Our Dad

As many of you already know, our dad, John Rona, was involved in a terrible motorcycle accident on May 12th, 2009. We do not know the cause of the accident. He was lucky to be found 8 seconds after the crash by members of the ward who were following him after a church function. He got to the hospital in record time & was treated immediately. The first hour is the miracle hour. He had major head trauma & went in for brain surgery to remove a blood clot at around midnight. The surgery went well & they removed the clot successfully.

The next day, May 13th, the swelling in his head began to increase. They had removed a portion of his skull to leave room for the swelling, but it was still worrisome. The pressure in his head went up to a 29 & threatened brain death (I've been told we operate at a pressure of 5 or so). The doctors really wanted to see dad's pressure drop below a 20. They gave him manitol- a particle that pulls the fluid out of the brain, they increased his sodium levels, they sedated him to keep his anxiety down & even gave him a drug to temporarily paralyze him. If the levels continued to rise they were going to have to take drastic measures, such as standing him up, inserting a catheter to cool him down, or finally removing part of his brain. Luckily, by inserting an EVD into the cerebral spinal fluid sac, they were able to drain out some fluid and create room for the swelling.

Many of us were praying and fasting all day for the swelling to go down and around 9pm it did! It went down to a 15! The nurse was hoping for a 20, so this was great news.

The doctors sat many family members down on the first day & showed us dad's cat scan results. He had major swelling, blood in the brain, and a partial stroke that caused some brain damage to his left side. They were very concerned and said they do not know exactly how this damage would effect our dad if he ever wakes up. Their biggest concern was his glasgow coma score. On a scale from 3-15 (3 being a table & 15 being us), he scored a 5. This is his level of consciousness or how deep his coma is. It is measured by several neurological tests including testing his reaction to pain or response to commands, his movements, his eyes reaction to light, etc. The good news is that this number can increase & the doctors said it is a complete possibility. It has not been ruled out.

I believe the brain is resilient as well as John Rona! The doctors are doing an amazing job to protect my dad from further injury & they have helped to save his life so far. The nurses say his heart beats like a champ & they would have thought he was a marathon runner. He is in amazing shape! The reports read, "40 year old man involved in an accident." Pretty good for our 55 year old dad.

His blood pressure is in a manageable zone, his heart rate is great, his swelling is going down & he is breathing in and out. He is on life support to help regulate his breaths as the doctors believe he would not breath adequately without it for now.

Of course the doctors do not want to over promise and have told us every scary thing imaginable. Our dad has received two blessings. One at the site of the accident by members of the ward & second by his eldest son, Cassidy, on the second day. All of us kids were there holding hands & praying over our dad. It was a sacred moment. We know these blessings have turned it over to the Lord's will. We know ultimately it is in His hands & we all have such strong faith & courage that whatever the result, we will all be okay. We love our dad so much & we have felt that this choice is up to him & the Lord.

We will continue to pray for his strength and healing. Miracles do happen & if anyone can make it through this, it is our he-man of a dad.

Love, Summer & the kids