A Hospital Room

 It's Saturday, August 1. For Christy, Carol, Paul, and me, Friday, July 31 and Saturday, August 1 have melded together into a day of their own, so I'm going to write about a twenty-four hour period beginning early in the afternoon on Friday. 

I've done my best to be accurate in this blog post. If I've erred in any way, please rest assured my mistakes are in the ballpark of truth! A lot's been going on and it's easy to get trip up on details and get some things confused. 

1. The good news and the beautiful thing is that Christy made it through the day on Friday and on into Saturday. 

It wasn't easy. 

She began feeling weird around mid-morning on Friday and by early afternoon she was sometimes awake, falling suddenly asleep, and not always conscious. 

Local EMTs took her to the local hospital where the Emergency Room pros worked to hydrate her and began working up a series of tests to see what might be going on. 

Her blood pressure had crashed, was very low, and by about 6:00 Christy traveled by ambulance to Kootenai Health. She was admitted into their ICU. 

2. Friday evening. More tests. 

EKG tested fine. 

A scan revealed no blood clots.

It became clear that Christy was in septic shock. 

I went to the CdA hospital this morning (Saturday) to listen in on an 8:30 summation of Christy's situation. 

Because the medication to bring her blood pressure back up worked, Christy would soon be transferred out of ICU. 

What was the source of the sepsis? The MRI from Thursday, July 23rd had revealed some build up of liquid in her right hip. 

This morning, to see if it was the source of the sepsis, a small team aspirated Christy's hip. 

Results forthcoming. 

3. If you are reading this thinking, "I thought Christy was doing better this week", you are correct. 

Both of her PT sessions were successes.

She is building strength in her legs. She gained more mobility with a walker and was getting up from being seated much better. 

Her emergency Friday and today didn't have anything to do with those successes. 

An infection got loose in her system.

It's being treated and studied. 

When I left Kootenai Health early this afternoon, Christy was both tired and conversational. She was alert, as she had been this morning, and was getting better. 

I have no idea how long she'll be in the hospital. 

Three Beautiful Things 07-30-2026: Stronger, Handsome, Awe

 1. Christy continues to strengthen her leg muscles day to day as she exercises them.  She had a good PT session today. She's more mobile and she worked on stairs and more on how to get out of bed. 

Christy also saw her doctor this afternoon. Carol accompanied her and they both understand Christy's leg/hip situation better. Stay tuned.  When the time is right, and Christy has even more clarity on her situation, I'll provide more details. For now, suffice it to say things are better today than they were a week ago. 

2. Gibbs saw the groomer today and I thought when he got home that he had even more of a strut in his step than usual. 

3. As I get closer to finishing Is a River Alive?, two things are becoming clearer to me about my experience with rivers. 

First, from the time I was a youngster, I've seen something different from human aliveness in rivers. I can't call it a personality because what I've seen is unique to waterways and I'm not sure I know a word for it. 

I can say that this aliveness has awed me and the second thing that is becoming clearer to me is that out of this awe, I have, for the most part, stayed out of and off of rivers. I've only floated on a river about three times in my life. I have never fished a river. I was never one of the Silver Valley people who jumped off bridges into the North Fork of the CdA River. I have rarely gone swimming in any river. The awe I've felt has also triggered the illness I feel when rivers get degraded -- and this feeling goes all the way back to my earliest memories when the CdA River ran gray through the city of Kellogg.