Days 23 - 24 - out & about

Who needs pads when you're in the ocean?

It's easy to be smug about continence when you're staying at home and always within 2 mins walk of a toilet. But it gets a lot scarier when you venture into the outside world with only an intermittently behaving pelvic floor and an absorbent pad between you and public humiliation. This weekend I expanded my horizons with a supermarket shopping trip on Saturday and a trip to the beach on Sunday. 

No pics of the shopping trip because it was just a Woolworths visit but that was my first long public expedition since the surgery. I know my toilet patterns from previous recordings so I waited until I had gone twice after breakfast, strapped in a number 3 pad, girded my loins (literally) and went for it. I also knew where the toilets were in the shopping centre so plan B was to abandon the trolley mid-shop if required. That wasn't necessary and although I was scared for most of the trip I completed the shop with no significant issues. I used a trolley, which was hard work if I tried to pull it sideways when I could feel it pulling on my abdomen. But it was fine if I just pushed or pulled straight ahead or walked it around at an angle if I needed to turn. I also took a lot of bags with me to reduce the individual weights I had to carry when I was transferring bags to the car. 

The next day we went down to the beach, which is just over an hours drive away. I drove and felt the urge to use the loo when we were stuck in traffic about 20mins from the final destination. There were a few stop off points on the way with public loos but I wanted to hold on. It was not a time to practice the 'little as possible' hold and I clenched up pretty tight. I was glad of the pad as a security measure but didn't end up needing to use it. 

It was great to get back into the ocean & relax that pelvic floor although I had to be careful about waves breaking on me and knocking me over. I sat down if the swell and just watched the waves for a bit, but even that loaded my abdomen at times. 

Seems chill, and then...
   

Ouch

At one point I floated on my back in knee deep water and gently trod water, enjoying the feeling of the swell until my wife came over and pointed out I had drifted into a rip and was slowly heading offshore. Remember stay between the flags!

It was a good weekend and I'm a lot more confident now, but it was also surprisingly hard work and when I was back at home I spent a lot of time on my back recuperating. I'm probably pushing the limits of what I should be doing to be honest, but I'm listening to my body. 

To finish off a couple of hints - 
  • If you're leaving the house then be aware of and plan around your toilet habits - eg I go couple of times in quick succession after breakfast, and am more likely to leak if I haven't had a bowel movement so waited until that had happened.  
  • Have a plan B if possible.
  • Build up slowly if possible for the sake of your confidence. 
  • There are apps that show you the closest public toilets if you're going somewhere you don't know.
  • Take a bottle you can urinate in - that way in the worst case you can relieve yourself in a less public way such as under a towel or (in my case) in the back of the van. 
  • Take a spare pad and pair of underwear just in case.

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