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Staff member
Tomorrow is six weeks since I got my Interstim. Overall, things are going well. I switched the program (from #3 to #6), which requires a lower intensity (0.4 instead of 0.5). I feel an occasional flutter in my perineal area, but other than that, I don't really notice the Interstim at all.
The good part is that my incontinence is dramatically improved. I had one accident three weeks ago, when I was out shopping and couldn't find a restroom nearby, but that's it. I had decided that if I could make it all the way through December without any accidents, that I'd feel confident enough to stop wearing diapers on January first; despite the one accident, I went ahead and did that. Today was my first day back at work since before Christmas (our plant shuts down for the whole week between Christmas and New Year's), and the first time in well over a year that I've worn regular underwear to work. To be honest, I hardly thought about it. I was busy with getting equipment started up after the shutdown and finishing up a couple of projects that didn't quite get finished before Christmas, and my bladder behaved itself pretty well.
The bad part is that I'm still getting bouts of urgency most days. I've had a couple of times when I've been out that I had no idea if I'd be able to hold back the urgent need to pee. It's easy to keep from worrying when I've got a diaper on, but I'm a little nervous about getting into a situation where I end up wetting myself. I have a spare pair of pants in my bag, so I can change at work if I need to, but it would still be an embarrassing situation.
The question that I still have to figure out an answer to is this: How often is it acceptable to have an accident? It seems silly to wear diapers daily when I'm having accidents once a month - that ends up being a lot of expense and hassle. If I were having accidents weekly, I'd definitely keep wearing diapers. If I could rely on having an accident only once a year, I'd skip them. Monthly? Every other month? Those are harder questions to answer.
I've thought about switching to some of the cloth pull-up styles like Ecoables or Threaded Armor, but they're just so expensive that I haven't convinced myself to spend the money. Threaded Armor looks really good, but in my size it's $65 each, so getting half a dozen so I don't have to do laundry daily will set me back around $400. Ecoables don't look quite as underwear-like, but still look like they'd be workable, but they're $50 each, so six pairs would be $300. I suppose time will tell - if I'm having accidents every month or two, I'll need to do something, and that'll make it easier to justify the expense. I'm still hopeful that the urgency and spasms will ease off, and maybe I won't need to do anything.
Getting back to the Interstim, though, I'm glad I got it done. It was worth the rather uncomfortable procedures and the recovery time.
The good part is that my incontinence is dramatically improved. I had one accident three weeks ago, when I was out shopping and couldn't find a restroom nearby, but that's it. I had decided that if I could make it all the way through December without any accidents, that I'd feel confident enough to stop wearing diapers on January first; despite the one accident, I went ahead and did that. Today was my first day back at work since before Christmas (our plant shuts down for the whole week between Christmas and New Year's), and the first time in well over a year that I've worn regular underwear to work. To be honest, I hardly thought about it. I was busy with getting equipment started up after the shutdown and finishing up a couple of projects that didn't quite get finished before Christmas, and my bladder behaved itself pretty well.
The bad part is that I'm still getting bouts of urgency most days. I've had a couple of times when I've been out that I had no idea if I'd be able to hold back the urgent need to pee. It's easy to keep from worrying when I've got a diaper on, but I'm a little nervous about getting into a situation where I end up wetting myself. I have a spare pair of pants in my bag, so I can change at work if I need to, but it would still be an embarrassing situation.
The question that I still have to figure out an answer to is this: How often is it acceptable to have an accident? It seems silly to wear diapers daily when I'm having accidents once a month - that ends up being a lot of expense and hassle. If I were having accidents weekly, I'd definitely keep wearing diapers. If I could rely on having an accident only once a year, I'd skip them. Monthly? Every other month? Those are harder questions to answer.
I've thought about switching to some of the cloth pull-up styles like Ecoables or Threaded Armor, but they're just so expensive that I haven't convinced myself to spend the money. Threaded Armor looks really good, but in my size it's $65 each, so getting half a dozen so I don't have to do laundry daily will set me back around $400. Ecoables don't look quite as underwear-like, but still look like they'd be workable, but they're $50 each, so six pairs would be $300. I suppose time will tell - if I'm having accidents every month or two, I'll need to do something, and that'll make it easier to justify the expense. I'm still hopeful that the urgency and spasms will ease off, and maybe I won't need to do anything.
Getting back to the Interstim, though, I'm glad I got it done. It was worth the rather uncomfortable procedures and the recovery time.
