8-(2-amino-2-phenyl-acetyl)amino-4-methyl-7-oxo-2-thia-6-azabicyclo [4.2.0]oct-4-ene-5-carboxylic acid...

aka Cefalexin, 375 milligrams per 7.5 milliliters twice per day for 10 days. Grape Bubblegum flavored. We made an emergency early morning visit to the doctor on Wednesday to confirm our suspicions from the night before and because the symptoms were more advanced after a nights incubation. On the drive there Alek and I talked about how I knew it was ouchy but that it was important for Alek to remain calm and still so the doctor could do his job quickly and well. Sure enough both the resident and the doctor agreed that a swollen, red, tender to the touch penis with purulent discharge was the sign of a not so nascent urinary tract infection (UTI), although a lack of fever suggested it was not so advanced.

This is a first for us. In his first three years Alek had never had a symptomatic UTI, so what's different now? Recently, we have been encouraging Alek to use the potty. Everything is going well. A quick tutorial with Elmo via the net quickly framed the appropirate behavior. Soon Alek was running to the potty whenever he had a pee-pee feeling and smiling with accomplishment and pride as he ritually announced his recent success. However, time is of the essence and Alek hasn't quite mastered the task of pulling down his pants, taking off his diaper and then straddling the saddle-like "Once Upon a Potty". The solution to this challenge was simple enough, while at home, we let Alek go bare from the waist down, that way there is no impediment to mounting the potty. In hindsight, we now realize another we had also removed the impediment preventing an in depth investigation of the elastic properties of the human penis. Combine this with increased exposure to the environment and possibly an excessive amount bubble bath and we seem to have a good recipe for UTI.

We aren't relying totally on Cefalexin to do the job. Alek takes daily, low soap, soaking baths, drinks more water, eats more blueberries and is drinking a little bit of penis juice everyday. In hindsight, perhaps that wasn't such a good substitute name for cranberry juice, but at the time it seemed to help establish the notion in his mind that the juice specifically helps with the ouchies. More scientifically, it is thought the a large non-dialyzable component competes with bacteria for adhesion to the epithelium. Or the acidity of small weak acids such as quinic, malic and citric acid inhibit bacterial growth. Or that it is the phenolic Proanthocyanindins which inhibit adherence. Whichever of these hypotheses prevails is not so important at the moment. Now, two days into the treatment regimen, the symptoms described above have diminished and there is no apparent dysuria. None the less, we will continue with the remaining 8 days of antibiotics to ensure the infection does not recur and that resistance does not develop. And if you're wondering he'll be wearing a diapy or underpants for a while.