1. It always agitates me a bit when I receive a call from the Providence Sacred Heart's Transplant Program. Today, the transplant nurse, Tara, called and left a message. I called her right back and now I know why I haven't heard from the program about whether I'm still regarded as good to go for a transplant. Back in April, I met an appointment with Dr. Jespersen to discuss a picture I had taken of my respiratory system in February and he reported back to the program that I was okay for a transplant.
He also ordered pulmonary function testing, not because the transplant program asked him to, but because he's now who I see as a pulmonary specialist and he wanted current numbers regarding my pulmonary function. It had been about four years since I was last tested.
He noted to the transplant program that he had ordered this testing. He sent the results to the transplant program, but the doctors in the program want him to write an analysis of the test results.
So, the transplant nurse asked me to get a hold of Dr. Jespersen and tell him that the transplant program needs a written analysis of the pulmonary function tests before the program will accept me as good to go for a transplant.
So, I hopped on my Kootenai Health MyChart account where I can write directly to my doctors and explained to Dr. Jespersen what the transplant program needs from him.
I'd been wondering why I hadn't heard anything from Providence Sacred Heart about my status on the transplant list.
Now I know what the hold up has been and I hope Dr. Jespersen responds upon receiving my message.
If not, I'll see if I can make something happen with a phone call.
2. Our KHS Class of 1972 classmate, R. Kenton Bird co-wrote with another scholar, John C. Pierce, a political biography of longtime Eastern Washington Congressman and former Speaker of the House, Tom Foley.
The title of the book: Tom Foley: The Man in the Middle.
I ordered a copy a few weeks ago directly from the publisher.
My plan has been to have the book read by Thursday or Friday.
Kenton will be in town for the All-Class Reunion this coming weekend and I want to be able to talk with him about his book.
I read about half of it today.
Kenton and John C. Pierce make it clear that not only do they see Tom Foley as a centrist in terms of political views, but that he was also committed to doing all he could to see that the House of Representatives conducted its business with comity and civility, with members who were in conflict with one another searching for common ground to work out policy differences. He was committed to the idea that a governing democracy depends on spirited and respectful debate, an adherence to traditional codes of conduct and procedures, and on being sure the minority party's views are fully listened to by the majority party.
Until Foley was voted out of office in 1994, the Democratic Party was the longtime majority party of the House of Representatives and Foley earned a great deal of respect for his commitment to listening to the views and concerns of G.O.P. members.
Kenton and John C. Pierce's book is not solely concerned with why Foley's approach to policy making became increasingly difficult to carry out as the divisions between the two parties became more contentious in the late 1980s and on into the 1990s. But, it's an important exploration of this book as is why the voters of Eastern Washington, with their District 5 Representative having become a highly respected Speaker of the House, would vote him out.
I'll come to understand Foley's defeat and other aspects of his career even better as I finish the book on Wednesday or Thursday.
3. I subscribe to Leah Sottile's Substack account. Today she posted an interview she conducted in Portland at Powell's Books with David Neiwert, a longtime journalist who has spent much of his career writing about right wing extremism and has just published a new book, The Age of Insurrection. Leah Sottile, like Neiwert, is devoting her journalistic career to covering political extremism and I enjoyed very much that she, a relative newcomer to this area of investigation, got to interview Neiwert, whom she looks to as a mentor, a source of wisdom, and writer she has and will continue to learn a great deal from.
The interview definitely moved me to want to read Neiwert's work over the years.
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