No news is good news (redux)

Zora saw her I.D. doctor today (the “Good Doctor”). There’s happily no news to report. Well, there’s some good news: the I.D. doctor said that Zora can drink while on antibiotics, so here’s to that!

Zora will still have checkups, but barring something bad and unforeseen, the timeline is as follows:

The I.V. antibiotics end on January 5th. The PICC line in her left arm is promptly removed after that. The endocarditis should be history. Then, a week or two after that, she’ll have another echocardiogram to re-evaluate the heart damage. Ideally, but unlikely, mitral valve regurgitation will be a little better and surgery would become unnecessary. Most likely, open-heart surgery will remain on the “to do” list. But as long as Zora remains asymptomatic for heart failure, surgery won’t be urgent.

Beverly left today and it’s nice to have Zora back in what passes for “normal” condition. Between her endocarditis-induced “malaise” of October and November, and the hospitalizations of December, it’s been awhile since Zora’s been her normal beautiful self.

Tomorrow Zora her original primary care physician for paper work and referrals. Next week is an appointment with our costs-a-pretty-penny cardiologist. But we’re not certain if it’s useful to keep seeing him as we’re now happy with her (insurance-covered) doctors from Mount Sinai.

So (and though the last time I wrote this preceded her returning to the hospital) no news is good news!