My mom has vascular dementia. She wears depends and won't drink sufficient water. She has had 2 UTIs in the past 6 months...both times she knew she had them! First time she said she was urinating a lot, second time it burned once. The first was diagnosed by her PCP in office, so I assume they used a quick test. 2nd time by urgent care with culture.
Her PCP now wants her to see a urologist.
I can take her to the practice where my dad is seen for prostate cancer, but I am not sure it is worth it. She won't cooperate with prevention strategies like changing depends more often, drinking water, using bathroom on a schedule, etc., so not sure of the point.
She lives in AL facility with my dad. They try to get her to follow a prevention routine, but she says no, so they cannot force her. If dad tries, she gets mad and says he is bossing her around. When doctors tell her, she says she never heard it before.
The one thing I can probably get her to do is drink cranberry juice regularly.
Thoughts??????
This is hard to manage from out of the country, but am doing my best by phone.
The big issue is that she got indegestion from eating French toast, so now they are monitoring her heart and doing swallowing tests. Ridiculous, she has had swallowing tests and was fine...she eats like a longshoreman and has had indigestion problems for 30 years.... And now they want to do an crazy to see if blockage ...mostly likely a large wad of French toast. If I was there, I would say no, but dad can't do it.
A lot of unnecessary tests.
But I am guessing a urologist is in the future plans.
My mom nearly died from "impacted tuna fish". Really! No prior swallowing issues.
Christy sits and sleeps on cotton sheet NOT POLYESTER covered washable bed pads. We cut a cotton bedsheet in quarters for the seat pads because they are sometimes polyester faced.
Polyester is toxic and it holds body heat and moisture, inviting UTI.
No underwear. She exists in long skirts, or nightshirts.
100% COTTON. NO BLENDS. Polyester is toxic which invites scratching and infection. Nylon and rayon are not toxic but they hold body heat and moisture.
We toilet Christy every two hours and watch for sign of need in between.
Washable bedpads are more convenient, better for the environment and I would wash a thousand of them rather than deal with one UTI,
We monitor her urine with reagent test strips from Amazon. We place a urine capture hat in the toilet whenever we suspect a UTI is developing or just because.
No UTI's since 2015 and that was caused by an ER catheter catch.
One dose of Ciproflaxin killed a lurking bacteria that she had carried for years.
Never TP or wipes.
Wiping spreads bacteria, so have had a computerized bidet seat from Brondell since 2013. It sprays the undercarriage and blow dries.
The spray jets can also provide stimulation for stubborn bowel movements.
$300 - $700 but so worth it.