Utterly crazy week. Many phone calls and rearrangements meant we unexpectedly had the pleasure of all our family together under one roof at home. In a burst of energy last weekend vast amounts of suppers, lunches and breads prepared and stored ready to throw together each night. Hurrah for supermarket delivery and my trusty Kenwood mixer. However did I ever hold down a full time job and sort the family too? Exhausting but wonderful fun, dogs, babies and chatter and and..

But, not only, but also, ….

Monday. Emergency dentist shit awful tooth ache. As I stared at the ceiling, which boasts a poster of a 🏖… while he probed the source I distracted myself drafting a speech for Tuesday about bladders. Nice Dentist asked me if it hurt a lot when I bit down. Yes I replied a bit distracted. Especially with Tena . God. He just smiled kindly and carried on.

Using his prescription for antibiotics has had the double reward of improving tooth and keeping the raging uti at bay.

Tuesday was a conference in London. I kept having a complete blank on the name of the organisation. It was World something… Continence. WorldWildlife… I was speaking about the health economics of bladderations. My fellow speakers were amazing. Including the Squeezy App inventor. She’s brilliant. Also a lovely consultant who sometimes looks after me. She was funny, incisive and we chatted like old friends afterwards. Most of what I had planned to say had been said before. So I changed tack and told them about growling at Sir Robert. Growling at supplier who proudly showed off a pad which had absorption of 1000 mls. YES pour a litre of water down your trousers and see how that feels Ms Tena !

Got alot of laughs and empathetic nods. Phew.

Wednesday.

Dentist at 8.00 am root canals had to be sorted. Again I stared at the ceiling planning another speech for later in the day.

Eventually the canal. Was rooted or the roots canalled. Numb from the local anaesthetic I could only dribble and mumble my thanks. Only to be told I would need further procedures as the drill brush file wotsit had broken. In my root canal. #bummer #YouCouldNotMakeItUp! No time to feel sorry for myself I necked paracetamol and jumped on a train to London.

The mumbling and dribbling improved by the time I arrived at the House of Commons. For it was at this illustrious venue that I had been invited to speak at the launch of new guidance for Antibiotic Microbial Resistance (AMR) in particular infection of bladders.

In esteemed company of clinicians, mps and fellow speakers I told my story. I told them about Rottweilers at GP receptions. I complained about sample pots. Rationing thereof and the extraordinary use of dipsticks. I growled about the incomprehensible delays in getting results . As Jerome had explained we have weedy good bugs and strong bad bugs. Using the wrong antibiotics or the inappropriate prescribing for those without symptoms ie asymptomatic only makes the AMR worse. Indeed , bladders and bugs are common and should be left if asymptotic. Or treated with narrow spectrum if symptomatic, until culture results known. As for rationing of stupid test tubes for sample. Amazon sells them by the hundred. Cheap.

My fellow speakers were a Professor from Public Health England. (PHE). She was full of facts and figures. But as I discovered later she had never seen a catheter. So I showed her mine and explained. NO. I did not demonstrate…promise! What the hell use is a load of data if you’ve never even seen the products? FFS

The third speaker was a London Microbiologist Professor . She was incredible. She seemed to have managed to note all the key points of the presentations and knit them into an erudite summary. To my infinite relief she too objected to dipstick tests. She explained that as we get older the bugs in the bladder are normal. So in the over 80’s there will be bacteria, but it may not be a problem. In the over 65’s again caution is advised…bugs maybe detected. But unless symptomatic no antibiotic needed.

Later looking over the Thames I was introduced to her Pharmacist who is making terrific inroads into the interface between Primary and Secondary care by educating the medical teams in her A and E. This I am delighted to hear. Not least as I witnessed with my mother and the broken hip episode. The temptation to assume an infection , bung in antibiotics and ram in a catheter, is inappropriate at best, dangerous at worst.

With massive thanks to Jerome for helping me. Now it is Saturday and all I can think about is sleep and working out how to numb my throbbing root canal with a bit of drill stuck in it. Have a good weekend.