20120529 - Long Road

20120529 - Up in the am and right into it. Had a good update and things in line for a busy week. GmaW called and said the squad had to come and help get GpaW out of the house this morning and they were on their way in to the hospital. I had already planned on heading up and was glad to hear she had the help. Worked some more and about 2ish got another call from GmaW, not as good of a report: GpaW has blood clots in both lungs (pulmonary embolism) and is having a very hard time breathing. GmaW was upset, this was bad news, and I headed out right away. On the road I called many folks to find out what a pormanary embalistic thing is as I do not have Google installed in the car (Yet!). I learned that it is pretty common after surgeries and is not a good thing and can be really bad if not caught in time. On the road up GmaW called back and had better news from the Drs in the Cardio ICU, that GpaW made it in before things got too serious and with a week in the hospital and 6 months of blood thinner treatment, should be fine (apparently the ER Dr is not as experienced and painted a much darker picture...). So I headed to the Farm instead of the hospital. I met GmaW, Uncle JohnT, Stu and Dave there and we got the barn fixed up from the rambunctious bulls and got things lined up for more cattle handling. I gave an electric fence lesson to the guys so I have backup and then fed a couple of big round bales. Everyone took off and GmaW and I headed into town and had a nice dinner and tried to come up with a plan for the animals. We had some good conversation for two people emotionally on a tight rope, stressed and exhausted (I think I got the ability to manage situations like the one we are in from her). We made our way in to see GpaW and he is very tired and week still. His oxygen numbers looked good and they have things closely watched and under control. I told dad what all we got done and then discussed the cows with him. He loves them, all of them, as if they were a cat or a dog you had by your side for years.
They have been his companions on that farm his entire life and the link is so very deep and strong. We decided moving them out quickly would be best and we would try to sort out three of the animals with the original Farm bloodline going back to the early 1800s. A very sad and emotional decision... Knowing dad was in good hands we left to see if we could get some animals ready to go tomorrow morning, but they had already headed up the hill to the star filled pasture for a peaceful nights sleep. We made calls and plans to start the sorting in the morning. On the road home, thinking of the long recovery ahead: a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step...
We will make it!