1. Because I studied my lab report from March 1st before I arrived, I already knew before I walked into the office of Linda Jo Yawn, NP, that my kidney numbers had dropped, that my kidney function is now down to 17%. I also knew that all my other blood work looked really good. So I wondered what to make of it. My kidney function has hovered around 19-21% for quite a while and I didn't like seeing that my kidneys are losing ground.
I should add here that I am experiencing no symptoms of kidney failure: no loss of appetite, no metallic taste in my mouth, no swollen ankles, no fatigue. I feel great. I'm exercising. I'll walk outside more as the weather improves. I'm eating really well.
I learned what I thought I'd learn. My kidneys are slowly deteriorating. There's nothing special I can do. In fact, Linda Jo Yawn told me, I'm taking very good care of myself. My blood pressure is great. I take my medicine. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing. Linda Jo Yawn is very impressed that I'm doing as well as I am given that I survived the accident I had at the Zinc Plant in 1973 and that I didn't die from having had bacterial meningitis in 1999.
Linda Jo Yawn didn't tell me to be grateful, but I am. I am grateful to be alive. I'm grateful that I have not had a black hole episode with depression for nine years and that I haven't taken medicine for mental illness since 2016. I'm grateful that I'm doing so well aside from my kidney function. If (or when) the time comes that I need to go on dialysis, I'll be more able to withstand it because I'm otherwise healthy. Likewise, if/when I should happen to have a transplant, I'm in pretty good shape for that surgery and the recovery.
2. All day I looked forward to making dinner. I thawed out a quart of crab stock and had decided to make Thai Coconut Curry Fish Soup. I sauteed minced ginger, minced lemongrass, finely chopped red pepper, and a couple teaspoons of green curry paste for a couple of minutes. To this I added about three cups of crab stock and some fish sauce and brown sugar. I let this simmer for about fifteen minutes and then I stirred in a couple of cans of coconut milk and some sliced mushrooms. While this simmered, I poached the cod I had on hand in my remaining crab stock, resting the fish atop lemon slices. Once the mushrooms were soft, I put chunks of the poached cod into the soup and added lime juice. I let this cook and later on I tasted the crab/cod/lemon liquid that remained after I poached the cod and decided it would enhance the soup. I dumped it in.
I had bought cilantro for garnish, but forgot I had it, so the Deke and I dove into this spicy and slightly sweet soup and both concluded that it was a smashing success: deep in flavor with a pleasant creamy texture. We agreed potatoes would taste good in this soup and, next time, I'll be sure to remove the casing off the lemongrass before I mince it. The bits of casing in the soup were irritating, but harmless. (This was the first time I ever cooked with lemongrass -- now I've made my key rookie mistake!)
3. It had been a while since the Deke and I listened to any episodes of The Lonely Palette, an art history podcast. The creator and host of this biweekly podcast, Tamar Avishai, examines a different painting or sculpture each episode. Each episodes opens with random people who each articulate their response to the piece of art and then Avishai takes over and in a pleasing and conversational way, digs deep into the a variety of the piece's dimensions: technique, context, history, meaning, and more. I enjoy listening to Tamar Avishai a lot and she's helped me to significantly better understand paintings as different from one another as da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Jackson Pollock's Number 10, 1949.
Tonight we listened to Tamar Avishai explore how we might look at and think about Jasper John's painting, Target and C. M. Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker. These two paintings are totally dissimilar and I enjoyed learning all that I did about both of them.
Want to listen?
For the episode on Jasper Johns, click here.
You can learn more about Dogs Playing Poker, here.
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