The Blood Bus

I set a goal at the beginning of this year to donate blood because it seems like a good thing to do. It's the end of July and I finally got up the nerve to do it. See, no one can ever find my veins so I've never had blood drawn, or an IV, or anything with just one stick. It's usually several and several different nurses, techs, whatever, that try it. I'm pretty much averse to any and all pain and multiple jabs does not work with that. And I mean, really, who likes needles anyway? Ooo, yes, please poke me with that big sucker! Nevertheless, I decided I'd go and donate blood and check off that dang little goal.

I got to the blood bus and filled out my paperwork and they took my temperature, and pricked my finger to check my red blood cell count, etc. Then I sat in the lovely little reclining chair and one of the phlebotomists went to work. But couldn't find a vein in my left arm. So we switched chairs and a different phlebotomist eventually found a vein in my right arm. (Perhaps my veins reside in the middle of my arms rather than close to the surface like most peoples?) She put the needle in then looked at it with a screwed up face. "Hmm, not much blood is coming. It should really be gushing by this point. Do you mind if I adjust the needle?" Oh sure, why not! (This happened when I had surgery too - the blood should have been gushing... but it wasn't. Apparently I also have less blood than others or else it knows when someone is trying to steal it and it stays far away from the predator.) The adjustment didn't work. Phlebotomist Tom came over and looked at it and asked if he could see my left arm. He found a vein in my left arm and if I don't mind they'll switch me back to the other chair and take it from that arm. That is, if I don't mind.

Naturally I said I didn't mind - I mean what else am I going to say? Heck no! I'm done with this and this is what's kept me from coming here all this time? Well, I agreed and first had to go back to the waiting area while the other persons in the left arm chairs finished up. This is clearly a very simple procedure for most people - and fast - they come in, sit down, the blood flows, they leave. Ten to fifteen minutes. But not for me. Oh no, we're going on an hour at this point. And other people were just flying through the place!

Phlebotomist Tom was able to locate a good vein in my left arm and once he got the needle in the blood flowed quickly and filled that little bag right up. (I guess my blood gave up the hiding bit.) He said that if I want to donate blood again (he was clearly unsure if I'd be willing to come in again) that I should drink double my normal intake of water for 2 days ahead of my donation and that should help. I'm not sure that would help but I'll keep it in mind. Because by next summer I might have forgotten this ordeal and be willing to try again.

Oh yeah! They also wrap your elbow with a bright bandage around the gauze. I think the bright color is so that it stands out and people ask what that's all about and you tell them you donated blood and they say, "Oh! I should donate blood too!" I wonder if it ever works? So don't worry, I had bright teal bandages on both elbows and the small white bandage on my finger where they checked my red blood count. And seriously, my finger really did gush! Good thing I only had to pick one thing up from the store with those lovelies on. I only got a few curious looks. Not having donated blood before it didn't occur to me to go to the store before I was all bandaged from being attacked.

By this time I've learned a few things.

1) When it involves needles in my arm, whether that be drawing blood or getting an IV or whatever, I'm going to have to go in and just insist that they start me off with the boss - the person with the most experience. Not because I'm a snob (which is what most of them will think and the head nurse person won't be able to dispute it because they'll find my vein right away and not see what the problem is) but because I always end up seeing that person anyway but only after several unnecessary jabs and pokes, and much more discomfort than necessary.

2) My blood doesn't want to be removed. It's quite happy where it is so whether you want to test it or take it, you'll likely have to fight for it.

3) If I should undertake this endeavor again I'll need to plan on about 1 1/2 to 2 hours - just to be safe. (This one was over 1 1/2 hours...)

Blowin' Bubbles

Mia (my niece) saw me blowing bubbles with my gum the other day and at first she was confused but very interested. Then she got excited and tried popping the bubbles and she thought it was so funny. She kept sticking out her tongue trying to figure out how I was doing it. This is a video Becky took of her reaction - it was pretty funny. :)

Isn't she so cute!?

Crazy Little Storm

Last night we had a crazy storm about 11pm or so. I could tell it was raining buckets and hailing and it was so dark out I couldn't see much when I looked out but I had no idea the extent of it until this morning... Here are a few pics of the damage outside.

It looks like snow in July:

Leaves everywhere!

And look at this poor little flower! All the leaves are torn up and the petals were knocked off. There are many plants like this and our summer squash looks polka dotted.

Crazy! And while I was listening to the rain, hail, wind and thunder last night I thought how terrifying it must be to be in a hurricane when things truly are crazy. Especially on a little island in a grass hut. It made me grateful that I have a warm, safe house that's sturdy and that I live in a pretty mild climate where this is about as bad as it gets. I wasn't worried last night, it just made me wonder and be grateful for my blessings.

Random Carrie

I was tagged to post 10 random things about myself (forever and a day ago!) - so here goes...

1. I *love* office/school supplies! White boards, pens, clips, etc., etc., etc.

2. Don't ask me directions. I have no sense of direction and I get lost going anywhere and everywhere. That whole north, east, south, west thing is ridiculous. I know where the mountains are but when I moved so did the mountains. Then what was I supposed to do? There is no such thing as an internal compass in me. At all.

3. I love to organize and plan things. I guess that fits nicely with #1 doesn't it? I'm not so good at coming up with creative, original ideas but I can help you execute it.

4. I like poison frogs. You know the little dart frogs? They're so cute! I love their bright colors and they're tiny which I always like. I don't want to hold one or get in it's way because I don't want to be poisoned you know, but I do like to admire them from afar. See, look: Cute, huh?

5. If I'm in a bad mood, Elvis can usually fix it. Usually.

6. I don't like red candy. Especially red M&Ms!

7. I'm both fascinated by and terrified of fire.

8. I don't think there will ever be enough time on this earth to learn everything I want to learn.

9. As J says, "If it's old, my mom will like it."

10. I took ballet and tap dance lessons when I was little and always had a secret desire to be a ballerina.

Simply Amazing!

So, I'm trying to do some family history work tonight (you can see that I'm working really hard on it!) and I just have to tell you that every time I open the new Family Search website I laugh. It brings the user's info up first, so obviously that's me, and right next to my name it says "Add or find husband." Who knew?? Hmm, let's try "find." Now if I had known that doing genealogy was so helpful in the here and now I might have been much more on top of it years ago!

Well That Was a Rude Awakening

Last night I put a glass of water on the nightstand by my bed because my throat was dry and I was coughing. This morning I mostly woke up (I wasn't all the way awake yet...) and went to take a drink. I did a quick glance to make sure there weren't any spiders in the glass - ok, pause here - I'm terrified of the nasty things and even if you're not, I challenge you to spend a little time in my room and not become paranoid...

Anyway, everything seemed clear so I took a small drink. And felt something on my lips! I spit everything out, sorry floor, and was now 100% awake. Then I checked the floor to see what might be crawling away and how much scrubbing I'd have to do of my lips (can't have any spider residue there of course). There was a tiny little white moth crawling across the floor. Still sick. Not as sick as a spider (by a long shot) but still unnerving. What a rude awakening.

Dog Sitting

Last week we watched Becky's dog, Dakota, while they were on vacation. She was pretty good, she's calmed down substantially in her old(er) age which is nice because she was a total spaz when she was a puppy. Anyway, I came home last Thursday and Dakota was acting really weird and jumpy and kept going to the treats. Now, she always likes a treat after you've left her, whether it's for 10 minutes or 10 hours so I gave her one but that's all. (I did learn from this that we humans are not the only creatures that like a treat when we're feeling out of sorts.)

After a few minutes she started trying to hide under the desk and I noticed that her ears were back - and then it hit me! It was stormy outside and there was lots of thunder and Dakota hates thunder - quite terrified of it. So, of course, being the good doggie aunt that I am I sat down with her and pet her. After petting her for a few minutes, hair is flying everywhere and a nice little collection starts. If you think you've ever seen a dog that sheds a lot, wait until you see these pictures...

This was after petting her for about 20 minutes (and of course there was plenty left on the carpet, my clothes, floating in the air, etc.):

I put the movie next to the collection of dog hair just to give you a size reference:

This is pretty normal. She sheds like it's going out of style! I put up with it because, well, what else am I going to do? But also because it was fairly entertaining sitting there with her. She put her head down and rubbed against me and she tried several times to climb into my lap. Dakota is NOT a lap dog, as you can see:

Then she buried her head against my leg and covered her eyes with her paws. Any time it thundered she'd look at me and whimper. Poor Dakota! I feel sorry that she was so nervous but honestly it was quite humorous and endearing.

The J's Hair

The J decided to get a haircut today and Becky offered to do the honors. (He won't let me touch his hair after a couple less than ideal experiences. Which is fine by me.) They got this far and he decided it was time to stop. What do you think?

Ok, ok, don't stress too much. They did finish the cut and he's back to short hair. BUT, we all agreed that if he grows his hair out again, he'll have the makings for a great halloween costume! Becky will give him a mullet again and he suggested adding a flannel shirt with the sleeves torn off to really complete the look. And a follow up buzz the next day of course.