Left Red Bay, AL and drove to Bandera, TX arriving on April 1. Couldn't understand why my "bronchitis" was still affecting me so I immediately found another "walk-in-clinic-doctor" in Bandera and began yet another regimen of high-powered meds.
My reason for being in Bandera was to attend an RV Rally for single RV'ers. This rally consisted of twice-daily country western dance lessons, eating out, pot luck suppers, exploring the surrounding beautiful Texas Hill Country, kayaking the Medina River, Trail Rides, and lots of other fun entertainment.
By this time my illness kept me from attending 95% of the Rally activities. For 7 of the 10 Rally days I just stayed in bed, taking my meds like a good girl. But stubbornly I went on the Kayak adventure which eventually turned out to be a very bad decision. I was now more than ever, having major trouble catching my breath and returned to the doctor. Finally, a chest x-ray was taken which showed that my lungs were healthy and totally cleared of any infection, BUT that my heart was so EXTREMELY enlarged that my lungs were being compressed.
Immediately, my RV friends rallied to my side! Rocky was lovingly cared for, and my RV was watched over. They drove me to Methodist Hospital in San Antonio where a pace-maker/defibrillator was implanted. I awakened from the surgery feeling better than ever!! It was determined that my heart problems were most likely due to DNA from my father's family who had multiple instances of heart problems. My father had received a heart transplant at age 59 and his mother had died from heart failure at age 52.
After being discharged I was driven home and received wonderful TLC from my friends during my recovery. I returned to the doctors on May 3 for follow-up and was released from their care.
The pacemaker came with a high-tech external monitoring device for sending quarterly reports to my doctors. Every 3 months I will hook up the device to a telephone line, hover a small attached gizmo right over the implanted pacemaker and press a button. It will automatically dial a special number and transmit a report to the doctors for evaluation. The report shows battery life, and other heart related technical stuff. I only have to see the doctors in person once a year!!
On May 5, only 16 days after the pacemaker implant, I cranked up my motorhome, left Bandera, TX and headed west to catch up with my RV friends. I felt wonderfully healthy!!!!!!!
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