I frequently read posts in a caregivers group for Lewy Body Dementia. Tonight I was glad for the advice I commonly see there concerning changes in behavior. The advice is to always suspect urinary tract infection.

The last two or three days have been bad ones for Dennis. He has been weaker, sleeping more, hard to motivate, less interactive, not eating as well, not thinking as well. He needed a shower (smelled bad) and although he didn’t object to the idea, he would never get around to doing it. He would take a nap instead. He began having urinary incontinence problems and wanted to know where his Depends were. He would wake up with an urgent need for the bathroom, but would have so much difficulty getting there that he would have an accident. Finally he told me he had a burning sensation when he started to urinate, and the light in my brain came on. UTI.

Why do these things always happen on the weekend? Fortunately we do have an urgent care clinic at our hospital and I decided to take him there right away. He had to be talked into going – “I’ve had these kinds of problems for months” he said. But I told him we needed to find out and that it would be fairly simple to do, and that it would not be good to wait for an appointment during the week.

We were in an exam room within a few minutes after checking in. Vital signs showed normal blood pressure and temperature, so no fever. A urine sample was taken and an ultrasound of the bladder to see if there was more than usual residual. The results showed a lot of white cells (infection) and some blood in the urine as well. Before we went home he was given an injection of antibiotic, a prescription for 10 days of oral antibiotic and orders to check back in a couple of days.

I am so glad we are on to this! It could explain all the recent changes that have worried me. Hopefully the infection clears up and we won’t have to deal with worse complications like kidney stones or kidney infection.

I thank God for his promptings, for bringing things to mind, and for the appropriate sense of urgency to get care quickly. We ask for his help daily and he is good to us.