Half of the world knows her as Yaffa, the other refers to her as Joan.
Initially, this blog was created just to alleviate some pressure for Orly and Miriam. The purpose,to allow them to up-date and keep everybody informed simultaneously, saving them a little time and energy. In these situations, every little bit helps. It's been 6 weeks since their mom has been hospitalized. They have really, really appreciated the out pour of concern they have felt from all of you, close and far away friends. Nonetheless it has been very arduous. Their mom has gone from very, very critical, to improving surprisingly rapidly, and just as quickly gone back to a very critical situation. At this point they don't understand what she has.They can not figure it out. It's been a real roller coaster. For the past 12 days she is so critical that 1 of them has to be there ALL THE TIME. The other one, trying to maintain some continuity for Dylan, his needs, and working when possible. So, we decided this was a more efficient way to allow them to communicate with all of you, no matter what time zone you may be in. At the same time it makes it possible for you to communicate with them. Fortunately their mom has surprised us all, including the whole medical team that is in disbelief at how resilient and strong she is. They say "a medical miracle, a medical mystery"
So there are many unknowns in this situation. One thing is certain , that in order for the girls to continue helping their mom, they are going to need some help from all of us who care. Here are some of their most urgent needs.
They need a car. Hospital is in Oakland . What they have done up to now is exhausting, time consuming, and most importantly unsafe. Waiting for buses late at night in the mission or in Oakland is not a great idea. If anyone out there is thinking of donating their car to charity, this seems like as good of a cause as any other. They obviously are in need of economical support. What they are going through is hard and nobody can change that. What we can help with is to alleviate some pressure . When the bills start coming in and you can't pay them, that's when the stress is off the charts.They need all the economical support they can get. Their mom was a big part of there day to day support system. They all lived together and were sharing all expenses, keeping there head above water. Now more $ going out, and much less coming in. Not to mention that they found out insurance will not cover even 1 day of transitional care. In lieu of such tragic life changing circumstances, an account has been created with paypal so that anyone who wishes to send financial support can do so over the internet by clicking here or visiting
https:// www.paypal.com In the paypal site, click where it says "SEND MONEY".
then send it to this email address. "support4joan.yaffa@gmail.com"
NOTHING IS TO LITTLE, EVERYTHING IS APPRECIATED. We would ask of you to please pass this on to anybody you know that is connected to Yaffa -Joan and her family and would like to know about this, and stay informed on her developments. We obviously don't have every bodies address.
They are working hard with the doctors and nurses to understand whats wrong and how they can help her. We are going to use this to voice some request the girls have made in hope that the word will spread and maybe someone knows someone, that can help.
They are trying to get medical records and would like some Kidney, liver, gastric, specialist to help interpret them and understand. We know that 1 of the big problems is that since kidneys and liver are not properly working, she is not able to flush toxins out, faster then they are putting them in. They are open, and welcome suggestions, ideas, alternatives.
They need a car. Hospital is in Oakland . What they have done up to now is exhausting, time consuming, and most importantly unsafe. Waiting for buses late at night in the mission or in Oakland is not a great idea. If anyone out there is thinking of donating their car to charity, this seems like as good of a cause as any other. They obviously are in need of economical support. What they are going through is hard and nobody can change that. What we can help with is to alleviate some pressure . When the bills start coming in and you can't pay them, that's when the stress is off the charts.They need all the economical support they can get. Their mom was a big part of there day to day support system. They all lived together and were sharing all expenses, keeping there head above water. Now more $ going out, and much less coming in. Not to mention that they found out insurance will not cover even 1 day of transitional care. In lieu of such tragic life changing circumstances, an account has been created with paypal so that anyone who wishes to send financial support can do so over the internet by clicking here or visiting
https:// www.paypal.com In the paypal site, click where it says "SEND MONEY".
then send it to this email address. "support4joan.yaffa@gmail.com"
NOTHING IS TO LITTLE, EVERYTHING IS APPRECIATED. We would ask of you to please pass this on to anybody you know that is connected to Yaffa -Joan and her family and would like to know about this, and stay informed on her developments. We obviously don't have every bodies address.
They are working hard with the doctors and nurses to understand whats wrong and how they can help her. We are going to use this to voice some request the girls have made in hope that the word will spread and maybe someone knows someone, that can help.
They are trying to get medical records and would like some Kidney, liver, gastric, specialist to help interpret them and understand. We know that 1 of the big problems is that since kidneys and liver are not properly working, she is not able to flush toxins out, faster then they are putting them in. They are open, and welcome suggestions, ideas, alternatives.
No matter the course of events the road ahead is long. At this time, there are very few certainties and much is out of our, or anybody's control. Whether it's her time or not, is not for us to say. The one thing we as friends, as community, whether far or close have control over, is to help and support the girls, in supporting their mom however we can.
For those of you who may be hearing of this for the first time, here is the the story
Oct. 20Th Yaffa woke up with terrible abdominal pain, was rushed to the hospital where she went into “septic shock”. In order to save her life and attempt to find the cause Doctors performed an emergency, exploratory surgery. They found her colon infected. It had to be removed. She now has a colostomy bag.
The septic-shock hit her hard. Her kidneys shut down completely and she’s been on dialysis
ever since. Her liver was also affected badly and is not working properly, either. She is as yellow
as a lemon. The Doctors aren't sure if her kidneys will ever start working again. She may need to be on dialysis forever. The colostomy is reversible, when and if she regains full strength.
The first 10 days in ICU were really “scary” touch and go. All of a sudden, she regained full consciousness, and able to breathe on her own, was taken off the ventilator. The next few days were very promising. The doctors were very impressed with her rapid and dramatic improvements. They upgraded her out of ICU to a regular floor and immediately started talking about dismissing her from hospital, sending her home. Although very happy they thought she was well enough to leave the hospital, we where all shocked to learn that the insurance was not going to pay for any transitional care. With colostomy, dialysis 3 times a week, her blood pressure that see-saws dramatically on a daily basis, can barely stand up on her own; they where wanting to send her home 5 days out of ICU.
There is still no explanation for how or why this happened. Just hours before she was rushed to the E.R. she had been dancing at a street fair, shopping for ingredients to make chicken cacciatore.
Slowly her health began strengthening, again. everything she is dealing with is revisable, so, well worth fitting for. The girls started bringing food from home ( the good organic salmon and chicken) to help her get her strength back. She was enjoying it, and started to walk with the walker a little bit every day. Then about 2 weeks ago she had a big set back. another infection in the stomach. Now its more confusing. They don't know if she contracted it there, or if it has to do with original reason she went in to start with. Her (bile) levels are very elevated. Her white blood cell count very elevated as well. She is constantly nauseated. 18 milligrams of morphine each day, just to manage her pain, and it doesn't seem to be improving. Not to mention the cocktail of antibiotics, that they keep on switching around in hopes that something will work. They are running tests all day, and have a full team of doctors and surgeons studying her case.
Considering all of this, she is managing it like a real pro!!!For those of you who may be hearing of this for the first time, here is the the story
Oct. 20Th Yaffa woke up with terrible abdominal pain, was rushed to the hospital where she went into “septic shock”. In order to save her life and attempt to find the cause Doctors performed an emergency, exploratory surgery. They found her colon infected. It had to be removed. She now has a colostomy bag.
The septic-shock hit her hard. Her kidneys shut down completely and she’s been on dialysis
ever since. Her liver was also affected badly and is not working properly, either. She is as yellow
as a lemon. The Doctors aren't sure if her kidneys will ever start working again. She may need to be on dialysis forever. The colostomy is reversible, when and if she regains full strength.
The first 10 days in ICU were really “scary” touch and go. All of a sudden, she regained full consciousness, and able to breathe on her own, was taken off the ventilator. The next few days were very promising. The doctors were very impressed with her rapid and dramatic improvements. They upgraded her out of ICU to a regular floor and immediately started talking about dismissing her from hospital, sending her home. Although very happy they thought she was well enough to leave the hospital, we where all shocked to learn that the insurance was not going to pay for any transitional care. With colostomy, dialysis 3 times a week, her blood pressure that see-saws dramatically on a daily basis, can barely stand up on her own; they where wanting to send her home 5 days out of ICU.
There is still no explanation for how or why this happened. Just hours before she was rushed to the E.R. she had been dancing at a street fair, shopping for ingredients to make chicken cacciatore.
Slowly her health began strengthening, again. everything she is dealing with is revisable, so, well worth fitting for. The girls started bringing food from home ( the good organic salmon and chicken) to help her get her strength back. She was enjoying it, and started to walk with the walker a little bit every day. Then about 2 weeks ago she had a big set back. another infection in the stomach. Now its more confusing. They don't know if she contracted it there, or if it has to do with original reason she went in to start with. Her (bile) levels are very elevated. Her white blood cell count very elevated as well. She is constantly nauseated. 18 milligrams of morphine each day, just to manage her pain, and it doesn't seem to be improving. Not to mention the cocktail of antibiotics, that they keep on switching around in hopes that something will work. They are running tests all day, and have a full team of doctors and surgeons studying her case.
We would like to thank you again for all the support and please ,don't be shy ,if you have any ideas, or suggestions regarding her recovery, and or anything else it is more than welcome. We will update as we can, keep in mind it is hour to hour at this time ,She is back in ICU with very low blood pressure . we will keep updating with info as it develops.
Thank You for keeping them in your prayers as we are all in theirs.
