Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my pacemaker. Stayed in pajamas all day cooking, cleaning, and decorating for Christmas. Had to wear a Holter monitor from Monday to Wednesday for 48 hours, bit of a fiasco as the tech wired me up so that it was impossible to take my bra off; I ended up cutting the bra off. Was required to keep a journal of activities and events which consisted mainly of leads falling off while I slept or watched TV. Took 2 walks despite very cold weather, big heavy coat over pajamas, just to get some activity to report.
Younger son and girlfriend bought a live tree from the mens' group at the Methodist church we used to attend. Dollar store decorations on a $50 tree, looks beautiful plus saved me from having to set one up with ornaments from the past. I expect to feel some sadness but have been too busy or too tired. We watched Muppets' Christmas Carol, the new remastered version. Forgot how perfect Michael Caine is as Scrooge.
Went to my second meeting of WomenHeart on Wednesday after dropping off monitor, talked first with the group leader about her experience with cardiac Sarcoidosis then enjoyed a dietician/chef show us how to make heart healthy snacks. One recipe I already tried and it was not as easy as she made it look although very yummy.
Called my mother that night to see what her Assisted Living was doing for the holidays, had heard her describe their Hanukkah tree at least 5 times. I know her routine but she had not taken her 3pm nap because there had been a presentation and celebration in remembrance of D-Day she attended. God bless her. This led to emails from me to family insinuating she is converting to Judaism and probably has a Jewish boyfriend.
Due to increasingly poor balance, I finally went to a neurologist and will be having an MRI of my brain on Tuesday. Because I'm allergic to the dye, I'll need to pre-medicate with my least favorite drug, prednisone, starting the night before. Probably not much sleep that night! Because of pacemaker, there needs to be a pacemaker tech who will put it in "sleep mode" during the MRI. I'm slightly worried but hope this gives the doctor more information.
My older son helped put up white icicle lights on the front porch which look lovely. We had our first snow. The girlfriend will be working Christmas Eve plus Christmas Day so Christmas will happen when it happens. In cleaning the parlor so we can use the woodstove, I've been assembling a box of things to mail to my husband's daughter in Colorado whom I reached out to and got a considerate reply. So, all in all, life goes on. Happy holidays to all!