Today it is exactly four calendar months since the removal of my post-prostatectomy catheter, the start of Mr. Leaky, so I thought another progress bulletin was in order.
There’s a couple of things to point out about this return to continence process, assuming I haven’t already done so. [Ed: A senior moment, eh?] The first is that the level of security can vary quite markedly from day to day. I have frequently been somewhat disappointed having suffered a less secure day following what seemed like a relatively very good day. This phenomenon is something I’ve tagged Inconsistent Incontinence, or II (eye-eye) for short. I’ve no idea why it happens, but it does. This is one of the reasons it is important to take an average view and look back a week or two to gauge progress.
A second feature is that, as progress is made, it gets quite difficult to assess further progress. In the earlier stages of recovery it is quite obvious, for example, that you can now get out to the driveway and into the car securely whereas a little while ago, down the hall to the kitchen was one’s limit. Even judging the difference between walking, say, a quarter mile compared to half a mile are quite easy to gauge. Once over a mile, though, progress gets trickier (unless you resort to a pedometer or GPS solution). During our recent two weeks sauntering around the New Forest, I felt much the same as I had for about the previous month: get about a mile, then start noticing that old I’m-about-to-leak sensation.
This week, however, has provided a couple of good milestones – another good reason for a progress update. I joined our local U3A walking group on Tuesday for a 5½ mile walk around some very pleasant woodland and countryside in our vicinity. It’s only two weeks since we were in the New Forest but I felt, really, very secure. I very nearly made it as far as the 3-mile post, actually, 2.8 miles (I admit it, I used the GPS solution), before any lack of security crept in, and then it was very slight. I was/am delighted.
I had even stressed myself a day earlier by voluntarily lifting and re-laying several heavy patio slabs to correct a slight subsidence. A couple of months ago any work of a heavy nature would certainly have caused a bit of a leak but I seemed to cope admirably.
Remembering the first feature, II, I’m resisting getting carried away. I’m certainly not ready to ditch the i-Pad Manos just yet but I am very positive about recent progress. Cycling is no problem at all, except that I sometimes think that I suffer a slightly increased weakness as an after-effect of it, and if I can indulge in 5-mile or more walks without too much concern then, in practical terms, life is not too far from normal. I can indulge in the pastimes I enjoy.
We’ve booked the ferry for France ready for our spring migration. Yeah! 🙂
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