Donating blood and the new driveway (could you finish my room first!-Elena)

 Elena has asked me several time to go with her to donate blood. I tried recently to donate at St Ann's and have been turned down for low iron in my blood. Elena has not donated since she got her tattoo about two years ago. She was a senior in high school when she donated. Nastia wants to donate, but she is still less then 110 lbs. She said she didn't care. Passing out after she donates is a real possibility, maybe worse, but hates being left out more it seems.

Elena made an appointment for 8AM on Sunday before she went to ShopRite. I waited to make an appointment until Friday so I could only get 8:45. Elena was ok to switch her appointment to that. She needs someone to lean on sometimes. I remember being that way when I was younger and sometime even now I need that person to go with me to do something new. It makes it easier even if they just stand there and do nothing. If things get out of hand or become to complicated there is that other person you can turn to and at least look at, there is that familiar.

We arrived at the office building on Smith Street in Nanuet, not the one in Bardonia. The New York blood center is on the fifth floor and has been there for it seems ever. I've been there before and for some reason I don't like going there. The only reason Elena was going was she felt she was getting harassed by them to donate blood and wanted it to stop. It was surprisingly busy on a Saturday morning just after Thanksgiving. We waited outside the office with our masks securely on until there was space for us. We

enter and are seated in front of the computers. We scan are cards and start answering questions, A couple of time Elena asks me about a question. I tell her how to answer it. A Nurse tells me I have to leave her alone to answer the questions, HIPA regulations and all. I understand why, but she is unsure how to answer. I give her a quick answer to her question as the nurse says if she is unsure she should leave it blank and they would go over it with her. Again I understand why, but it is tough to not help her out when she asks.

I go over to the next station and get my finger pricked. This stage always reminds me of the George Carlin joke about being able to get your finger pricked, but not your ........fingered. (if you don't remember the joke figure it out). And it always does and I always want to know the answer to that joke. Elena gets seated across from me. I take a discreet picture to put in my blog. 

I have my usual conversation about finding my blood vessel with the nurse. I use my usual line about having to hunt and stick and hope to find my vein. She is pretty good. She sticks me and only has to giggle the needle a little to get it in the vein. When she takes the needle out I hold some gauze on the puncture and my arm over my head. In what seems like forever holding it up my fingers begin to feel a little numb. She tells me to bring it down and she takes the gauze away. To my surprise blood begins to flow out of the wound. It is dark red and looks rich and healthy. I watch it form a very small pool in the crook of my arm. I then say 'woops' getting her attention and a new gauze applied. That had never happened to me before. She most have stuck me real good. 

Afterwards I am escorted over to a table and I'm given a goodie bag and a T-shirt. I look at it. It says,
"Oh Snap, I'm a blood donor", boring. I like my idea and I tell Elena and a women who is sitting across the plastic dividered (it's a made up by me Covid term which means a clear plastic diver set up to stop people from infecting others while they eat) table. The shirts should look like they are splattered with blood and say "I donated blood!" 

We leave shortly afterwards. I tell Elena if she feels weak or tired to take a break at work and tell them she donated blood. I drop her off at work and head home. 

At home I decide I must dig out the rest of the new driveway I am building. (What about my bedroom!-Elena) I started with a ten foot wide driveway. I was told it was too narrow, so I added about three feet

or so to it. I thought it was good. Next I am told by Teri and as we are leaving to donated blood by Elena you can't fit two cars there. It wasn't meant for two cars, I was trying to simplify it so no one had to park on the grass, later mud this winter. Well, I decide to add about three feet to the width. And in so doing I am shoveling dirt I'd put on the lawn a second time. I get an hour or so into it and I keep replaying me telling Elena to be careful not to over do it after donating blood. I'm tired, but I continue on. At one point I swear my sight goes dark. I'm not sure it really happened, but I decide to stop and go inside. Nastia calls me asking me to have lunch with her, I go. When I come back all refreshed I dig some more. It's going to rain heavily Sunday nigh I must finish before then. I leave at a little before five to go pick up Nastia and Elena. The end hopefully is in sight for this project. (And what about my Room!!-Elena) 

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