I'm a bit anxious about this.

[jhm47]

Last week, my soon to be 94 year old father had a bad gallbladder attack. He had pain in his left quadrant, and we were concerned that it might have been cardiac related. However, his EKG and enzymes were negative (thankfully), so they did an ultrasound and found gallstones. We have him scheduled for laparoscopic surgery at my daughter's hospital 250 miles away. Since she's a family practice physician, we left all the details up to her. However, she scheduled things on a day when I have a customer meeting with many of my good customers, and that can't be changed. I also have some cows due to start calving two days beforehand.

What do I do? I just cannot bring myself to leave my Dad alone there, and my daughter is scheduled to work those days. I hate to leave my customers hanging (although my manager will do a good job with them), and who do I find to watch my cows? My son-in-law is willing to help with the cows. He's very inexperienced with cattle, although he's learning quickly. Another problem is that it's either going to be very cold, or very muddy. We have a LOT of snow here, and it's beginning to melt, but that brings deep muddy conditions. NOT the most desireable conditions for calving (or anything else, for that matter). What a pickle I'm in!

 

[ksalvagno]

Wow, you do have a tough situation. Any chance the SIL or another family member could take your dad?

 

[freemotion]

From reading your post, it sounds like you already know what you want to do. This is what I "heard" in your words:

Go be with dad. The customers will be taken care of and the cows will survive (or not, dad is still more important.) Less than perfect, but you would never forgive yourself if something happened and you put customers or cows over family.

 

[DonnaBelle]

Ditto.

You can get more customers and cows.

There's only one Dad, no matter what.

DonnaBelle

 

[jhm47]

One of the cows that was due to calf on March 13th calved yesterday. A nice heifer calf from an AI bull named Pendleton. This is my son's cow, and she is a purebred Angus. I still have the other one that's due on the 13th, but hopefully she will calf before I have to take my Dad to his appointment. After that, there are none due till the 24th, so I should be OK with them. Then, the big push starts with the major portion of the herd due. No sleep after that!

Thanks for your concern everyone. I just don't have a good feeling with my Dad's age being against him like this. He really needs the surgery, but at 94, they don't heal or recover from the anesthesia as quickly.

 

[mommy_2_parks]

I'll be praying for you and your family (especially for your father). Congrats on the heifer calf!