Dan took delivery on his new Tesla on Tuesday. Our friend, George, drove him to Austin, where he picked it up, and then he drove it home to Temple. He's having a lot of fun with it. I plan to get behind the wheel soon, myself, but want to test it out in an empty parking lot before I take it for a road test.
One of the follow-up appointments, after my stroke, came on Monday, September 12. It was for the implantation of an Implantable Loop Recorder (ILR). It was a simple procedure, where the doctor numbed a portion of my left chest area, made a small incision and inserted an device (the ILR). The photo below is of a to-scale model of the device, that the company representative, who was there to program the device, gave to me. It is about 1/8" thick.
The purpose of my hospital stay was to undergo various tests to try to determine the cause of the stroke, but no cause was identified during those three days. One common cause of a stroke is a blood clot. The purpose of this ILR is to continuously record my heart rhythm and electronically send to the doctor any arrhythmia it records, since certain types of arrhythmia can cause blood clots. The battery in this device is good for close to 5 years, according to the company that produces them, and I will probably be host to it for that long.
The only down-side to the ILR is that it communicates, by Bluetooth, through an app on my iPhone, which I must have turned on and near me at all times, 24 hours a day. When I see the doctor, next week, who will be running a check on the device, I will ask him how strict I need to be about that.
Way back in May, for Mother's Day, Chris, Kelsey, Clara and Robert sent me a gift certificate for five people to participate in an escape adventure at Great Escape of Central Texas, in Killeen. I rounded up four friends to join me in this exploit, and scheduled it for July 29. The escape room that I chose was "The Lost Tomb of Anubis," (an ancient Egyptian tomb).
Of course, if you've read my previous post, you know that I had a stroke on July 26. During my hospital stay, I was determined not to cancel our up-coming, fun girls' day. After all, I kept telling myself and everyone else, the stroke didn't leave me with any on-going symptoms. However, once I was released from the hospital, a great fatigue set in, and I had to admit that I wasn't up to escaping an Egyptian tomb! I called Great Escape and they were so accommodating about letting me cancel with a full refund. A couple weeks later, I rescheduled our same team for Friday, September 2.
The five of us - Kay, Jan, Amanda, Stephanie and I - met for lunch at Clem Mikeska's and then car-pooled to Killeen. We had one hour to try to escape the tomb, and though we came VERY close ... we failed. It really didn't matter, though, because we had such fun working together in trying to solve all of the puzzles.
I probably never would have done something like this, had it not been for that Mother's Day gift from my kids and grands. So a big "thank you" definitely goes out to them. 💕
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| L to R: Kay, Linda, Amanda, Jan, Stephanie |
Dan and I had such a fun few days last week, spending one-on-one time with Grandson Robert. He will turn 13 in November, and I can hardly believe he will be a "teenager!" I was present at his birth, and it seems like that was just yesterday. He is changing so rapidly now. He's as tall as I am, and is such a joy to be around. I really wished that we could have had a few more days with him, but everyone's schedules are so busy, especially with school about to start.
We did a few fun things while he was here. A new shave-ice place, called Bahama Buck's, opened near our house, so we took him there for a treat.
Later that day we went to the movie theater to see "Minions - The Rise of Gru." Though I loved the original movie, "Despicable Me," I didn't think this one was great. But it gave us something to do together, so was well-worth the time.
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| A selfie of Robert and me, waiting for the movie to start |
On Friday we went to Waco and visited the Mammoth National Monument. It is the place where, in 1978, a mammoth bone was discovered by a couple of fellows who were searching for arrowheads. Since then archeologists have been excavating the site and have discovered a treasure-trove of mammoth fossils. The dig is on-going, and visitors can come to see the site. It was really interesting and something that Robert seemed to enjoy a lot.
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| Dan and Robert looking down on the dig |
We found a great place for lunch, after leaving the Mammoth Monument. It was a car-themed restaurant. Robert, like his Grandpa, is a car enthusiast, so this was a perfect place for a hamburger.
After lunch we headed to the Dr. Pepper Museum. Dr. Pepper was first made in Waco, Texas, in the 1880s. The museum is full of old Dr. P advertising, and interesting facts about the history of Dr. P and soft drinks, in general. I think the highlight for Robert, though, was enjoying a Dr. Pepper ice cream float at the end of the tour.
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| The actual artesian well that provided the water for making the original Dr. Pepper |
On Saturday I had to deliver Robert back to his family, and I've been missing him ever since.
