u/FlappyFaceDeluxe

Mini cucumber with seasonings, Moroccan preserved lemon, Volpi mild trio, pepperjack cheese, garden veg Ritz, granola, berries and local honey, a Topo Chico, and the goodest girl who helped me finish it 😋

I’ve had overactive bladder my whole life, and it’s gotten more debilitating as I’ve aged. Some nights I get up 10+ times to pee. In the daytime, I sometimes go multiple times an hour. It affects events for me and makes me skip out sometimes. I never go to the movies, or anywhere I can’t freely and easily access a restroom. It sucks.

I’ve tried so many things for it. After failing my last medication, we decided to trial an implant that basically calms your bladder’s nerves down. They insert wires into your sacrum onto the bladder nerves, and bandage the device to your low back/sacral area. I had the trial procedure and it was very successful. It cut my frequency down by more than half, and the urgency by even more, maybe by 70%? The best part was, they told me the real implant would be even better because it’s placed more precisely and has a bunch more settings you can control yourself with a remote. I was really looking forward to it.

Fast forward a month, and I’m in the hospital for the real deal. They put me under, and when I woke up, I could tell something was up. There was no pain at all, no discomfort even. The surgeon came in and said they could not do my procedure because I have a nickel allergy, and the implant has nickel. There is a protective coating over the nickel, but if the leads were to break off due to trauma, I’d be exposed for who knows how long, and permanent damage could occur.

Yeah. I cried.

I mean, how do you MISS that? That information was in my chart. On my wrist band. BOTH TIMES. They read it all off to me beforehand for confirmation. They should have seen it prior to the trial and called that procedure off.

I’ve had a taste of what it could have been like, and now I’m so bummed. Just needed to vent.