The Sphere Effect

 Hi Everyone
 
 I’ve had a message from Mum today - here’s a snippet for you:
 
 The GOOD NEWS is that the doctors literally danced at the end of Heidi’s bed this morning as her blood has improved and she may not have to have any more plasma exchanges or dialysis.  We are thrilled but there is a very long way to go - really only the start now that the blood and urine  is nearly okay.
 
 So that’s great!  I’ll be able to see her tomorrow morning and let you know more then
 
 Only 3 more hours to go ’til I’m off. 
 
 Stay well everyone, and God bless.
 
 Kellie

SMS from Kellie :

Hi I’m here, we’re about 2 go 2 hospital 4 2nd time. H has tubes sticking out everywhere but is much better 2day. She loved all the cards and lollies. x

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

For those wishing to email her please use the following email address of her parents.

mcockram@iinet.net.au

Overnight the situation has worsened and Heidi is now in the coronary care unit in ICU, from an allergic reaction to the blood plasma she’s been given.

We’ll attempt to keep you upto date as more info comes in.

Steve.

Hello my dear friends

Please forgive us for replying to everyone in one email. It is very
difficult and stressful here at the moment and we are not up to sending or
replying to the many wonderful responses and messages we are receiving.

Heidi’s condition remains critical. They are treating her for
haemolytic uraemic syndrome and it is a grueling and awful procedure. When
this is finally over, they will attend to the ulcerated bowel and jaundice
and all the other problems arising. It will be a very long process and we
will be here for at least six weeks or maybe longer - who knows?

It is difficult to us to receive messages on Michael’s voicemail as
Optus have given us the wrong number to ring and so we cannot read them.
For Joan and Michael: We met with Janet and Tony last night and they
are taking us to Peter’s flat tomorrow - it is available for us and he may
be able to lend us a car

If anyone of her friends wants to send her a card or whatever, she is at
the Mil Park Hospital - Acute Care Unit, 29 Guild Road, Park Town,
Johannesburg

God bless you all
Love Michael and Ronny

Hi Everyone

Mum and Dad arrived safely this morning and are with Heidi. It was a very
emotional and teary time. Mum printed out all the emails from you all
before she left, and wrote down everyone who rang or visited, and has been
reading them all to her. Thank you for all your love, well wishes, prayers
and offers of help. We all felt very overwhelmed yesterday.

Heidi has been diagnosed with haemo-something urinary syndrome (Dad
couldn’t remember the proper term). Basically her kidneys are not working
properly and she has been poisoning her system. She has to have 10 lots of
dialysis for the next three days then they will reassess her condition.
She has a very large tube inserted into her neck that has about 3 lines in
it - they can do the dialysis through this, plus have her on a drip and
take blood for testing etc etc.

Heidi is in the acute intensive care unit at Milpark Hospital in
Johannesburg. This hospital is one of the best in Joburg, in a very nice
area of the city. She has two excellent doctors working over her whom Mum
and Dad are very impressed with. Heidi also has an MSF lady who overseas
everything that happens to her - she has bent over backwards to assist Mum
and Dad, keeping them informed of Heidi’s condition and giving practical
help as well.

Mum and Dad are staying at a hotel 5 minutes walk from the hospital. It is
freezing cold apparently, but they have packed all the right type of
clothing. They were taken to the hotel from the airport to drop off their
luggage before going to see Heidi. They have had people from Joburg
calling and offering their help - Mum and Dad cannot believe how many
people are being so kind to them. One of Joan’s relatives helped with
their accomodation, another lady has said she’s coming to pick them up and
take them out to lunch, and Marc’s friend Gary has been in contact and
offered to help too.

It has been a very traumatic time for Heidi - she arrived at the hospital’s
emergency with all the bells, whistles and flashing lights, with lots of
rushing around and invasive treatments. She was suffering from shock and
has been very emotional so it is pretty important that Mum and Dad are with
her at this time. It has been an answer to prayer that the doctors have
finally found the source of her illness, and now we ask that you continue
to pray for healing of the symptoms, plus wisdom for the doctors and
nursing staff, and peace and patience for Mum and Dad.

We thank God for all of you - we are truly blessed to have such an
incredible network of friends.

I’ll keep you updated as I learn more.

God bless.
Kellie