In January this year, I came across a monthly newsletter from Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna Oh. The cover story was about someone who suffered from bowel incontinence and the treatment she underwent to hopefully to treat it. Her story is so similar to mine in the symptoms she had and how they affected her life, especially the severity of the problem which eventually caused her to be home bound...just like me. The treatment she underwent is called InterStim Sacral Nerve Stimulation which controls nerve signals from the brain to the rectal and anal sphincter muscles. It's an implantable neurostimulator(pacemaker like device) that is placed in the lower back. Leads (thin wires) from the device are connected to the sacral nerves to improve bowel control. She spoke of how, just even during the trial period, her symptoms had greatly improved and she was almost completely back to her old life. She decided to have the device permanently implanted and she Is back to her old life and planning new things. I was stunned and excited at the same time since I Never dreamed I'd ever hear of such a possibility.
I thought, could this be for me? Would it work even though I'm disabled? I thought back on a lifetime of prayers expressed to God through tears, pain and embarrassment and wondered...is this the answer to those prayers? I decided to visit my Primary Care Physician, Dr. Mineo to discuss it with him and get the needed referral for a consultation. He knew of the therapy and spoke well of the specialist, Dr. Yuh. He gave me a phone number, wished me good luck and asked I keep him up to date on how things were going and as always contact him with any other questions or concerns. I went home and scheduled an appointment.
About a week later, I was in Dr. Yuh's office with my aide who graciously went with me to help make sure I asked all questions I wanted and understood all I was hearing. He is nice, kind and very interested in finding solutions. In order to understand my situation better, he wanted me to do a week long journal so he could get an idea of how severe my problem was. He also wanted to do a colonoscopy to determine if I was okay health wise to proceed.
Let me tell you...I Never Wanna Do Another Colon-Prep As Long As I Live! I made it through most phases of it til I had to do the Gatorade and Miralax mix. I drank so much I cramped, but I kept going thinking "I've gotta finish this, gotta finish this". At one point, I looked at the floor and it was wet. I went to my room to change and just got water everywhere...again, no clean space to sit. Needless to say my wheelchair seat was ruined. I kept saying to myself, this's gonna be the last Major accident you deal with, just a little while longer. I finally got myself, my bed and my chair(somewhat)cleaned up and I laid down around 3a.m. The procedure time couldn't come fast enough.
