Sunday, October 8, 2006

Here's how it all started.

This last weekend, Jesse drove to Reno to visit his girlfriend. He drove up on Friday night (all night), visited all day Saturday, and drove back on Saturday night (all night). The details of the accident are a bit shaky, but we know Jesse fell asleep near mile 58 on Highway 395, drifted into oncoming traffic (it might have been at an intersection), and was hit by a semi. The point of impact was the front-left corner of his Nissan Maxima. He was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional medical center and was admitted at 6:50 AM.

The first person to hear about the accident was my other roommate Lee (Jesse lives with us). A police officer woke him up at about 9:30 and told him that Jesse was at Arrowhead Regional and that he should call right away. All they told him was that Jesse had been in a car accident and was in a coma. Later, we found out that Jesse's injuries included a compound-fractured left femur, a shattered left elbow, a broken right heel, and a massive brain injury. In fact, when he was admitted he was at a 3 on the Glasgow coma scale, which means he was in a deep coma, pretty much brain dead. A brain scan they took was indistinguishable from that of a dead person.

I heard about Jesse's accident right after playing the keyboard for the worship venue at Trinity. Bill told me about it and asked if I could play the piano in Jesse's place for the Hispanic worship service. It was really hard; I was weeping for a large portion of the service (when I wasn't playing the keyboard). I do remember Frank (the pastor) standing up front and praying in Spanish that the Lord would break Jesse's coma and heal him completely. That was really comforting. Lyddia (Frank's wife) gave me a tender hug and a smile, reminding me that Jesus loves me and is caring for me and for Jesse.

Lee and I visited Jesse that afternoon and talked to the nurse. Thankfully, Jesse had no injuries or problems in his thorax or abdominal cavity. By 4:00 PM, he was stable enough that they sent him off to the OR for orthopedic surgery on his femur and elbow.

By that time, several people had arrived, including two pastors from church, Jesse's aunt and uncle (Guy and Kitty), his cousin Melanie, and my parents. We gathered in the hospital chapel and prayed that God would heal Jesse and glorify himself through the rest of his life.