Ron Allison

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This story is about my hero, my Dad, Ron Allison. My dad raised my little brother and me as a single parent. As we both got older, married and had children, we all remained very close.

Dad was always a big guy. He had two abdominal surgeries in 1999 and 2000. Through the years his hernia came back and continued to grow. It seemed like a vicious cycle he would go to the emergency room because it was causing an obstruction. They would give him meds and bowel rest and it would alleviate. The doctors always said surgery would be to risky.

I will never forget that day in March 2009. Dad called and said that it’s happening again. He went to the ER. They admitted him. The next morning at 9 am I called and asked him how he was doing. He said he was better and told me to go in to work. At 10:30 I received a call that his kidneys were not working. I went to the hospital and he was already starting to stare off in space. I could get his attention if I was right in his face.

He ended up being diagnosed with sepsis. He spent another two weeks in ICU and then three months at a rehab facility. He came home in June and he was just different. He was not as energetic and sometimes a little confused, but he was home and doing better. I wish this is where the story ended.

The cycle continued to with the partial blockage and going to the hospital until October 2010. He chose to go to a different hospital. He told me, “I just want to have it fixed.” The doctors told him that this time it had to be fixed. My brother and I went to visit with him the night before his surgery with our wives and kids. He was excited to have the surgery but he was in pain. The next morning they took him in to surgery. We waited 10 hours and still no word. My brother and I both knew this was not normal. Finally, the surgeon came out. He told us that we had a long road ahead of us. He said his intestines were double the size they should have been. He explained they removed three sections and had to hand suture them. He also said that he would have to finish the surgery the next day as he would have to reconstruct his abdomen to fit everything back.

The next day they finished the surgery. That night my dad took a turn for the worst and we almost lost him. A few days later, we heard the word again, sepsis. They did bedside dialysis, gave him fluids and antibiotics and he beat it again. We then were told he had several fistulas. They put in a trach (to help him breathe) and kept his surgical incision opened up with wound vacs. They would take him back to surgery every few days and clean out his abdomen. My dad fought this cycle for 14 weeks. He would end up having infections that would develop into sepsis. He had wonderful infectious disease doctors who continued to fight. The whole ICU staff was amazed that he fought so hard. He would come off the vent and back on. He was able to communicate most of the time. The last time he was septic he told us he was tired and wanted to go to Heaven. I could not blame him as he fought so hard.

The ICU staff said they had one person like him and he lived for 90 days. Once Dad told us he was ready, the sepsis started affecting his heart. I woke up on a Tuesday and received a call to call the family. I made a promise to my Dad that I would be there if it looked like he wasn’t going to make it. On February 3, 2011, 101 days after going to the hospital, I held my Dad with my brother on his other side as he went to Heaven. He was only 53 years old.

I made a promise that everyone I came in contact with we know about sepsis. He was a strong man and his legacy lives on. We miss him everyday but rejoice that he truly is no longer suffering.

Source: by Ron Allison (Ron's son)

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