Blood Donation #2

Note to Self: DO NOT schedule anything just prior to a blood donation!!! I went in this morning for my 2nd donation; I can donate every 8 weeks. Today was a little different than my 1st donation; I have started volunteering with the Citizen Foresters & Wednesday is the day the Kapahulu-Kaimukī group does its field work. That was Not Very Smart Move #1; the reminder email said, "get plenty of rest." I thought they meant sleep the night before; which I don't have much control over since I have nocturia that has been associated with my fibromyalgia. Then I did not eat breakfast because when I woke up at my usual time I was feeling tired, so I decided to sleep a little longer. That was Not Very Smart Move #2; the reminder email said, "eat a hearty meal." 

Todayʻs donation.

I felt fine donating, I felt fine for the 5 minutes they make you stay in the donation chair after completing the blood draw, I felt fine for the 1st 10 minutes or so while I was eating the snacks & juice that they provide. Then I started to feel a little light headed so I put my head down between my knees, thinking, "I guess I should have eaten breakfast", since it felt like a low blood sugar headache. They helped me back to one of the donation chairs, put ice packs on to cool me down, & took my blood pressure - 100/76; it was 110/78 before the donation. Then they took it every 10 minutes over the next half hour & asked me how I was feeling; they also gave me more sugary liquids. I felt better each time they took my blood pressure but they were concerned because each time they took it the reading was a little bit lower. Auē! After talking with me about what my normal blood pressure is (between 100-110/70-75) RN Lucey had me sit up, then stand while she took my blood pressure; which was actually a little higher than the previous few but not as high as when I 1st walked in. It started going back up & was at 100/75 when they let me go; I felt fine. But as I was standing at the reception counter, making my next appointment, I got a little light headed; I sat down in the waiting area. RN Wafsa, who was making my next appointment, gave me a bag of potato chips & had me eat them so the salt would raise my blood pressure. Not Very Smart Move #3 was sweating too much while doing the Potential Planting Inventory & not replacing that lost salt before I went in to donate. RN Lucey walked me out to my car. When I got home I took a nap.

In spite of all that, I learned that I am B+; which is found in about 16% of the population in Hawaiʻi. That blood type is more common in Asians; in the continental United States it is about 8.5%. I also learned that there are no blood donation centers on Hawaiʻi Island; a team flies over to do special donation events. I made a donation appointment for February 3rd, which is a Thursday. It will be one of the last things I do before I move.

This morning the Kapahulu-Kaimukī Citizen Foresters group looked for potential planting sites on the mauka side of Waiʻalae Avenue around the lower end of Wilhelmina Rise. The group today was Francisco, Cindy & Joe, Jun, & me. I think I walked about a mile today; I'm not really sure because I remembered to start the app about 2 blocks from where I parked the car & ended it about 1/2 block from the car because Jun wanted to know how far we walked today; the app was recording for 0.7 mile. 

We walked past the construction at the new Goodwill. It looks like there will be a parking garage under the building which will be great since that was one of the most difficult parts about going to that Goodwill. It looks the entrance to the parking will be off of Wilhelmina Rise.

From the corner of Waiʻalae & Wilhelmina looking northwesterly across the site.

Jun walks ahead of me, by mural at construction site, as we head to next inventory area.

I also saw another of the painted signal boxes; it is across the street from the Goodwill construction site. This one is of Queen Liliʻuokalani; it is right by the school that was named after her.

Later I got an email about the tree identification class using the new Pacific Island Tree key. I am really looking forward to this training!

Basically I had lunch at the blood bank. I had 1/2 a Nature Valley Peanut Granola Bar, 1/2 a guava nectar drink, & 1/2 a Sprite. They were trying to get fluids with sugar back in to me to increase my blood volume as well as my blood glucose level. I also had that small bag of potato chips for the salt to raise my blood pressure.

For dinner I had some corn chowder that The Potential Most Favorite Roommate made yesterday along with a slice of take-and-bake garlic bread. I was so hungry I forgot to take a photo. I appreciated that I did not have to spend time making dinner.

Here are my ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi year end stats as of November 30th per Duolingo.

This is almost 117 hours!

I canʻt believe there are that many other people learning Hawaiian.

Isn't this nearly the same data as the 1st bullet?

I have noticed I understand more words when I am listening to songs.

It doesn't mention that I took about a 6-month break before I started in-person classes at UH.

Kīlauea volcano is still erupting.

About 2600 people on Hawaiʻi Island are still without power. Most are expected to get power back today.

 

The Aix weather app forecast rain until mid-afternoon in Honolulu, then partly cloudy skies with drizzles after dark; that didn't really happen, it was kinda nice in the morning. For Kapa'au, Aix forecast drizzles until mid-afternoon when the rain would start & go through the evening; Big Island Now forecast partly sunny with scattered showers with a 50% chance of rain. I don't know what the Honomū weather station found today. For Marysville, Aix forecast rain all day; I did not check the traffic cam so I don't know what happened today.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 8:14 a.m.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 11:05 a.m.

Nā Koʻolau at 11:09 a.m.

Needless to say I did not do much today in the way of the blog; all I managed to do was get the surf report for Hawaiʻi Island!

There was a magnitude 5.4 earthquake last night off the coast of Oregon; it was 8 miles deep & did not generate a tsunami. Then early this morning there were 2 earthquakes in the same area within about 2 hours of each other. They were slightly smaller than the one last night at magnitude 5.1 and 5.2; they also did not generate any tsunami. I think it is only the movement of the tectonic plates.

During the first 5 months that it was issued the Variant  Report, which identifies the different variants that have been verified to occur in cases here, was coming out every other week on Wednesday. I did not recognize in November that the Department of Health had switched to issuing the report once a month; I just thought they had decided to stop issuing the report like they have with some other data reports. I found the November report a day after it was issued. I will be looking for the next report to see how much the Omicron variant makes up of our known cases. However, it would have been more enlightening if they continued with the biweekly reporting. 

There were 72 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 88,512. There were also 6 new deaths reported, increasing the death toll to 1039; currently there are 1188 cases that are considered active. As of today 2,386,015 doses of vaccine have been administered, providing 72.3% with full vaccination & 77.8% with at least one dose. Currently there are 43 cases in the hospital with 9 in the ICU & 7 on ventilators. The 7-day new case average for the State is 88 with a positivity rate of 1.6%. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 50 with a positivity rate of 1.4%. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Terry, Andrea, & Roy!