On the 20th of July, as Allen was bringing round the last of 22 bulls for semen checking, it turned on him, knocked him into a board fence, then commenced to roll him around and punch down with its head.  The veterinarian and his man were in the pen lightning fast, beating the bull back and, son, Dallas, grabbed him under the arms and dragged him to safety.  I called 911 to no avail, so after being transferred  to another line and explaining the situation and state of emergency a second time – we gave up and Allen wanted to get in the back seat of my pickup for the 15 minute ride to local hospital.  Despite incredibly slow traffic through Laclede (that NEVER happens), I made a fast 95 mph drive once on the highway with lights flashing and honking my horn so no one would change lanes in front of me.  Met not a single copper!

Long story, but 7 broken ribs (badly broken), but no punctured internal organs and no bleeding was enough to send him on by ambulance to University hospital at Columbia, MO, where he was stabilized, scanned, and x-rayed then waited in ER for five hours before moving to a room.  He had surgery to insert drainage tubes out each lung which drained for several days, then spent about 5 days in ICU.  Still had one lung partially collapse, but on 29 July he was released.  Moving mighty slow and on pain meds, this will be a very long recovery, but it could have been so much worse.  If it had to happen, could not have been better timing since all three children are home until the 17th of August.  (almost a month long visit) with Jessica not leaving until the 24th.

John, who worked for Allen and his dad for 44 years and officially retired now nearly 2 years has jumped right back in to help tremendously with the work load.  I will be making major management changes to allow Dallas and me to manage until Allen is fully recovered which will be a minimum of 10 weeks, but perhaps even longer.  He needed to make changes before but wasn’t wanting to – this may make him accept that he’s no longer 25.

Be safe out there!

tauna

Allen had his checkup on 8 August.  Doctor’s orders full in work.  There I was upsetting the cart trying to make things run more smoothly in anticipation of the previous call of a 10 week recovery .  Thank goodness all is back to normal.  Only 17 days.  So many prayers – powerful!

As a dear friend says:  “Absolutely AMAZING!!! Wow, what favor from our Creator!”