**NB: Since this post was written, I have set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses that will become a bit of a hassle to deal with. If you would like to donate to Vania’s memory, no matter how small or large that may be, please accept my sincere thanks. It’s neither required nor expected of you but if you would like to, hit this link to be taken to her page Vania’s GoFundMe Page.
As you may have noticed, I seemed to have gone missing from this site. No updates this week etc etc. What happened this week just makes me look at life in total and complete despair and disbelief.
My sister Vania in the last week and a bit just was not feeling well at all. She did have a cold/flu like anyone else would earlier in the month but she ended up getting over it. She was back at work and was just her usual lively self.
Fast forward to last weekend. I knew something was wrong when she mentioned she was feeling very tired. In fact I think it was the saturday, she had hit bed by 6pm, and I thought to myself that bug must be coming back. She popped a couple of panadols and went to sleep.
Sunday she still felt very tired. But by monday it took a whole new turn. She was running a fever of 39 degrees, had diarrhea, was very confused (she would start talking to you, then lose her way and found it very difficult to get back to what she started talking to you about), that kind of thing.
Tuesday came, and things started getting worse. I rang an ambulance, and they took her to ED at our local hospital but she was forced to sit in the waiting area and wait for a bed. By 9pm nothing was coming and she wanted to go back home.
Wednesday morning and that was it. I rang another ambulance, and they took her down to another hospital as there were still no beds available at our local hospital. When we got there they took her straight in to the Resus area – at that point her breathing was stable..but by midnight it got really bad and she was rushed up to intensive care.
I saw her on both thursday and friday and I was briefed by her treating team that they initially suspected pneumonia but it was so much worse – she ended up with acute leukaemia. Her team mentioned a few things but one of those was not what I wanted to hear..the words “she may not make it”. I was so shocked. Thursday became friday. Friday night I was taken into a room and told that they were withdrawing her care. Her kidneys had shut down among other things.
Saturday morning came and a wonderful friend drove up from Canberra to give me a hand getting to the hospital and back and just providing support, and two others who live in Sydney also gave me a hand and between the three of them provided this fantastic support all day long. I cannot thank them quite enough.
After the rest of the family came to see her and a few friends, it was up to me – I had the awful task of having to tell her treatment team when I felt ready to shut down Vania’s life support system. Absolutely harrowing.
I held her in my arms as she gradually slipped away. Absolutely devastated beyond words – she was only 60! But even more devastating is the fact that the friday before last she was at work being her usual lively self, and in the space of a little over a week, she was gone.
RIP my dear sister Vania – fly high. Thankyou for everything. You’re now reunited with mum, dad, and our beautiful golden doggy, Rexy.
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