What a week it's been for Heather, taken into hospital as a result of an asthma attack last Saturday. At first I think that we all thought that it would be a relatively short stay, but things haven't quite worked out like that. Each day this week seems to have brought some further complications, and since Tuesday she's been in Intensive Care.
The main issue seems to be serious blood poisoning, but on top of that there's kidney stones and a problem with her heart as well. It's not clear whether the heart problem is related to the other issues or whether its something she's had for longer, but we understand that it should be controllable, albeit that she may need medication for it for the rest of her life. For the last few days the big question has been whether she should still be under sedation, or whether the sedatives should be stopped in the hope that she'll wake up. I think that the latest plan is to stop the sedatives, but to give her some other medication which will hopefully ease the trauma of coming round - there is some concern that the waking up process won't go entirely smoothly, and in particular that she'll react badly to discovering that she has a ventilator tube in her throat and that she will try to bite it.
Andy appears to be coping amazingly well, certainly when I've seen him over the last few days he looks like he's holding it together. As well as speaking with him, lots of text messages and seeing him at the hospital, he's keeping us all up to date via his blog.
Thinking about Heather I remember that I've actually known Heather for longer than I've known Nicky - by a week to be precise! On my first visit to the St Alban's youth group, Heather was there, and for some reason Nicky wasn't. Heather was making cryptic comments that she thought that I'd get on with her sister, and what do you know, she was absolutely right!
We're all missing you Heather - come back to us soon. xxxx