Dad has surgery, Trav turns 42, and a friend dies

First, my favorite quote of the week:

"I may be a bitch. But at least I'm good at what I do."
-Tabatha from "Tabatha's Salon Takeover"

This week was full of events. Last Monday, Mom and I decided to take Dad to the ER after he had been throwing up for 24 hours straight. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, which was our biggest worry, and a urinary infection. He has been in the hospital all week, getting pumped full of antibiotics. While there, his doctor discovered a few other problems and may have just figured out what has been causing him to be so nauseous. He was also able to get the surgery that he was too sick to get last week. This was to create a fistula in his upper left arm. Let me scroll down to see if I described what a fistula is in my last post.........nope. Okay. A fistula is when an artery is surgically connected to a vein, making a sort of u-turn in the arm. After a few weeks the vein then becomes as large as the artery. At that point, Dad can receive his dialysis there, and it is safe enough to do in a home environment, which is the ultimate goal.

My older brother, Travis, turned 42 on Friday. It's hard to believe we are getting that old. When I'm home on the ranch and in the house I grew up in, I feel like that dorky teenager all over again. But, I will be 37 in January. Trav celebrated by running his horse right into a badger hole, which threw them both down nearly breaking the horse's leg and severely bruising Trav's collarbone. Then we all went to dinner. Tough being a cowboy...

On a sad note, a friend of mine died over the weekend. He and I went to school together starting in preschool and going all the way to high school. He also helped out several summers on the ranch. He was a funny, smart, irreverent guy. He had been battling alcohol for many years now and when he was in jail 2 years ago, my dad introduced him to Alcoholics Anonymous and became his sponsor. But unfortunately, he lost his battle. He hung himself.

On a lighter note, Michael repainted Vanna's room. She has been wanting to paint it over in her favorite colors...namely...pink, pink, PINK!!! But, Chris kept vetoing the idea. I think he liked the cool jungle mural Michael had previously painted in her room. I guess with Michael there for a full week...Vanna won out! It is now painted in pink and white stripes with black trim. Sounds very French princess, to me! Perhaps Chris will post some pictures online (hint, hint).

That's all for now!

Cheers,
Ernest

Cowboy up! The calves are off to market.

It's business as usual this week on the Palmer Ranch. Travis and Rick loaded up the calves to send them off to the market. There are around 250 calves to sell this year (we always keep few). The whole process of selling cattle has become very technologically advanced. At the beginning of summer, a videographer comes out to film the calves on the range. The calves are gathered up and then slowly driven in front of the camera. Then that video is uploaded to a satellite where later in the summer it is broadcast across North America for an online auction. It's great because you get a lot more bidders, and this year we got a great price - $1.08/pound. If you figure 600 pounds per calf then that's around $162,000 minus a whole lot of expenses.

Here's video:












Dad Update:
We had the biggest scare yet a couple nights ago. Dad's sugar dropped to 29. That's low enough to put him in a coma or kill him. We mounted a vigil and by 6am his sugar was back up to 96. Still low but acceptable. Very scary. Today he is fine. Each day is up and down, but we are surviving and staying positive.

Cheers,
Ernest

"Happy Halloween" -OR- "What's that buzzing sound?"

It was a very quiet afternoon.  I was diligently working my way through dad's numerous medicines.  And then my brother and his family arrived.  It was like getting hit by a class 4 tornado. 

In the pictures are Jaicee (9-years-old) and Marquel (2-years-old).  They were dressed as the "BUMBLE BEE SISTERS!!"  Da-da-da-DAH  da-DAAAAHHH!!   Also pictured is my dad, Tom, and Shay in the background. 

DAD UPDATE:
Dad is back home.  The scare we had last Sunday turned out only to be a minor infection, so he was home by Wednesday.  He does require a lot of work though.  He isn't strong enough to stand up on his own.  He is still on a feeding tube.  He has a rigorous medicine schedule that starts at 6am and goes until 10pm.  His diabetes requires regular insulin shots.  And he has dialysis 3 days a week in a town 60 miles away.  So, it's pretty busy here.  He really needs a live-in nurse, but insurance won't pay for it. 

I'm definitely making a difference being here.  Thanks for all your support.

Cheers,
E