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Have peopleg gone back to work semi-incontinent?

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Posted 4/7/2012 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
I am in control when I stay at home, but something comes out when I leave the apartment, go shopping, on the metro, etc. I have to ride the train for an hour or so to get to work. I may be able to start biofeedback therapy this coming week, but have to see first. The surgeon told me last week the muscles are fine and functioning but a bit slack, and that is why I am not completely in control.

I have a strategy for going back to work:

Wear one-way underwear on the train. There will be a mess to clean up when I get to work. I will clean myself up and put on normal underwear and a pad. I will be in the same building all day so hopefully nothing else will happen until I leave and get back on thet rain. (There re two buildings so it may happen when I have to go to the other building, not every day, but I can just be equiped all the time and clean myself up whenevver necessary). There doesn#t seem to be any oder, particular with these throw-away panties, so I am confident I can deal with it very discretely. I cannot stay home for 2-3 months if that is how long it is going take.

Any experience with this?

Posted 4/7/2012 11:38 PM (GMT 0)
I don't understand why some people have perfect continence after take down and some don't. What are they doing different to those people.
Posted 4/7/2012 11:46 PM (GMT 0)
No experience, but before surgery I had to deal with urgency ...didn't have many accidents, but I was always prepared. I knew bathrooms all along the subway to get out and dash toward -- but it sounds like you don't have that warning.

I think it's good that you're confident. Bring some extra clothes to keep at work just in case you need them. Hopefully things will get better soon. Sorry you're having to deal with this (and sorry I got behind on reading Healing Well, busy week....)
Posted 4/8/2012 10:23 AM (GMT 0)
Somedude, they don't do anyything essentially different, but apparently the process is is also just like like that box of chocolates.

Blue, thanks. So far it hasn't been the entire contents of the pouch. I don't understand why it is happening because on the toilet I have to exert. I ordered a bidet bottle, which is really taking its time getting delivered, and in the meantime discovered the wonders of turning an empty plastic mineral water bottle into a portable bidet.

My tip to everyone: use water, it is much more hygenic and thorough than paper, and have no fear of touching your own botttom back there.

Also mysterious - I feel the signals of needing to empty my pouch when I am in bed or most of the time when sitting here, so no problems. It's walking in the street and traveling on public trans, that's when I don't notice anything happened until I check.
Posted 4/8/2012 11:33 AM (GMT 0)
Sounds like your body isn't completely used to the jpouch yet, and bio feedback should be able to completely take care of that.

I think my jpouch is anxious to start being used. For whatever reason I woke up last night with the strong urge to use the bathroom but nothing came out. I'm probably making myself nervous though...I looked at a calendar yesterday and realized there is only 10 more days until my takedown surgery.
Posted 4/8/2012 11:49 AM (GMT 0)
NewShiny,
I had the same "premature" jpouch feelings in the days before take-down. I think, whatever we know, it knows too.

What was also happening a couple of times is that my bag got really full during sleep, and so output ended up going into the loop stoma opening leading to the jpouch. Twice before take-down, when I released mucous, there was a tiny bit of something like carrot that came out.
Your take-down is this month or in May? On this site, there always seems to be clusters of people who have their take-downs around the same time, so there's a couple of people around on the same train here. We are class of spring '12.

In the south, do they still make this candy called divinity?
Posted 4/8/2012 12:59 PM (GMT 0)
This month on the 18th actually. The last couple of days I've been sleeping straight through the night so by the time I wake up the bag is almost completely full. It doesn't help that I've also been trying out new beers since after takedown I'm going to avoid them for a couple of weeks. I can't tell if it is the beer or something else I'm eating but the bag is usually half full with air, so I'm kinda worried that after takedown I'm going to have bad gas pain.

I haven't heard of a candy called divinity. Then again, while I'm a southerner, I feel out of place because I'm not like most of the people around here. When I worked in tech support a lot of people though I was from California because my lack of an accent and the fact I didn't seem "redneck". I also dislike sweet tea.
Posted 4/8/2012 1:40 PM (GMT 0)
If you are enjoying lots of different beers, then that's what it is, the gas accumulating in your bag. I don't think that will have anything to do with your recovery after take-down.
I had no idea that souterners like sweet tea. Divinity is a kind of candy made of whipped egg whites, corn syrup and nuts. I jusst googled it. I come from New York and was always a New Yorker, but secretly wanted to be a southerner, don't know why, probably the opposite kind of temperament.
Posted 4/8/2012 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
The reasons for continence post surgery are varied. In my case it was a traumatzed sphincter with muscle weakening one one side. Totally fixable with biofeedback.

Sue
Posted 4/8/2012 2:19 PM (GMT 0)
Suebear, do they have to do extensive testing to find out what part of the muscle was weakened?
Posted 4/8/2012 5:00 PM (GMT 0)
Ah, I didn't know you were originally from the US. I've actually been wanting to move out of the US. Probably Sweden or Norway. I've also thought about Japan or Germany. I still need to actually force myself to learn another language :/
Posted 4/8/2012 5:46 PM (GMT 0)
Why these other countries?

Just to make this not OT, my friend came over just after returning from the States and brought me a tube of calmoseptine. I#ve got it on right now, the menthol is a bit weird but ok.
Posted 4/8/2012 6:35 PM (GMT 0)
To be honest I want to see other countries around the world. Also those four countries are more secular, and, well living in the bible belt takes its toll when you don't have the same world view as those around you.
Posted 4/8/2012 6:55 PM (GMT 0)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaah. My favorite subject - how a religious community is somehow the space that brings out the psychopathy in people.
And I can understand the toll taken on you by the bible belt.
You could also move to NY or CA or Boston and find all the secular space you want. In those other countries, including Germany, it is very very hard for Americans to get working papers.
Aside from that, why don't you treat yourself and fiance to a trip to northern Europe when your jpouch seems settled down into routine?
Posted 4/8/2012 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
No testing is simple and painless.

Sue
Posted 4/9/2012 4:24 AM (GMT 0)
B'Dereh,
You go girl! When we lived in Germany we would trade local goods for goods from the American military commissary. Actually, we also did this in Eastern Europe before the wall came down. Our best contacts were the young marines on guard duty at the Embassies. Most wanted American goods? Peanut butter and chocolate chips.
Wishing you the best!
Posted 4/9/2012 8:39 PM (GMT 0)
Subzero, nowadays the Americans here only have problems finding graham crackers. We can more or less get everything else. I think corn syrup and molasses may be problems sometimes. The last time I needed grahams for a pie crust I substituted some kind of German biscuit, it worked fine. PB and chocolate chips we can get anywhere. Even maple syrup. Even poptarts if you want to pay an obscene fortune. My favroite American food is raw chocolate chip cookie dough but I will probably never eat that again. I ate 3 English chocolate digestive biscuits and got diarhea that ruined my evening, though nothing violent.

You feeling any better? I've imersed mysef in the series Six Feet Under, maybe I ODed on it.

Tomorrow I will try to get an appointment at the pelvic floor center, at a hospital right around the corner from me that I never even knew was a hospital. I am hoping that they can test me and at least I'll have some kind of therapy persepctive. It would help me decide if I want to go back to work this week.
Posted 4/9/2012 10:49 PM (GMT 0)
I am feeling much better, thank you for asking. I started using a new product Blueheron recommended called Duoderm. Saturday I had four barrier changes due to acid constantly eating through everything. I was desperate. The Duoderm Is a hydrocolloid material that helps the skin heal while protecting it from acids. It is such a relief not to feel like I am being branded with the letter "O."
Aren't you glad you are done with all of that?
You are lucky to find a hospital so close to you. I hope you can get an appointment very soon!
My youngest son's favorite food is raw chocolate chip cookie dough! He doesn't like it cooked, isn't that strange?
We will be returning to Austria in 2013. Will you still be in Germany?
Did you see The Portlandia episode where a couple totally overdosed on Battlestar Galactica? It was really funny. I met the stars when they were filming a Portlandia music video. Fred Armisen is a little shy but very devilish. The girl, I think her name is Carrie, is very cynical and dry. Interesting combination of personalities.
Let me know how things turn out.
Posted 4/10/2012 9:36 AM (GMT 0)
I remember frustration with the bgs at the beginning, around weeks 3-6. Skin was very irritated at the beginning. The Duoderm sounds great, and I promise that once you put together the right combination of bag plus materials plus routine, your skin will heal and you won't have any more leakages except for once in a while. Once you get the feeling you can rely on your gear, you will forget about it and focus on other things and forget about the letter "O"!

I did get an appointment for sphincter physio therapy tomorrow, but that was after some convincing, after they said the first appointment they could give was in July. It turned out I could get the same therapy and treatment through the surgery department and they could see me in the morning. This is a Catholic church hospital and the atmosphere was much more tranquil, accomodating and polite than the hectic over-worked university hospital where I was operated. I was tempted to make jokes about converting.
There is nothing strange about cc cookie dough. The baked cookie is also not bad but the dough is absolutely heavenly so your son is alright.
I have no plans to leave so I will probably still be in Germany next year.
Posted 4/10/2012 5:26 PM (GMT 0)
I was able to get an appointment at the pelvic floor center to at least talk about biofeedback therapy. Then I am supposed to ride the train at least one hour for an important meeting. I might make it without anything happening, or I might have a small mess to clean up on arrival. I hope i can cope with this.
Posted 4/11/2012 12:15 AM (GMT 0)
How did it go?
Posted 4/11/2012 11:02 AM (GMT 0)
It went well, although I did not like the way the doctor started explaining to me that my colon had been removed. Duh :-)!
He did a digital examination and said my muscles are fine. The problem, he said, is that ther rectum is gone, and so also gone is this response that tells us when we need to go to the toilet, or if we can wait a while, etc.
I got signed up for pelvic floor physio therapy with biofeedback towards the end and already have six appointments scheduled.
Plus, there was no incontinence today either walking there or walking back, and hen I had a standing converstion downstairs with a neighbor. Maybe something is improving naturally on its own as part of my recovery process.
I mixed up the days and i don't have to go to the office until tomorrow. That, as I've written in another thread, is a different nightmare now.
I have never seen Portlandia. I will try to remember to check it out over the weekend.
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