Chapter 77 - Another Long And Sleepless Night

Surrounded by his family, her family and the members of the band, Jon sits at the bedside of his comatose bride.  She's bruised, she's battered and she's barely alive.  

He sits there, in a daze, focused on all of the beeps that he hears.  Monica is hooked up to every monitor made.  Monitors monitoring her and a monitor monitoring the baby.  The baby's heartbeat is strong, but the doctors are very concerned.  

It's been three days since the accident and Jon has not left her side.  He's wearing clothes that his mother brought him and is dealing with his own injuries, in his own way.  His spine is bruised and his leg is broken, but other than a few scrapes, bumps and bruises he will be just fine.  Monica on the other hand has a brain injury, causing her coma.  She also has a broken leg, broken arm and a broken jaw.  Best they can figure on the broken jaw is that her head hit the pavement super hard, or it bounced off the hood of the car.  The car that never stopped.  The doctors think that she will eventually come out of the coma, but their biggest concern is the baby.

There is a knock at the door, "Come in."  Jon says, as he looks around the room.  His mother is at his side and his dad is right behind him.  The guys are sitting in the window ledge, no one saying a word.  The door opens and in walks a doctor.  

Extending his hand, "Mr. Bongiovi, I'm Dr. Carrier, I'm the chief neurologist here at the hospital.  Can I talk to you for a moment about your wife's condition?"

Mrs. B, without even thinking just says, "She's not his wife."

Jon, irritated by her interruption, and concerned on why the chief neurologist wanted to talk to him about Monica, he looks to his mom and tells her, "We got married the day we were hit, Ma."  And he then focuses back on the doctor.

 Mrs. B is sitting there, so very stunned and on the verge of tears, but she keeps it together.  Monica's parents reacted the exact same way.  Actually, everyone in the room was stunned, but it didn't last long.  Jon didn't care what they thought or what they had to say about them getting married.  He's even thought that if she were to pass, he was content in knowing that he had married the love of his life.  

"What about Monica, doctor?"

"Do you want to do this in private?" the doctor asks, as he sees the room full of people.

"No.  Right here is just fine." Jon assures the doctor, there isn't anything that they could say in front of the family that they don't already know or wouldn't eventually know.  "This is her family."

The doctor inhales deeply and starts, "She has severe swelling and pooling of blood in her brain and we want to relieve the pressure that she has before it does permanent damage.  Right now it's pressing on her optic nerve and we are concerned that if we leave it, it may cause blindness.  Also, the pooling of the blood is pooling in a place that controls her body's regulation, making it harder for her body to gestate the baby.  Her body is not reacting the way that it should to the medicine's and treatments."

"Relieve it how?"  Monica's mother jumps in.  "Do you want to operate on her brain?"

Dr. Carrier nods his head, "Yes, we want to operate and relieve the pressure and put a tube in to drain the blood, while she still has an active bleed?"

"Like a shunt?"  Monica's dad asks.  Jon is watching the conversation like he's watching a tennis match, his heart is beating out of his chest. 

"We need to drill a hole to relieve the pressure and allow the pooled blood to drain.  It's too hard to tell how active the bleed is with the swelling and the pooling."

"How dangerous is it?"  Jon finally talks, "Will she wake up?"

The doctor shifts his stance, knowing that he's talking to Monica's husband.  While he maintains respect towards her parents, Jon is her next of kin.  The one that makes the decisions regarding Monica's care.  "As with all surgeries, there is risk.  I personally have performed this operation well over 1000 times, I'm confident that she will be fine."  He pauses, "It sounds worse than it is, but I fear that if we don't do it, you could lose her and the baby."

Jon's stomach flip flops and he has to catch his breath.  He gets up and walks over to the window and looks out over the dry desert, with a million thoughts running through his mind.  After a few moments, he turns back to the doctor and asks, "If you do this, she could wake up?"

"It's possible."

"If you do this, you could save her life and the babies - even though you aren't certain that they are at risk?"  He runs his hands through his hair and mumbles 'why is this happening to us?'

"Due to the pooling of the blood within her brain and it's location, we are very concerned about the baby.  The babies heartbeat is too irregular to indicate that it's a big concern."

Jon's concern always goes back to Monica.  He looks at her and seeing her with her head wrapped in bandages, a tube down her throat, scrapes and bruises all over her body and an IV in her arm, he asks, "Is there anything to indicate that she is in trouble?"

Turning more toward Jon, the doctor scans the room and sees that everyone that is in there is on baited breath.  They all appear to be concerned, specially the mothers, they both are sobbing.  "Like I said, we need to reduce the swelling because it's pushing on her optic nerve, reducing blood flow to her eyes.  If we don't reduce the swelling, there is a very good chance that she will lose her eyesight.  Maybe not completely, but it could be diminished."

"And the pooling is affecting the baby?" he questions, having no idea what to do or even say, really.  He's too young to make these decisions and they shouldn't be in a Las Vegas hospital on their honeymoon. 

"Yes, the pooling is compromising her brain function that controls various parts of her body.  Her bladder isn't functioning properly, which concerns us in the aspect of her kidney's.  The white of her eyes are yellow, leading us to believe that she is jaundice from diminished liver capacity.  We note that from time to time the circulation in her feet is reduced, all telling us that the baby isn't getting what it needs.  We need to get that blood out of there."

He looks to his mom.  She's crying and Jon can see that she's scared, but she just gives him a nod and Jon knows what to do.

Jon nods his head and tells the doctor, "Okay.  How soon do you plan to do it?"

The doctor walks up to Jon and very fatherly like places a hand on his shoulder, "I booked an operating room before I came in here, as soon as she's prepped, I'll start the procedure."

"How long will it take?"  Jon looks at him, hoping to see some hope in the doctors eye.

"Three hours, maximum.  As soon as we get her head shaved and the whole drilled, it shouldn't take long at all.  The most time consuming part is cleansing and dressing it afterwards."

Monica's mom stands and asks the doctor, "Will the baby be okay, with the anesthesia?"

Dr. Carrier knows that he has to get out of there and get started, he doesn't have a big window of opportunity.  But keeping the sensitivity of the situation in mind, he assures Monica's mom that babies come out of the anesthesia quite well, with little to no side affect.

With all of the questions asked and answered, the doctor leaves the family and goes to prepare.  Jon walks over to the side of Monica's bed that's free from machines, hoses and tubes and climbs right into bed with her.  His head tucked in on her shoulder, next to her head he starts to talk to her.  He pays no attention to anyone else in the room, "There is no music in my life without you.  With you, I feel.  With you, I want.  With you, I love.  With you, I am."  He can't stop the tears from rolling down the side of his face, and he doesn't want to.  He kisses her cheek, whispers in her ear, "I love you Monica Bongiovi.  I'll see you when you wake up."   He starts to get up and stops to talk to his unborn baby, "You, little one, I'll see you soon.  Take care of your mommy when you're in there."  He kisses Monica's belly, just as the surgery technicians walked in to take Monica to the operating room.

They roll her out and the whole room falls apart, with Jon being one of the worst.