UTI

 I woke up to fire when I went to the bathroom. Well, that's what it felt like. I obviously didn't drink enough water over the weekend, and somehow ended up with a UTI.

So I pulled out the big guns. D-mannose. Ladies, let me tell you, this stuff works. I take 2 tablets with lots of water, pee, then two more with lots of water, repeat, repeat as needed. I started at 9 am. It's now noon and I am better.

I added the salt to my first drink to boost electrolytes. I'm on plain water now. May add another dose of salty water later.

Let me tell you a story. About 15 years ago I had a very stubborn bladder infection. My doctor prescribed the regular antibiotics for that but they did nothing. He changed the prescription....still nothing. He put me on Levofloxacin (Levaquin). It came with three pages of serious warnings. It has numerous Black Box warnings and is now discontinued here in the US. 

Let that sink in.

From Drugs.com:

"Levaquin is a fluoroquinolone (flor-o-KWIN-o-lone) antibiotic that fights bacteria in the body.

Levaquin is used to treat different types of bacterial infections. Levofloxacin is also used to treat people who have been exposed to anthrax or certain types of plague.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics can cause serious or disabling side effects.

Levaquin should be used only for infections that cannot be treated with a safer antibiotic.

Warnings

Levaquin can cause serious side effects, including Tendon Rupture, Peripheral Neuropathy, Central Nervous System Effects, and Myasthenia Gravis Exacerbation.

I could not handle the medicine at all and the thought of my tendons popping off even years later was enough to make me run.  

I started researching. That's when I found out about D-mannose. It cleared my infection in a couple days. It is rare for me to need antibiotics for a UTI now. It is also rare for me to get an infection, but not drinking enough water can bring one on. I used to take cranberry pills and probably should start again. However, D-mannose is a must-have for any time that a UTI might pop up. 

Edit....day two. I was fine this morning, but by evening I could tell I needed some more doses of D-mannose. Hoping I knock it out this time.

Edit....day three. Looking ok.

We Had A Blast!

My daughter and her hubby came to visit about noon last Friday, June 19th. I had presents for them to open (it was her hubby's birthday on Tuesday and I always have a little something for my daughter, too). We ate some cheese and sausage and talked a bit, and then headed out. We decided to go to the Vines and Rushes Winery, but first drove up to Omro to take a short walk, since a walk was also on the agenda. We walked across a bridge in Omro, took some pictures, and then drove to the winery.

Omro. We took family photos, too.

Italian built pizza oven at Vines and Rushes.

We tasted some wines and then ordered pizza. The pizza could have been better, not the oven's fault. We sat outside and talked for awhile, then decided to drive into town. It really had not crossed my mind that it was Ripon Fest. I wasn't paying attention to the announcement on social media.

First we walked down to the Patina Vie, a beautiful shop that just won an award as the best Independent Home Decor store in the nation for 2026. We spend some time browsing the beautiful items, some quite reasonable, others very spendy. The we started making our way back down the street to where we were parked.

Suddenly....music! 80's Rock and Roll! My daughter (an 80's girl) announced "On to the music!" and we headed to the park. A band named Cherry Pie was playing. My daughter was over the moon. 

I must tell you a short story. When my daughter turned 16, she and I were playing her favorite songs. I was 36 at that time. It was late. The street was dark. We put on Van Haylen's "Jump". Oh, who can sit still with that playing?!?! We cranked it up and ran outside. We ran out to the middle of the street and were dancing like a couple of crazy happy kids. Suddenly we noticed way down at the other end of the block, headlights flipped on. They just sat there. Then they pulled out slowly. We ran inside, killed the music, closed the door and blinds, turned off the lights and looked out cautiously, just in time to watch the police creep slowly by. 

Guess what song the band played...Jump! 

Here is a video from June 19th in Ripon, from the Cherry Pie website. My son-in-law is on the right at 33 seconds. My daughter is next to him but they didn't pan over far enough to show her face.

We stayed quite awhile before heading back to our apartment. My daughter and hubby had to leave early because they had a race to attend in the morning. They love going to the races, and attend the Indy 500 and several other races every year.

We are happy that my daughter and her hubby have so much fun here.

Saturday, while they were at the race, hubby and I went to Grafton to walk the Lion's Den Gorge. It was a mild day, not too hot or humid. We walked all the way to the  bridge, which was broken in half by a tree. We took the 100 steps down to the beach and took a long walk. We took some pictures and walked back, up all the stairs and all the way back to the parking lot. Close to 2 miles. Our feet hurt from walking on the rocks along the shore!

Always love to see Lake Michigan

Non-native multiflora roses perfuming the air

The gorge

Stairs

Broken bridge

Closeup of the tree that fell and broke it in half

Lake Michigan was very reflective

That's it for tonight. This post is getting quite long.