Saturday 5th August


Enmarie is in the clear!

 No heart surgery needed! 

 Yay!

 The echocardiogram which was done this morning, to check the condition of Enmarie's heart showed that the lesion in her right ventricle has shrunk dramatically which is fantastic news.

 When it was first found, the lesion was 18mm long. It wasn't known for certain what had caused it. Maybe it had been there for years. However, the doctors thought that it was most likely a clump of platelets, fibrin and bacterial cells caused by the blood poisoning. If they were correct the size of the lesion would decrease when antibiotics were given. It has taken six weeks of intravenous antibiotics but the treatment has been successful. The lesion has reduced in size to only 3mm. What remains is considered of no further risk to Enmarie. After all the antibiotics, there are no active bacteria remaining.

 The dose of antibiotics which Enmarie has been given has been enormous. 
Let's compare it with the dose which might be given at your GP for a chest infection, say.
That might be a five-day course of 250 milligrams, three times a day. That's a total of 3.75 grams to sort out your bout of bronchitis.
Enmarie has been given at least two grams, three times a day for six weeks. Some days she's been on even more than that, with a second type of antibiotic. That amounts to 250-300 grams of antibiotics in the six weeks she's been in hospital, or 73 times the dose for a simple chest infection! She's a medical marvel!

 Tomorrow, Enmarie heads home for the first time in six weeks, for a serious love-in with our cats and the beginning of a long convalescence of six to nine months until she has recovered her strength and as much lung function as she is going to get back.

 This has been a long and harrowing journey, with a happy ending. Enmarie and I are very grateful to everyone who offered their support and good wishes.

 This is my last post in this blog. I hope never to need to do something like this again.

Life is a lottery; we never know what's going to happen next. We never know how long our happiness will last.

 Don't wait! Seize the day! Don't put things off! Just do it! 

 Phone your mum, keep up with old friends.

 Live!


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