Trudy, pre-emptively testing for a UTI seems like a good idea in your mom's case, because it could head off any problems before they have a chance to turn into huge problems. (My own dad has a UTI and still hasn't seen a doctor for it, which means he's going to go crazy if he hasn't already — literally crazy, like hallucinating people in his apartment — and I've had a cold since last week [thanks, Tim] that just keeps getting worse, so I don't have the capacity to go physically wrangle Dad to the doctor. I expect him to hit Code Blackwatch Plaid by Thursday.)

Also it was in the 70s yesterday and it's snowing now, which is some kind of bullshit. I feel personally attacked by the snow.

literally crazy, like hallucinating people in his apartment

Yyyyup. I feel like if I had a Senior facility of any sort they'd be peeing in cups twice a week. Once when mom was in rehab and looped out I looked in the day room and thought "Do half these people just have UTIs?" Its staggering.

Goldenseal root can be good too. Also, naturally decongesting. It might seem like a cranberry supplement might be a good addition in some places. It would seem that a bladder thing would be hard to miss, but even as a middle-aged disabled person, I've had people shrug off my shit, like, "You know you have brain damage that affects most of your body, right?" when I think "Yeah, I told *you* that."(And that includes *skin conditions* and other things that, in retrospect, seem on the sloppy side to act that way about.) So maybe you get old and say "Man, it just seems like I'm peeing all the time," and maybe some doctors tell you you're not a spring chicken or something.

Thank you, erikaj!

I think when you're older you don't get the burn as often.

I don't always get it myself, which is, like, the dumbest "Everybody lies," ever, Because, yes, I've said it when it wasn't true because it was either an infection or bladders have Mardi Gras.