Aren't you a brick! I wonder if you are being careful about what you drink such as coffee, tea, colas, chocolate, alcohol? I have avoided these things like the plague because any time I have tested fate, I have had warning signs.
Thanks for the advice about estrogen cream. I have been using it for 2 1/2 years and it did stop the UTIs for 3 months at the start...until I had a cystoscopy in hospital and got an infection with a bacterium that is seen in hospitalized, catheterized patients (thank you very much!) which sent me into a UTI tailspin that I have recovered from once, again for a 3 month period on PACs (Utiva). I also take bio-identical progesterone cream to balance the estrogen...although I am told it is absorbed mostly locally.
Like your nurse practitioner's 92 year old mother, my aunt had afib for years and years plus many ablations. She was a smoker all her life and against her cardiologist's advice, would not stop. She faded away and died a natural death at age 88. I believe she could have lived longer because her mother, my grandmother lived to 100. But the smoking probably took its toll. Anyway, who wants to live to 100 if one's quality of life is poor?...
Love your attitude! You obviously have confidence in your ability to handle your condition yourself...which I think is often the case with those of us who have a chronic condition. We often know as much as and sometimes even more than the medical staff...especially since WE know our own bodies. Keep it up and good luck to you, Soph!