It's baaaaaaack. Has UTI returned with a vengeance?

Nov. 2, 2017
Hi, Tracy,
In Jaws, the tag line is "just when you think its safe to go back into the water..."
Well, everything looked like it cleared up from the last UTI. And then that tingling sensation returned a bit this week, so I made it a point to stay hydrated. But I was noticing that there were these little Dr. Pavlov moments continuing. Just the thought of peeing made it happen. But if I moved fast enough, no disasters.

Until yesterday, when I walked to Seattle City Hall a couple times for a demonstration by the homeless community. Things got dicey walking home.

I woke early today and walked back downtown for the "die-in" at city hall, taking time to use the portable toilet outside city hall where the camp out was held last night. I photographed the die-in and headed home.

I can't remember the exact order of events, but they were exciting.  Either before or after I went to city hall I passed a lot of red urine and a really healthy blood clot. I went to urgent care, and a medic put an IV in my arm. I was given a specimen bottle. I had an empty bladder, so I hydrated in the exam room and he left a plastic bottle for the overflow. But when the time came, things happened very fast. Not all of the urine got in the overflow bottle, and only a small amount got into the specimen bottle -- but enough to test. I could barely stop peeing. The fluid was a cranberry red. After that session, I rehydrated, and later passed another sample, which was almost clear, and that's the way its been for the past 10 hours -- clear urine. No blood at all. Go figure.

This is really strange.

But the initial prognosis is another UTI. The technician told me the fact that the blood had been clotting earlier in the day was a good sign. I left there about 1:00 p.m., and walked to the downtown library branch for a short meeting. There is almost no tingling, although there is still some urgency when it's time to pee.

I'll be taking antibiotics, but the one they wanted to give me -- Monurol -- was out of stock until Friday afternoon. So I've decided to take it easy and not go anyplace special for a couple days until I have the antibiotic and things calm down again.

The medics took several vials of blood--enough to check my PSA levels for the first time since the end of my radiation treatments. I expect to have a consult with my urologist in a few days, and there will be more to tell.

Love,
Dad

P.S. Nov 3: Test results show  1,000-10,000 colony forming units of bacteria per milliliter in the blood.  Internet research (and who doesn't trust the internet?) suggests that the measure for whether I have a urinary tract infection is 100,000 cfu's. So maybe I don't have an infection, but in that case, what is going on?