Support for Cal & Heather Ronning
On December 5th my Dad had a bad episode of rapid breathing and inability to walk. He was on a week of antibiotics for pneumonia which wasn't clearing up. Once he had this episode the ambulance came and took him to Penticton Regional Hospital. Shortly there after he went into septic shock and ended up in ICU on life support on December 6th.
I arrived that evening from Vancouver, the doctors weren't sure how long he had at that point, he was unrecognizable with all of the cords, tubes and machines. He opened his eyes a couple of times during those 5 days, just enough to give us hope. After 5 days on life support he was responding enough to be taken off. He was surrounded by Heather, Colin, Peter, Candy, James and Kimberly who happily greeted his awakening.
Unfortunately with all of the scans and test being done they discovered he also has a damaged heart. He had no signs of any heart problems but that was likely due to his limited mobility. Once they fix the pneumonia they have to work on the heart, possibly reversing it, operating on it or medication for life. With the heart so weak the body can't pump out the fluids from his body making the lungs worse.
More recently on December 21st he had a biopsy done to figure out why nothing is working - they've never seen a case like his. During the procedure an air bubble was created resulting in the lung collapsing, which no one knew until the xray came back. The doctor rushed in to put a chest tube in because he was very close to passing away. The next morning it collapsed again, down to 40%, and had to put in a second chest tube to expand it again. Another 2 close calls for him. After taking both tubes out on December 25th the lung collapsed again on December 26th, so back went in another tube.
My Mom hasn't left his side, she has had to cancel both her part times jobs to be here 7 days a week. In Dad's words "Heather I need you here". She drives 6 times a day back and forth from the hospital everyday to let Duke, the dog, out and take a rest herself but comes down again for the night shift.
My Dad will be in the hospital until February or March because of his heart, physio and speech therapy. We are not sure what to expect for recovery with the heart.
What the money will help with:
- Hospital Parking - $5/day for 3 months $425.
- Gas for the 6 trips my Mom takes a day.
- Assistance with regular bills (fortis - gas and electricity, cell phone, insurance, shaw ) mortgage , groceries, $2000/month.
