First, apologies for my being "Missing In Action" for all of these weeks. Jeanne has contracted a couple of additional urinary tract infections (UTI's)...one requiring hospitalization again...and it's all definitely kept us on our toes. Why the increase in UTI's? Apparently it's a consequence of having a foley catheter. But I've recently heard about a prescprition medication, Uroquid Acid No. 2, that has a very strong track record for keeping UTI activity low among people with catheters. I'll be speaking to Jeanne's doctor today to see if this is a possible course of treatment for her.
I also owe another big thank you to the staff at Hillcrest Care Center. As Jeanne first became symptomatic with another UTI, they quickly took proactive action to insure that she recerived appropriate treatment at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center before the infection had a chance to seriously compromise her. As a result, it was a pleasantly uneventful hospital stay. Except for the shooting.
If you live in Southern California, you may recall hearing about the Long Beach Memorial employee who brought a gun to the hospital and proceeded to shoot his boss, his boss's boss and himself. I thought that Jeanne and I had already experienced almost every situation one can imagine taking place in a hospital. But I was wrong. We had yet to experience being in the hospital during a total security lockdown.
Doors on every floor of the hospital swung shut and locked automatically. Announcements came over the public address system. "Code triage. All available social workers, please report to the ER immediately." Police brandishing automatic weapons...helicopters overhead...announcements on the local TV news not to even try to get into the hospital...we saw it all. But the hospital staff maintained their cool and continued to provide excellent care for the patients. Once again, hats off to the 5th floor nurses who did a great job of caring for Jeanne...even under these bizarre circumstances.
With Jeanne back at Hillcrest, I have my fingers crossed that we can look forward to less eventful days. I'll be sure to keep you posted.
