It’s hard to believe that in April Lacey had a pace maker put in. It was quite an experience for all involved. At the end of May she had her 30 day check up which gave her the OK to go back to her regular activities, which would include a 6 month check up for the rest of her life. This was our first six month (11/21/2008) check up since Lacey was given the thumbs up to go back to being normal. Our appointment was at 9:45 in Corvallis at the Vet School and Dr. Scollan who did the pacemaker surgery was still doing her internship so was Lacey’s Dr for this appointment. 
Since the 30 day check up only took about 2 hours we were anticipating more of the same, but we were wrong. Dr Scollan gave Lacey the once over, said they needed to do x-rays, ECG plus check the generator and that we should come back at 3:00. While Lacey wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of this visit, there was nothing we could do except make the most of it. We waved goodbye to Lacey, told her to be a good girl and headed out of the exam room.
So there we are with 5 hours and no firm plans. Bonnie bemoaned the fact that we didn’t know we’d be there so long otherwise we could have called up the Co-Motion Factory (that is who manufactured our tandem) in Eugene and then headed up to the reception desk to get a map of Corvallis. When she got back to Bill, he was on the phone with Pete at Co-Motion and we had an appointment to tour their facility.
Bonnie and Bill were quite excited since they had recently purchased a used Co-Motion tandem bike. Pete, the manager of the facility was very gracious with his time, talking about their new models, and then taking time to walk Bonnie and Bill through their facility. How cool to see the process of raw tubing being turned into a gorgeous bicycle built for two. The first step even before cutting the tube pieces is creating a detailed design. From here the tube is cut into various lengths, notches and holes drilled where necessary. Then these pieces are put together in a jig and tack welded, with the next step being the finish weld of each joint. Brazed for steel, welded for aluminum. With all the heat of welding the frames are then locked down and fine tuned for straightness and various dimensions. Next is polishing and frame readying it for the paint room. The paint room is such that six frames can be sprayed at the same time. The room in like what the auto industry uses. Some frames have a simple single coat of paint, while others require multiple sprays with buffing between each coat of paint. Interesting note for shipping. The bikes are shipped broken down. Once received at a retail store, they are assembled for the sales floor. Much less damage when shipped in this fashion. If you ever get a chance to visit the Co-Motion factory it is well worth your time. It is best to call ahead a day or so, so Pete can plan for your tour.
A big thank you to Pete and the Co-Motion crew for their time, and friendly environment for a couple of individuals with many questions of why, what, and how.
Once we left Eugene we headed back to Corvallis as there was still lots of hours until the scheduled pick up time. Since we’ve been to Corvallis previously we already had a lunch and coffee place picked out. The first item on the agenda was FOOD, so we headed downtown to the Great Harvest Bakery. We sampled bread and had a great lunch, then we walked along the river and did some window shopping. If you ever go to Corvallis be sure to stop at “Sibling revelry”….they have a fabulous selection of all kinds of stuff and we were able to purchase a few Christmas gifts, the next store of interest was Grass Roots Books, another wonderful store, we could have spent hours looking around the store.
As the 3:00 hour approached we headed back to the vet school to get Lacey’s test results. The technology used in the pacemaker is absolutely amazing. Dr Scollan told us that Lacey’s x-rays were perfect and the lead and generator had not moved so it wouldn’t be necessary to have an x-ray next time and we would just do it once a year. The lifespan of the battery is expected to be 9
years and Dr Scollan showed us a bar graph indicating what Lacey’s heart rate has been over the last six months. The heart rate has varied between 60 (which is the low that the pacemaker is set at) and 140, with the majority of the heart rating being below 100 bpm. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what she was doing when her heart rate was up to 140?
As we headed out of town we stopped at our favorite oddball coffee shop, The Internzone and had our latte & white mocha and a piece of Strawberry rhubarb pie that was out of this world.
It was a very good day!
Since the 30 day check up only took about 2 hours we were anticipating more of the same, but we were wrong. Dr Scollan gave Lacey the once over, said they needed to do x-rays, ECG plus check the generator and that we should come back at 3:00. While Lacey wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of this visit, there was nothing we could do except make the most of it. We waved goodbye to Lacey, told her to be a good girl and headed out of the exam room.So there we are with 5 hours and no firm plans. Bonnie bemoaned the fact that we didn’t know we’d be there so long otherwise we could have called up the Co-Motion Factory (that is who manufactured our tandem) in Eugene and then headed up to the reception desk to get a map of Corvallis. When she got back to Bill, he was on the phone with Pete at Co-Motion and we had an appointment to tour their facility.
Bonnie and Bill were quite excited since they had recently purchased a used Co-Motion tandem bike. Pete, the manager of the facility was very gracious with his time, talking about their new models, and then taking time to walk Bonnie and Bill through their facility. How cool to see the process of raw tubing being turned into a gorgeous bicycle built for two. The first step even before cutting the tube pieces is creating a detailed design. From here the tube is cut into various lengths, notches and holes drilled where necessary. Then these pieces are put together in a jig and tack welded, with the next step being the finish weld of each joint. Brazed for steel, welded for aluminum. With all the heat of welding the frames are then locked down and fine tuned for straightness and various dimensions. Next is polishing and frame readying it for the paint room. The paint room is such that six frames can be sprayed at the same time. The room in like what the auto industry uses. Some frames have a simple single coat of paint, while others require multiple sprays with buffing between each coat of paint. Interesting note for shipping. The bikes are shipped broken down. Once received at a retail store, they are assembled for the sales floor. Much less damage when shipped in this fashion. If you ever get a chance to visit the Co-Motion factory it is well worth your time. It is best to call ahead a day or so, so Pete can plan for your tour.A big thank you to Pete and the Co-Motion crew for their time, and friendly environment for a couple of individuals with many questions of why, what, and how.
Once we left Eugene we headed back to Corvallis as there was still lots of hours until the scheduled pick up time. Since we’ve been to Corvallis previously we already had a lunch and coffee place picked out. The first item on the agenda was FOOD, so we headed downtown to the Great Harvest Bakery. We sampled bread and had a great lunch, then we walked along the river and did some window shopping. If you ever go to Corvallis be sure to stop at “Sibling revelry”….they have a fabulous selection of all kinds of stuff and we were able to purchase a few Christmas gifts, the next store of interest was Grass Roots Books, another wonderful store, we could have spent hours looking around the store.
As the 3:00 hour approached we headed back to the vet school to get Lacey’s test results. The technology used in the pacemaker is absolutely amazing. Dr Scollan told us that Lacey’s x-rays were perfect and the lead and generator had not moved so it wouldn’t be necessary to have an x-ray next time and we would just do it once a year. The lifespan of the battery is expected to be 9
years and Dr Scollan showed us a bar graph indicating what Lacey’s heart rate has been over the last six months. The heart rate has varied between 60 (which is the low that the pacemaker is set at) and 140, with the majority of the heart rating being below 100 bpm. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what she was doing when her heart rate was up to 140?As we headed out of town we stopped at our favorite oddball coffee shop, The Internzone and had our latte & white mocha and a piece of Strawberry rhubarb pie that was out of this world.
It was a very good day!
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