Country Bumpkin thanks for the link-I haven't been here much lately and didn't know anything about the accident. Yes, it doesn't really sound good from what I have read and my experience working with trauma patients in the ICU. I hate to say this without sounding callous because Curt is not my family member, but sometimes death is better. It sounds to me that if he survives he will not be Curt as you know him, but rather in a vegetative state or something close to it. It is certainly a horrible thing to have happen to Curt and his family, and I pray for them all.

An accident of this sort can range from bruised scalp to a cut throat. It all depends, and folks, there are a lot of 'depends'. For one thing, many posters above are assuming they know what kind of glass was in the windshield. We don't know this. The make and model of the car was not identified. We don't know if the car was new or old at the time of the accident. We don't even know ths size of the window or its elevation in relation to the person's body. Some old time cars had small windshields so high up that a short person had trouble viewing the road. Its a fairly safe assumption there were no seat belts. For example, the year could have been 1939 and she was in a 10 yr old car. That could have been a Model A Ford. I'm not sure what kind of glass the Model A had, (I owned one a long time ago) but I do not believe it was 'safety glass', the type that is two pieces of glass laminated together with a polymer film. Laminated safety glass is supposed to be heat treated in such a manner so that on impact, it shatters into little bits and does not produce long shards. The polymer film holds things together, stretches, and reduces (not prevents in all cases) the possibility of sticking a head all the way through and getting cuts in bad places. Well, that's what its supposed to do - t'aint always so. In 1965, the company I worked for occupied a new office building and the rear glass doors were supposed to have been treated to break into tiny bits. One evening, a friend of mine was leaving the building with a group when someone distracted him. He turned and kept up a brisk pace. He thought the door was held open by the fellow in front of him, It wasn't. He turned his head forward just in time to bang into the glass. It broke. Large shards of glass, some 2 to 3 ft long, fell around him. Miracously, he got only a bump on the head and a small cut with shards of glass surrounding him. Wasn't supposed to happen, BUT IT DID. He was one lucky fellow. Naturally, there followed an investigation with the supplier, installer, and insurnace company with a lot of finger-pointing. There was a goof-up somewhere. So, was it possible that she went though the windshield without a lasting facial blemish? Yeah, but the likelyhood of other scenarios are more common. From what scraps of information I got from the original post, it seems that her entire body launched through the windshield and ended up somewhere out outside of the vehicle. That is possible. I have first hand knowledge of such a case. In this case, the car went into a ditch, struck a culvert and instantly stopped. He went through the windshield flying much like Superman, and nailed a very stong post. He never came out of the coma and died weeks later.

Agree that the E.coli in this situation is different than that which typically cause food borne infections that make the news. In the sister's case, some stool probably got on either her hand or a caregiver's hand/glove and got into her bloodstream that way (via the mouth, mucus membrane, or open sore). Respectfully disagree with this as likely "probability". E.coli is a normal flora (bacteria) in everyone's intestinal tract. It is probably the most common organism causing UTI's. This is because of the close proximity of the urinary opening to the anus. When a person has a Foley catheter this tube is a conduit for bacteria lurking in the perineal area to migrate up the catheter, into & infecting the bladder. The problem is compounded with the adult diapers which hold the stool in warm, moist, dark environment (perfect growing conditions) close to the urinary opening &/or catheter. If the UTI/bladder infection goes undetected for a few days, then it can lead to a blood stream infection (sepsis). I believe, iirc, E.coli UTI is also the most common source for blood stream infection. However, there are other precursors for blood stream infections, i.e. pneumonia, wounds, abscesses, contaminated needles, to name a few. And of course, there are other organisms besides E.Coli that cause UTI or sepsis. As an aside... Women who suffer from repeated UTI's should be instructed that after using the bathroom they should wipe front to back (rather than the reverse) because it's likely she is dragging fecal contaminants toward her urinary meatus. I know.... probably more than you wanted to know... LOL

For my allergist I just make an appointment with the practice and I see the NP and then the allergist if she thinks I need to see her, or if I say "yes" when she asks if I want to see the doctor.