Tuesday, September 11, 2018

New Home - New Boy

How y'all doin? Thought I'd update those interested about the latest goings on around here.

  • Sold the ranch 3/26/18 
  • Moved to Boerne 
  • Both kids moved to Boerne ISD schools 
(Savy-Champion HS, 9th   Cash-Cibilo Creek Elementary, 1st)

The move has been spectacular and as much as I hated to give up the beauty and peace of the ranch-Boerne has treated us very well. We still have 7 acres so we can all have some elbow room and at some point we will add a fishing pond and a small vineyard, but enough about the house and the move-let's talk kiddos!

Savy-As usual she has rebounded well from the loss of friends and new surroundings. She had about 8 weeks to end finish the school year at Boerne and I think that time gave her just enough of a chance to meet some friends before summer. Over the summer she decided to pick up golf and wanted to try out for the golf team. Surprised the hell out of me but hey, I wasn't looking forward to another goat raising so we supported her 100%. Turns out the girl is kind of a natural, picked it up pretty quickly, played in some tourneys and miraculously made the golf team with just 2 months of experience. She's not competitive yet, but maybe by the Spring tournaments she will have a chance to tangle on the course. All in all, Savy has adjusted very well and we couldnt be happier with the direction she is headed as a young lady. Almost forgot, she is on a health professions track in HS, and right now says she wants to be an Orthodontist. We shall see.



Cash-Always the man of the hour, $ never misses an opportunity to remind us he should be the focus of all our attention. After ending Kinder with only a rare "bad" day, we were lucky enough to have Mrs. Schillingburg fill in as a summer caretaker for most of the time. She had just been hired by Boerne ISD and we are forever thankful for her help in his transition.

I may be getting ahead of myself however; back in February Cash began to tell us his head hurt, but it seemed to be mentioned mostly when he was in trouble so we didnt take it too seriously at first. After a month of this we began getting him tests. MRI's CatScans etc. The doctors didnt find anything, so we just wrote it off as him using this head hurt thing as a way to explain away his behavior. Sometime in early July, Mrs. S called Kim telling her about $ having a weird look on his face and kind of spacing out in Target. It really freaked her out. Not being there, we didn't think too much about it as he has done this sort of thing in the past. Since we didn't seem overly concerned, she took it in stride. About 2 weeks later during a staycation in Austin, Mrs S tells us Cash had broken out in hives, they took him to the local urgent care clinic and started some meds, but all in all he was still acting fine. We got home the next day and although the hives were still visible, it seemed the meds were doing their job.

One day later, around 8:30 am, it happened. Kimberley had just left for the office while I was on the phone with my dad, I was feeding $ donut holes and he says "No". I look at him, don't think much of it and continue chatting with my dad. Then he tries to get down off the couch and in so doing says "No, I'm fine" and I look over at him. I ask, "Do you need help bubba?" He replies, "No" and proceeds to slide down off the couch to the floor. I'm still talking to my dad and then I realize Cash was laying on his side on the floor and not moving. I ask if he is ok, but no response. Then I roll him over, no response. So I'm still a little confused at this point and give him one more chance to respond, so I give him a little tickle, and that's when I realize-still nothing. Now I panic. I tell my dad bye, pick Cash up and check to see if he was choking-but nothing is in his mouth. I listen for breathing and its shallow. Cash is lifeless and I pick him up, call Kim and have her come back home(she had barely made it out of the neighborhood). I run outside to meet Kim, and within seconds she pulls up to me running down the street with Cash. She calls 911, we plan on meeting them at the Urgent Care about 2 miles away, we arrive and they check his vitals and put him on oxygen. 3 minutes later the ambulance arrives just as Cash begins to come to. I run next door to the pharmacy my friend owns and ask for aspirin-scared I'm going to stroke out or have a heart attack. 5 minutes later he's buckled up in the ambulance and away he and Kimberley go to Methodist Childrens Hospital.

At this point I know this is going to be an overnight at least, so I head home to pack, get Savy home from the golf course and drive to the hospital. Savy is understandably upset. We arrive to a happy little boy and a stressed out mommy, but all in all it seems things are under control. A doctor whose name I cannot pronounce says some things I can barely understand and leaves. He comes back maybe 20 minutes later and all I understand is he is going into surgery for shunt failure. This is what we were afraid of.

Anyhow, fast forward about 3 hours and this is what you get.


Now I don't mean to belittle brain surgery, but I'm tellin ya the boy was pretty much back to his old self in a matter of a few hours. An incredible about face, and one we are so thankful for. He made it easy. Other than some complaints about all the wires and tape on his body he was really good. Momma stayed with him for 2 nights before he was released. Kims dad and my parents had come up during surgery and stayed with us for moral support and shuttling Savy around. If surgery was required-this was the way to do it, with the outcome you hope for, the support you need and a patient who makes all the trouble worth it. I am still shocked at his recovery. 

Since the surgery Cash seems to be in a better mood. He healed well, the hives finally stopped and we are glad that the shunt revision was a success. His appetitie is better and there have been no more complaints about his head hurting. Here is a pic of him about 2-3 weeks after surgery.


So that was our summer. After surgery we just made sure he healed. We healed. School has started again and both kids are doing great. Savy is running for class representative as an unknown because thats how she rolls. Cash has his very first class project due tomorrow on America. He even has to present it. 

Kimberley-Works hard and loves her family

Me-I slack on blog updates. Kimberley and I went to Cabo in late June. I caught a nice marlin. 
We've had a few whiskeys and just started Whole 30 last week. Yuck


Peace and Love Y'all!

Franek out