Do you ever stop and think “How would I have handled this situation without all the modern conveniences?” Well, I hope so. It’s a great prepper habit, testing both your skills and your preps. We experienced one of those moments yesterday. We discovered Salty was infected.
Welcome to a new series
This article debuts a new series here at 3BY: A Prepper Case. In this series, we’ll describe a real situation that either did our could have called for preps to be put into use. We’ll invite you to think about how you could — or couldn’t — handle it effectively with the preps and knowledge at your fingertips. Then we’ll kick around some ideas.
A couple of caveats
First, I’m not a physician. I do have a graduate degree in how human bodies work, but I don’t mistake that for being a qualified health practitioner who gives medical advice. You shouldn’t either. Second … Salty tells me some of this story might disturb the squeamish. I hadn’t noticed; but my tolerance for such things is, he assures me, high. So be warned.
Salty is infected
The story starts yesterday morning, when Salty emerged from the bathroom to inform me he had a problem. He’d had trouble peeing. He couldn’t seem to empty his bladder, it burned to try, and it had looked bloody.
It was snowing. Roads were nasty. We decided to give it a couple of hours of road clearance before heading to Urgent Care.
Half an hour later the next trip to the bathroom brought “bits of stuff coming out”. The “bits” looked like blood-colored, soft, amorphous blobs. A fever was rising, and he felt bad.
The symptoms make it clear that your family member is infected. Now what?
What would you do if one of Your household was infected?
Salty’s condition is a completely common one, although his came on much faster and harder than average. I sure hope that, if possible, you’d get actual professional advice in this situation. But suppose you couldn’t get to professional advice. In fact, imagine you can’t contact anyone outside your house. What would you do now?
What we would have done for Infected Salty
Given the situation — and yeah, I looked at the “bits of stuff” because as a pathophysiologist, I’m just that way — I gave it a 95% probability I knew what was up. A urinary tract infection (UTI). A very fast, very nasty UTI. That was bloody mucus in the urine; and the burning, urgency, and feeling like he couldn’t empty all matched up as well.
But I know my limits. My theoretical knowledge is useful, but I’m not a trained provider/prescriber. We could get to professional help, so we did. But it did get me thinking what if.
If we couldn’t have gotten to any professional medical provider, I’d have grabbed my copy of Where There Is No Doctor. (Click here for the publisher’s site). He gives very practical advice on specifics. How do you decide which diagnosis matches? What treatments can be done by the average person who has access to some basic drugs and equipment?
What preps would have been needed for Infected Salty?
The value of What If exercises lies in the opportunity it gives you to see what’s needed. In our case, for this particular crises, we would have been in good shape. (Other entries in this series? Not so much; prepping’s a process.) What did we need?
Resources to figure out what the problem was. I happened to have this one; it was common and distinctive. Even if I’d have been clueless, we 1) Had the right resource book, 2) Could find the right resource book in two minutes of looking when we needed it, and 3) Knew how to actually use the resource book. The last two are actually harder than the first in many cases.
The right tools for the job. Let me be clear: We have never self-prescribed prescription medications, and sincerely hope we never need to. Professionals should handle this job if at all possible. But we do have some meds in storage… in case our fish get sick.
Infected persons in the age of antibiotics
I’ll be honest with you, this infection came on so hard and fast that if we had no antibiotic access, I’d have been worried about Salty’s survival. (The doc expressed amazement at its aggression too, and hit it with a Big stick.) This is in fact the second time he’s been infected to a degree that may have killed without antibiotics.
Some preppers buy what are supposed to be prescription meds through other channels, to have them on hand. I’m not going to speak to that yea or nay. I see why one would want to have them, but I also see some real downsides.
What I will say is this: If you get the meds and don’t be sure to have on hand good guidance on how and when to use them — you’re doing stupid. Those drugs are prescription only for a reason, and keeping docs in business is not the reason. Specifics of use, dosage, counter-indications are among the reasons.
Are you ready now if the Stuff that Hits the Fan is an infected family member?
How’d you do? Could you have handled the infected family member appropriately with the knowledge and preps at hand? If so, NICE! If not … maybe there’s a couple of items to go on your To Do or To Get list. You can hardly argue that the situation described is unrealistic. Salty’s antibiotics are a pretty teal color…
I suspected Salty’s issue was a UTI as well. They aren’t quite as common in men but can be nastier. Of course being able to see what is coming out helps to diagnose the problem. I’m not very squeamish about these things either after years of military, paramedic, police officer, and father.
I likely could have properly diagnosed the issue in a relative. I have a number of reference books, some experience, and I am able to medicate my sick fish should that be necessary. No pun intended.
In SHFT times and professional medical help not readily available, you need reference material (more than one preferably), and you may want to have the ability to treat sick fish.
We had things to say to guys with similar problems in the military, but out of respect to Spice, I will forego writing any of them. 🙂
No, Zulu, certainly with the shift in my work life I’ve been home far to much for him to get UTIs *that* way. Besides, we have a firm rule: All associates must be *clean*. 😉
Apparently, my reference materials are in need of updating.
Recently I had an issue that the doc figured out with the aid of an x-ray. How I (or Momma) might have come to the correct conclusion is cause for some research.
Funkengrooven,
In SHTF times, not every medical problem will be easy to diagnose. Either you will have to take a scientific wild ass guess, or it’s nice knowing you. Just like the golden oldie days before electricity and modern medical diagnostic devices and medications.
Oh, there was some decent diagnosis going on before the modern tools. Not nearly as good, but still decent. In this case, for example, the standard cues were completely sufficient. Unfortunately, that sort of diagnosis is rather complex and lend itself that well to a quick guide for the intelligent layperson.
Believe me, as a nurse I can tell you, even most doctors are guessing.
Be watchful for signs of prostatitis.
We did keep an eye out for that, thank you. I’m supposing prostatitis would raise PSA; and that was not high…
Prevention should be the direction after the antibiotics have done there thing. And antibiotics are the ONLY course of action for such a severe infection. Make sure you are drinking enough fluids. Add a cranberry supplement to your regimen. As soon as you get that feeling again even a tiny bit, drink, flush out your kidneys. It is a miserable complaint. Take care!!!
The book you mentioned is good, but I believe a prepper should have more: a) a fairly recent copy of the Merck Manual. This book is written for doctors but an intelligent person can understand most of it; b) a reasonably recent copy of the Physicians Desk Reference, which describes all drugs, uses, dosage, side effects; c) an emergency book (preferably an actual text book) that tells how to do basic procedures if the medical situation is a physical injury such as a bleeding wound, etc. My mom had unpredictable, bad attacks of cystitis until I suggested she drink a little cranberry juice every morning. She began to do this, and never had another attack. She also loved the juice. If your friend has UTIs frequently, it might be worth a try. Best wishes to your fish.
You make a good point. I do have a PDR, but I haven’t seen a paper copy published in the last several years — wasn’t sure they still had it in hard copy. Still, a lot of it won’t change; especially what a prepper has access to. I wouldn’t call it layman-friendly, but useful. I’ve never used the Merck manual myself. I’ll give it a look.
I agree that a copy of the Merck Manual is a good one to have available in a prepper’s medical library. I have a copy, along with a Taber’s medical dictionary, a three-year old PDR, the Alton’s three books, and several on Wilderness Medicine, plus a couple of A&P books (including a Gray’s), a Merck Pocket Midwife, and a collection of basic first aid books. I also have an American Red Cross first aid book from 1950 that has a lot of diagrams on using cravat bandages for a bunch of different things.
For folks with frequent UTI’s consider keeping the supplement D-mannose on hand and taking in water before bed. It keeps bacteria from adhering to the bladder wall. Berberine will also help and is an excellent supplement to keep on hand for diabetics. Clinical studies show it works as well as metformin.
Also, always urinate after sexual activity to flush bacteria out of the urethra.
Thank you for taking the time to share with us, Penny!