Donating Blood

*This post was originally published with a couple of screen shots but no photos. My laptop stopped working on 10/09 & it took me a couple days to realize I could use Mom's old desktop to continue posting, but I was unable to figure out how to download photos from my phone. I did figure out how to do screen shots but I only added a few since cropping them was a painful process on the old machine. When my laptop was working again on 10/14, I uploaded the photos and updated this post a few days later. I also corrected the missing 'okina and kahako. 

Since I weigh more than 110 pounds due to COVID-19 disruptions to my usual activities, I decided I should go and donate blood while I can. I had been fluctuating between 109 & 110 at the start of the lock downs last March; you have to weigh at least 110 pounds to donate blood. Now I am well over that! I went in around lunch, that timing worked best for me; my plan was to donate blood, then go to Kaiser for my flu shot, then go to the Apple Store to drop off the laptop to get it fixed. But because I am a 1st time donor it took a little longer than the usual 1 hour. From the moment I parked to when I got ready to pull out of the parking lot again it was about 1&1/2 hours. 

A very well worn booklet.

Fortunately this only applies if you are 18 years old or younger.

I started with filling out paperwork & answering a lot of questions. Then I had an intake interview with Collections Specialist Kaila; she went over my answers to the questions, tested my hemoglobin level (16.1 gm/dL, normal range 11.0-16.0, last Kaiser lab 15.2), & took my blood pressure (124/72 mmHg, last Kaiser lab 122/65). She gave me the OK to donate!

Intake interview room.

Kaila was also the person who set up the blood draw & monitored me while I was donating. The actual blood draining out my arm part took about 20 minutes; which is longer than the 6 or 7 minutes the website says. I think that might have been due to the needle bumping up against the wall of my vein so it slowed down the speed that the blood was leaving at; it was a rather large gauge needle for the size of my vein. I set up my next appointment to donate another pint; I decided to do it as long as I am heavy enough to qualify. Might as well make use of this extra weight!

The very start of process, blood has not really started flowing yet.

OK, now it's flowing! Little suspended bag is for samples for lab.

Kaila holds unit of my blood at end of donation.

I started the morning with a beet proothie. About 2 hours before my appointment to donate blood I had called to make the appointment. I was told to make sure I ate & was well hydrated before I came in; I'm glad my proothie has a lot of good things in it!

When I was done donating blood, I had to lay in the chair for 15 minutes since it was my first time donating; they didn't want me fainting. Then I was sent to the recovery area for some juice & salty snacks to help replenish my fluids & electrolytes; I had to spend another 15 minutes there before they let me go.

Info in the recovery area.

Donors can get free pancakes!

After all that there wasn't enough time to go to Kaiser for my flu shot; I just went straight home to pick up the laptop for my 2:40 appointment at the Apple Store. On the way to the Apple Store, I passed by the Goodwill outlet in Kaimukī; the building was being demolished! I know when I passed earlier there was a sign directing people to another Goodwill store & the Brazilian martial arts placed next door was also closed. After a little Googling I discovered that the very old building is being rebuilt & Goodwill return when it is ready for occupancy.

I was right on time for my appointment; I told Tyler what the laptop was doing & where it was stuck at. He said it was a fixable problem by wiping the hard drive & reinstalling the hardware; he then asked if I had backed up the hard drive & was pleasantly surprised that it had been less than 10 days since I backed it up. (Kai set it up a reminder after 10 days without a back up.) Tyler said they could reinstall the hardware for me but they would need to have the laptop for 3 to 5 days. Or he could walk me through how to do it & send me home. After Tyler wiped the hard drive clean he walked me through how to reinstall the software & how to reinstall the saved files from the external hard drive.

Hand sanitizer at the Apple Store.

After I left the Apple store I bought a Kamuela Cobb Salad from Aloha Salads for dinner. I also stopped at Minamoto Kitchoan to pick up some Japanese confections for Halloween; it turns out I had just enough on my frequent buyer card to pay for everything I had picked up; it cost me nothing to stop by today!

When I got home I connected to the Internet & began to reinstall the macOS Big Sur software. It said it would take 4 hours & 30 minutes! Aue! Tyler forgot to tell me how long it would be but he did say I should have it plugged in while I was reinstalling the hardware. Since it is going to take so long, I am still using the old desktop machine to finish today's post.

I went to eat dinner when this started.

Retrieving info from the external hard drive.

At the end of the process I discovered that I had lost the photos from all of September & October! Auē! I guess the back up process was affected by the wonky memory issues the laptop was experiencing. Note to self: When the laptop says it's have memory problems, stop & fix it ASAP!

Luna is doing well again today.  The Roommates put the treat bags out of her reach today so she was unable to try to tear one open. I found her quietly sleeping on the bed, waiting to have her ears scratched; she can't reach them with the cone collar on.

I did not take a screen shot of the Aix weather app this morning so I have no idea what it forecast for today. But I did take a few shots as I was running around today.

Nā Koʻolau at 12:06 p.m.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 2:25 p.m.

Drizzle in Kahala looking easterly at 3:09 p.m. after Apple Store visit.

It looks like there was even less lava that flowed out of the fissure in Kilauea over the last 24 hours; there was a larger dark area in the thermal image.

There were 127 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, raising the total known cases to 81,790; this number of new cases is more in line with the usual number of tests done in a day than yesterday's number. There were also 6 new deaths reported, increasing the death toll to 851; currently there are 2716 cases considered active. As of yesterday there have been 2,088,967 doses of vaccine administered providing 69.8% of the population with full vaccination and 78.1% with at least one dose. The 7-day new case average for O'ahu is 97 with a positivity rate of 2.8%.

Hau'oli la Hanau e Ki'ini!