Lonna Wheelock

Sunday September 11 mom (Lonna) woke up with a headache.  As the morning progressed she became dizzy and nauseated and soon collapsed.  After an ambulance trip to Burlington Memorial and a quick CT scan it was obvious that she had had a Subarachnoid hemorrhage aka ruptured brain bleed.  They then airlifted her to St. Luke's hospital.  There the staff was speedy, she went straight to CT.  When in the room they put in a central line, a brain drain (to relieve brain pressure and allow the blood to drain out), and do a risky procedure of going through the femoral artery all the way to the brain and insert a coil where the hemorrhage occurred.  The purpose of the coil is to stop and prevent further bleeding.
Those are the facts, these are the emotions.....
I got the worst phone call from  my daddy who was completely distraught because his soulmate and best friend was unresponsive.  Not being able to understand much else we sped our way to the hospital.  They were acting so quickly people rushing in and out of the room.  My dad had called his friend who is an MD and he rushed to the ER for my dad.  The staff Doogie Howser doctor was great! He looked us in the eye and said how bad this is, she may not survive.  Our hearts hit the floor.  After the doctor friend arrive he knew he was coming into a horrible situation.  He had to tell his friend, my dad it doesn't look good.  I talked with this doctor on the side, saying I have a sister in Paris and a sister in NY, do I need to call them.  He reiterated how bad this brain bleed was and I need to call everyone.  It really didn't look good.  Kim and dad, Jon and I drove to St. Luke's. I called Michelle and Erin and had to share the scary, horrible news.  They each started looking into tickets to get back to WI.   We got to the room the same time as mom. She is on a ventilator (that happened in Burlington). They explain the next steps and we leave the room for the central line.   Each specialist, doctor, NP we talked to Sunday continued to reiterate how sick mom was.  We have been told 1/3 of patients with this ACOM aneurysm never make it to the hospital, 1/3 never leave the hospital, and 1/3 have long-term impairments.   We are prepared for a really long healing process, if we are blessed with that.  Erin arrived by 8:30.  Mom got back to the room by 9:00 pm.  She laid there ventilated, with a tube into her head, lines everywhere.  With such grim reports and a mom who looks so helpless we had to turn our eyes on God.  Man said survival is unlikely, God is the ultimate healer and has the ultimate say.