Robo Rhonda

O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

Isaiah 25:1

He did it!!!! Every. Single. Prayer. ANSWERED!!!!! This is a miracle for the 100 different events and details that had to happen to keep her alive and have a ridiculously perfect surgery and prognosis.

The doctors are immeasurably gifted, humble hero’s. God was working through Dr. Fischbein and Dr. Lee to accomplish this amazing feat. 10 hours later, she is on the way to being Nanni again by way of replacing her aorta with a synthetic polyester like material. She now has cage like stents in her corroded artery and intestines guaranteeing healthy blood flow. Wanna know the wax that seals this perfectly packaged success? The heart valve they used to replace her damaged valve is called Inspiris. Guess who makes that valve? Edwards Life Sciences. Guess who works there? Starts with “R” ends with an “ob”. Jaw::floor. This magnificent life saving medical device was born in Robs incredible company. Boom.

I want you all to know you are the real heros as you faithfully trusted our GOOD God and continued to lift her/ us all up and pray. And pray. And pray again.

“When two or more are gathered in my name, there I am among them”

Matthew 18:20

This verse speaks of two or more, and sounds so small. How much more powerful are thousands?

You warriors will forever be remembered and embraced with our deepest gratitude as we all look upon her beautiful face each and every time. Where would we be without you all, your begging and pleading and continual petitioning? Not here. Thank you thank you thank you! Forever and always.

It is my strongest conviction this occurred to glorify and magnify our mighty and loving God in the most dream like way. His faithfulness endures and you all, praying friends or not, have a front row seat to what a true miracle looks like. This is not luck, the universe showing favor, this is the work of the Almighty. This is faith.

What happened over the last 36 hours completely rocked our world and deepened our faith 100 fold in the one and only God of perfection!

Here is why we are silently, (we are in a hospital after all), screaming with joy, in complete awe.

Upon arriving to the hospital, Chad and I were apart of the conversation being had by the Doctor and Rob, my mom and dad. Basically giving us little to no hope. Hospitals were not accepting her or had no beds, not enough surgeons. Delivering the message of the reality of a massive stroke and near fatal tear of the aorta- heart to hip, get ready to say goodbye. Their pity face made me sad for them, and led us to launch into prayer mode.

The doctors assumption she was not going to pass the neurological test to even make step 2 a possibility led them to hault any movement toward surgery. So we waited. They did not know our God.  So she passed.  Only then, they were forced to move forward. The surgeon humbly shared he was not the right surgeon for this kind of surgery. He wanted her at Stanford, the most qualified hospital with the most qualified surgeon. After much petitioning, At he end of the night, Stanford finally accepted her. For an unknown reason, or because God knew we needed this to further exercise our faith, they could not reach the surgeon that night. To deny that our happy hopes were deflated would be a lie. We were frustrated. We all knew and encouraged one another that He would not bring her this far for it to end there. We went to bed at peace, and awoke having been given 6 hours of sleep. We then arrived at the hospital to find out they were trying to figure out the air transportation  and get a hold of the doctor. Hours later the doctor’s assistant informed us the Stanford medical helicopter could not fly due to fog. Keep in mind every second is critical. It takes one deep breath, cough, sneeze to fully rupture the artery, and Rhonda would be in the presence of our Savior. We then found out there was a Santa Barbara helicopter that was willing to fly her as far as they could go before hitting the fog  they planned on an ambulance meeting the helicopter if it couldn’t continue. Keep in mind this was a 2 hour flight or 4.5 hour drive.

Guess what cleared? Yep. They were off and she arrived at Stanford 2 hours later to be rushed into the operating room. A 10 hour, yes 10 hour surgery ensued without one word. Zero communication and we all pow wowed it up eating weird food, yapping and laughing our way through the hours clothed in peace and joy.

That moment, God’s full glory in this transaction was realized as these tools of our Almighty came through the doors in the most amazing way…

Big smiles. Surgery was a success. Her kidney failure is regressing, she is urinating. They repaired the broken, reinforced the weak. Redeemed the loss. How illustrious of our salvation. We are broken. We are weak. Because of Jesus’s work on the cross, sacrifice, WE ARE REDEEMED. Not just restoration, “fixing”, but making all things new and more brilliant than before! Those prayers? That God would be glorified-open the heavens! Glorified indeed!

So…what happened?

Rhonda had a minor stroke, (you would never know it), in 2008 and has battled high blood pressure and a partially blocked corroded artery  ever since.

During breakfast Friday, her blood pressure randomly spiked, causing the pressure that led to the dissection, which then in turn caused the stroke. 

You guys. God delivered Rhonda-moreso us all. He is so BIG. We woke up from the nightmare. Good morning sweet friends!

THANK YOU for your endless prayers.

Big hugs and much love,

Michelle and Family