It's All Good

Mom was seen very promptly in the ER, her labs were fine and chest x-ray clear. The urinalysis showed she has a UTI (urinary tract infection), at which point she said to me, "well I have been peeing a lot more and it is sort of cloudy." AHHH! Textbook symptoms, but somehow they didn't raise a red flag. So she was discharged from the ER at 10pm with a prescription for cipro and that antibiotic should start making her feel better in less than 24 hours.

Teaching Opportunity! But just because her antibiotics might make her feel better before she's taken the full course, does not mean she can stop taking them. Resistance to antibiotics happens for two reasons: the being they're over prescribed to begin with, and the second is because people are non-compliant and don't take the full course of drugs. If you don't dose your body properly the first time, the next time you really need an antibiotic, it might not work because your body learned how to fight it off.

So repeat after me: I ______, swear to always take my full course of antibiotics, even if it's for something little, and to never stop earlier than prescribed because I'm feeling better.