How to show one's appreciation of Very Good Friends and their support during times of illness?

[BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte]

This thread is inspired partly by this rather gloomy one about bad friends and partly by several spectacularly supportive people who have recently been very good friends to me. I have one particular VGF who I quite literally do not know how to thank. I'd love to go into detail about how incredibly amazingly she has supported me through difficult pregnancies and serious illness, but I know that she doesn't like being talked about online, so I won't go into detail.

What can I do to convey my appreciation? Does anyone have any ideas/experiences? Or could anyone who has been a VGF themselves give me in idea of what they might like?

Write her a letter.
Be there for her whenever and however she needs you.

Know that she will have gained far more from supporting you than you can possibly imagine, for some of us to help another is to heal ourselves.

If it was me, and thinkijng of how close I am to my freinds, I would love t just go out for the night getting sily and drunk, and said friend saying the thanks would buy random cocktails

That's a lovely thought, thanks.

But I can't, that's the excruciating bit. Both because I am ill and because I have two little DCs. I physically couldn't do for her what she has done for me, or at lest, not at the moment.

Anything that just says "thank you" would be good I'm sure.

Our DD3 was very ill last year and we were overwhelmed by the offers of help and support from people at the time and it was lovely to know so many people cared so very much for our family. In our case we held a birthday party for DD3 later in the year so people could come and see her from themselves and how she was now doing and we could say thank you to them all in person. We also used it as an opportunity to raise some funds for the hospital too and asked for no presents for DD but anyone was welcome to make a donation instead. It worked for us but then I wasn't the ill one and was able to organise and deal with all that it entailed to make it work. Dinner out somewhere could work nicely to get a reasonable group together though and not need you to do too much planning etc. If not then a hand written thank you I'm sure would be much appreciated. People will know your specific situation and capabilites and certainly won't be expecting you to necessarily do anything so they will be appreciative however you do this.

Could you get her a voucher for a massage or some sort of pampering session at a salon as a way of thanking her and letting her receive some care ?

You can get foot massage if she's a bit wary of too much hands on stuff ?