Friday, November 18, 2016

Transfusion #10

We went to the ATC again for transfusion #10. Mom got 2 units of packed red blood cells today. Nurse Rowena was Mom's primary nurse again today, assisted by nurses Staci, Michelle, & Sandi. We have become regulars, so the nurses & Kim (the receptionist) remember Mom; we shared pictures with them of her birthday celebration in Las Vegas & the first great grandchild. Since we are regulars, we also brought omiyage from Las Vegas for them!


Mom decided she wanted to read instead of watch TV today. She brought several books from the Dover Childrens Thrift Classics that she has; it includes some Japanese fairy tales. As usual, though, she drifted off to sleep without reading much.
Mom "reading" her books.

Curtis brought us lunch again. But this time, instead of going to one of the lunch wagons on base, he stopped by at Ige's. He said Ige's used to have a lunch truck before. Now they have no lunch truck, only a window at their catering business; people walk up to the window for their order, then walk away. Here's what he brought for us today; it's worth standing in line outdoors!
Clockwise from top left corner: pickled onions, chicken katsu, white rice, & panko-crusted salmon; tossed salad is in a plastic bag outside of the photo.

After lunch, Mom did actually get a little reading done. But not much ... after one story she was asleep again.
Mom reading one of her books; note the line attached to her right arm.

After 7 1/2 hours Mom was done with her transfusion. As we were getting ready to leave, however, she sprung a leak and had blood streaming down her arm from the transfusion site. I didn't get a photo since I was busy getting gloves to help Nurse Rowena by holding pressure on Mom's arm while she got additional dressings. She finally got it stopped, rebandaged it, and had Mom sit still another 15 minutes to make sure it had stopped bleeding, while she cleaned up the blood on the floor. Nurse Rowena told us to keep the yellow cross match band on since it could still be used for a platelet transfusion. (Earlier, another nurse told us Mom's platelet level was at less than 1.5; normally it is 4.0. So Mom may need one next week. Keeping the yellow band on means she won't have to have an additional cross match done.) It was 5 pm by the time we left. On the way home I saw an annoying site: a car with a Christmas tree on top. Come on, people! It's not even Thanksgiving yet!

I think I may have broken the little toe on my left foot tonight. While helping Mom change in to her sleeping clothes I was stepping around her and kicked the corner of a very heavy metal tool box. It still hurts. If its still hurting tomorrow I will tape it to the rest of my foot to immobilize it; that's what they would do if I went to the emergency room.

I was so tired last night I went to bed without posting anything. Here's more info about baby Kaia that I was going to post last night but didn't get around to it. Baby Kaia was due on November 2nd, Mom was hoping she would wait until the 4th so they could share a birthday, but she came exactly 2 weeks late on the 16th! Although Mom wanted to go to Pennsylvania for Kaia's birth, Sarah felt it would be better for Mom to wait for them to come to her in Hawai'i because of how cold it is in Pennsylvania in November. Plus, they live in a house built before 1900 that is somewhat drafty; since Mom thinks it's cold in Hawai'i when it is below 70F it was a good decision. When she was here in August, Sarah said that she & Evan (dad) were hoping to be able to bring Kaia for a visit in February.

Yesterday, when I took Mom in for the cross match, it was farmers market day at the Kaiser Honolulu facility. Besides papayas & persimmons for breakfast later in the week, we also bought several plate lunches for lunch and dinner. Here we are in line for the Hawaiian plate lunch. (At the Kaiser Moanalua facility where they do the transfusions, farmers market day is on Wednesday.)
In line for lunch; fruit & vegetable vendor in background on left, more food vendors straight ahead.

For lunch we tried the Hawaiian and Thai plate lunches. The Hawaiian plate had kalua pork, chicken, rice, & salad. The Thai plate had vegetarian pad Thai,  Thai basil chicken, & salad. (We had the cranberry glazed pork ribs for dinner.)
Clockwise, starting with salad at top of plate: 'Nalo Greens salad, vegetarian pad Thai, Thai basil chicken, & kalua pork.

Happy Birthday to Jim, Diane, Susan, Jessica, & Jeff! Happy Belated Birthday to Jackie, Karen, Sue, Maru, & Catie!

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