A better day today. Still not perfect, but better.
Friday and Saturday nights, the first two nights without the catheter, I slept in the full Depends diapers not knowing what may happen. Last night, I took a chance and just used the guard in my underwear, and things were just fine.
I can tell that I can stand a little more quickly and a little more confidently each time I try. Most of the time, I can do it without any leakage which is a good thing. In fact, I felt confident enough this afternoon to go for a little walk up and down my cul-de-sac (two laps). Nothing happened.
I do want to become more and more active as time goes on. I actually think that it will help train my bladder to expect certain kinds of movements (steps, walking, standing, sitting, getting into/out of a vehicle, etc.) and it will learn to compensate for each over time and with repetition.
If it weren't for these small signs of progress, I would be quite depressed right now.
While getting the catheter removed was a great step forward physically, I don't think I was expecting the psychological kick in the pants that came with the new adventure of incontinence.
Even with the catheter for ten days, I felt as though I was making forward progress with my recovery each day. Now, it feels as though I've been pushed back on my recovery at least a week, and that I'm almost starting from scratch. I know that's not the case, but emotionally, it's been an unexpected setback.
I know that things will continue to improve with each day, and as long as they do, I should get back on emotional track.
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A friend from work stopped by for lunch today, and another friend will be bringing dinner by for me this evening.
I've yet to try to drive, and I don't think that I'll give it a try until the middle or end of this week. We'll see how confident I feel about being away from home for any extended period of time (and an hour or so would be an extended period of time for me right now).
Hey Dan, I totally sympathize with you on the emotional set back thing. I had a frozen shoulder that I thought was just a little arthritis. I started to baby it and not use my left arm for anything, like closing the car door, hoping the rest would help it to heal. When I finally broke down and went to the doctor it was really frozen solid. It took a very long time (a year)to rehab and the worst thing about it was that no one said it would get better for sure if I did the rehab exercises. I thought it was so frozen that there was no way it would break loose but about 10 months into it there was some improvement and then it started getting better and better to the point that it is totally normal now. You have had great success so soon after surgery and all. We are praying for a complete recovery. Keep your chin up. Talk to you later. dave loe
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