Deanne vd Merwe

[Guest guest]

It's been awhile since I'd sent anything out. There is a great number of

people who are pulling for Deanne and heartening as it is, I would like to

ask that people contact the nominated individuals for the latest.

There are a number of people in the " To: " line of this e-mail who will be

kept informed of Deanne's condition as and when there is news. I ask that

everyone considers asking these people for news rather than phoning the

hospital, myself of Deanne's Mom. ICU, in particular, has their hands full

with Deanne already. We are staying in constant touch with them and I need

to ask that people please refrain from phoning them too. Please also refrain

from doing blanket mails, but rather contact the person you know on the

list. Through this, hopefully, everyone can be kept informed in an ordered

manner. We are stretched to the limit and the not knowing is killing us. We

know that is true all round.

NF2 Crew L. Przybysz (Przybysz.3@...),

Jennette Braaten (jennette@...)

Family liza Janse van Rensburg (my sister) -

annaliza@...

Myself - emilevdm@...

Paws for People Lesley de Klerk (lesley.deklerk@...)

Rand Water Betsie van Wyk (bvanwyk@...)

Dimension Data Leanne Host (Leanne.Host@...)

The SMS'es are very much appreciated. However, my cell phone is off a lot

nowadays and it's often only in the late night hours that I get these

messages. They remind us that we are not alone - something we are in dire

need of - make no mistake.

The process of repeating the " progress reports " to so many different callers

is very very hard. We are battling to cope.

Deanne has contracted pneumonia for a second time. Her doctor suspects that

Deanne might have saliva bypassing the tracheostomy and entering the lungs

while she sleeps. Apparently this can happen despite the inflated cuff. She

was absorbing food, but the stomach cramps she came down with made them stop

the feeding through the " PEG " tube and revert to IV feeding only. Deanne

told me it felt like the cramps were OUTSIDE the stomach - not inside.

They did an XRay scan and found the gall bladder to be enlarged. They are

going to do a sonar today along with another XRay. So far the pneumonia is

not clearing up. She is running a fever which - according to the doctor - is

holding. She is back under mild sedation and onto the ventilator. Her oxygen

level on the monitor was reading 100 when I was with her this morning. That

doesn't seem to be a bad thing. What brought this on is a question we keep

asking to no avail. Just seems to me like her vital systems are failing one

by one. I'm no doctor, so maybe that is just my feeling on the matter

brought on by the terror of this ordeal.

Communicating with her is difficult in the extreme. She has little motor

control so she cannot write. I've had to learn to lipread her which only

partially succeeds every so often. She can understand short messages finger

spelled and signed to her, but I need to position myself directly in front

of her. She is very very weak at the moment.

I can only hope there will be a turning point for the better soon.

Send me an Angel,

Emile

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