A Recipe For A Urinary Tract Infection

Here is a recipe for a urinary tract infection.  It starts with a pot of boiling water.

"So, I wanted to try and figure out if there's something going on that's causing your husband to have repeated UTIs.  It may just be an unfortunate situation, because of his catheter use, but I want to make sure there's not something that we're ignoring."

"He does use a lot of catheters."

"Right, but you were trained by the nurse in how to do it correctly, yes?"

"Yes, she said I was doing it correctly."

"And you're using a fresh catheter every time."

"Yes, either from the package or after I clean them."

"I'm sorry -- you're cleaning catheters and then using them again?"

"No, I make sure to boil them."

"You boil them?"

"I put the catheter in a pot of boiling water, and then it is sterilized to use again."

"I think this may be the problem."

"But I do that with my jars for jelly and it's fine."

"There's bacteria on them."

"No, I boil them."

"OK, I'm not an expert in canning, but you need to not re-use catheters.  Use a new one -- fresh from the package -- every time."

"But catheters are so expensive."

"Hospital stays for UTIs are expensive too.  The catheters should be covered under Medicare."

"I need a prescription for more."

"That's not a problem."

"But they take up so much room."

"Yeah, there's nothing I can do about that.  Also, are you actually boiling used catheters in a pot you also use to cook with?"

"Yes, the pot I use for the jelly jars."

"What kind of jelly do you make?"

"Oh, all kinds.  Blueberry, strawberry, grape.  I can bring you a jar."

"No, please don't."