What Happened Last Night?

The first thing I did this morning when I got up at 6:15 was check the Central Pacific Hurricane Center site to see what happened overnight. I was surprised to see the 5 a.m. track forecast cone. The current position showed Tropical Storm Olivia further north than last night and still east of the islands; once again headed straight for Maui. The Big Island was no longer in the cone of uncertainty; O'ahu was back at the edge of the cone. Olivia was 55 miles east, moving at 12 mph; which would mean it would make landfall between 9 and 10 in the morning. News reports said there was already a lot of rain on Maui & Moloka'i with many stream gauges showing very high water levels.

At 5 a.m.

Somehow I had a bunch of medical & dental appointments scheduled over the last 2 days; yesterday was my annual physical, today I had ob-gyn, mammography, bone density, & replacing old silver amalgam fillings with polymer fillings. I started with the gynecological check-up; I had a pap smear last year so none was needed this year. I passed with flying colors!

There were interesting things on the walls.

Since the gynecological check-up was a little behind schedule, I postponed the mammogram and went to my dental appointment instead. The old silver amalgam fillings in teeth #18 & #19 were drilled out first, then the new polymer fillings were placed, and shaped so that there were no high spots. They had to numb my gums and cheek in the area they were working in; they could tell it was properly numb because I couldn't spit straight! This time there were no technical difficulties with the computer & they were running on schedule so I was able to get out by 11:15 and head to my 11:45 bone density appointment.

The fish were all still there, but this time the light was on so you could really see them.

Same old view.

Before.

During; there's still filling & old stuff to be removed.

Almost done!

I checked in for my bone density scan & let the receptionist know that I also had to do the mammogram since I had postponed it in the morning; the same technician ended up doing both. She did the mammogram first; even though I had done this last year, I didn't remember the part where they flatten the breast laterally to get a "side" view. That one really hurt my pectoralis, I think the sissy push-ups must have increased the muscle volume in my pecs more than I had last year. (I saw the scan, it was muscle.)

A beautiful quilt in the waiting room. No photos were allowed in the mammogram or bone density equipment rooms.

The bone density scan was interesting. I lay on a table and the x-ray scanner moved in to place to take photos of the distal ends of my femurs, my pelvic girdle, and the lower portion of my spine. I did all of my SCUBA diving (over 100 hours) using the bottom time table in the then-current U.S. Navy Diving Manual; towards the end of the time I was diving the Navy revised its table due to research that showed that at the times listed in the table that we were using there was a higher incidence of erosion at the ends of the long bones due to nitrogen that had gone into solution in your blood. It usually shows up after the age of 50. Auwe! I am very interested in what the bone density scan shows in this regard.

On the drive home from my appointments it was very blustery and rainy and traffic was bad.  Once I got home I checked out the 11 a.m. track forecast cone; it showed Olivia had made landfall on northwest Maui and was on its way to Lanai. I quickly ate lunch, then headed up to Maunalani so that Curtis could head home before there was a lot of traffic from people getting off of work.

The rainy, blustery drive home.

At 11 a.m.

At Maunalani, Curtis said Dad did well at lunch; eating all of his peanut butter & jelly sandwich and drinking all his supplements, though he did not eat any solid food at breakfast but drank his supplements. CNA Janae came by and introduced herself to Dad; this morning she had done a presentation about herself to the residents that went to the activity room, she showed Dad her presentation on her phone. Our birthdays are a day apart.

Janae showing Dad her PowerPoint presentation.

I skipped all my morning walks due to my medical & dental appointments. At 3 p.m. the wind was very gusty but it was only a little drizzly so I decided to go for a short walk. But CNA John came in to give Dad a bath, so I stuck around for that; sometimes Dad gets agitated so Curtis & I have to talk him in to cooperating with the staff. When I did my walk it was breezy & damp, but refreshing. Surprise! There was no one at the park! But 2 Kolea were there.

Looking out at the weather brought in by Tropical Storm Olivia.

There's a Kolea on the field! Abby & Kelly are the only ones I have ever seen in the park during a precip event.

When I went to change out of my walking shirt, I saw that a firetruck and ambulance were in front of the building again. As I was walking back to the elevator after changing, they were wheeling a resident out. It was Mrs. Iseri! I hope she is going to be all right; I can't really ask because of HIPAA rules. (Actually, I could ask, but they can't tell me.) I brought a small gift back for her from Big Island Candies but haven't brought it in yet because of all the stuff happening with Shiro and Olivia, I keep forgetting to move it from the refrigerator to my backpack in the morning. I better bring in the one for Mrs. Tanaka tomorrow in case anything happens to her!

Dad was a little confused at dinner, he kept thinking it was lunch time. He ate half of his half egg salad sandwich (25%) and all of his supplements.

This evening the center of Tropical Storm Olivia was well west of the islands and heading away. Maui, Moloka'i, and Lana'i all had heavy rains and continue to do so. Here on O'ahu we are still experiencing rains associated with the system; they are predicted to remain through tomorrow; I haven't yet heard how the Big Island is doing. Olivia is expected to become a post-tropical remnant low either Thursday night or on Friday.

At 5 p.m.

Happy Birthday to Kathleen!