What Stokes My Passion For Accurate & Reliable UTI Diagnostics (For Seniors)
My mom recently celebrated her 94th birthday. She is mentally sharp for 94. She lives alone in her home in New York. She gets around with a cane or a walker. She does not require assistance to get herself ready for the day, bathe herself, or get around the house. She enjoys her independence.
The past few winters mom has been staying with my wife (a physician-surgeon) and I in our Florida home. Last year (January, 2022), one night soon after retreating to the guest bedroom (which includes a full bath), mom called out for me. She sounded distressed so I hurried to her room. I found her lying on the bathroom floor, bleeding profusely from the gash in her forehead. Her excuse for falling - she became disoriented and lost her balance. Emergency room x-rays showed no brain trauma. Only a few stitches were required to stop the bleeding.
Two months later, (March 2022), it is early morning. I noticed mom's bedroom light on so I check on her. She fell again during the late night. Picking her up off the floor and putting her in the bed was obviously agonizing for her.
Since she fell twice within a few months, I inquired if she had any symptoms of UTI. She says “no, but I sure go to the bathroom alot, like 3-4 times a night”. When I tell her frequency is a symptom, she responds “I thought getting up a few times during the night was typical for a 93-year-old”.
Utilizing a Uriscreen Rapid UTI Screening Kit, the screening immediately determined mom had a UTI. I sent the urine sample to our lab to have a PCR UTI test to diagnose her UTI.
Mom was soon transported to the hospital by ambulance. X-rays determined she had partially broken her hip.
Her 10-day hospital experience was nothing less than horrific.
The hospital relied on a Standard Urine Culture (SUC) to diagnose and treat the UTI. The SUC acknowledged only (1) pathogen causing the UTI! (attached below, file #1) A few days passed and no health parameters improved. I presented the hospitalist (yes-a hospitalist!) who was in charge of mom, our PCR Patient Report. Our PCR Patient Report listed (5) pathogens causing the UTI (attached below, file #2).
The antibiotic recommended by our PCR test was administered. The UTI was soon cured.
Other oversights mom had to endure while in the hospital included being dehydrated from lack of intravenous fluids. Mom’s lower legs became swollen and discolored because the staff forgot to remove left the compression socks at night time. Mom lost much blood during the surgery but was released anyway to the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF).
In the first morning at the SNF, mom practically feints while she attempts to get up out of bed. Any activity causes her blood pressure to drop. This goes on for four days! My wife insists on an infusion of blood. The SNF cannot do it and we are told the hospital will not take her back. We transport mom to another hospital, arriving at @ 4:00 pm. Not until midnight is she admitted. At 2:00 am, after hours of my wife confronting the medical staff, doctors agree to infuse her with blood. Mom is revived. She is released and after 6 weeks of rehabilitation in the SNF, mom is back home doing well at home.
Mom wants you to hear her story because the partial hip replacement surgery was the safest part of mom’s journey in our medical system. Oversight, lack of quality care, and an early release from the hospital resulted in near-death.
And it all started with a UTI, causing frequency, resulting in numerous trips to the bathroom at night, probably causing two falls, resulting in a gashed forehead and a broken hip. Without a physician-wife advocating for her in the hospital and SNF, chances are she does not return home.
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