Heidi – June 10 – more
Dear friends
It has been an exhausting and emotional day for us. Heidi continues to be
in a critical condition. We came very close to losing her overnight as the plasma
exchange was given in the early hours of the morning with skeleton staff and her body rejected
it, causing her lungs to fill with fluid. They had to drain her lungs and give her more
antibiotics. When we arrived at the hospital she had been transferred to the Coronary Care Unit which is
the highest care possible (we thought Acute Care was but no …). By lunchtime she was
looking more stable and I was able to feed her four spoonfuls of food and copious ice blocks.
She was then very tired so we left her for awhile.
Michael Dewsbury’s friend Margaret came and picked us up from the hospital
and took us for a drive and a quick bite to eat in a really lovely district. The first we
had seen anything of Jo’burg. (She was so kind to us and she (as well as her daughter) are very
keen to have us stay with either or both of them for the duration of our stay).
We returned to Heidi soon after and sat with her while she went through the
third 2 hour ordeal of a plasma exchange. Her “penthouse suite”, so the staff call it
looks like Nassau Space Station. She is never left for a minute and the specialists attend
to her constantly. We are very impressed. I received a call from the medical manager of Medecins
sans Frontiere in Geneva while there and he also was very kind and said that we could have
whatever we wanted, we were just to ask. All we want really is for Heidi to recover
from this and of course he can’t give us that!
We will however spend a few days with Janet and Tony [Joan Jessup's rellies]
and then probably move into Janet’s brother Peter’s flat with the possibility of the
use of his car at no cost to us.
We have now had seven genuine offers for unlimited accommodation and we are
simply overwhelmed by compassion, love and care. It makes us even more emotional
than we already are to receive such kindness. I even received a big warm hug from
the doorman at our hotel, a huge black man with a smile as wide as a mile.
Heidi will possibly receive ten plasma transfers (depending on how she responds) and dialysis for as long as she needs it.
That’s all for now.
Much love to you all
Ronny and Michael