Bladder Diary

Trying Google docs to see if its any good as an electonic record of the bladder diary. Its interesting as you can now sync your laptop, pc and smartphone using Google Drive so i can access the documents no matter where i am.  Therefore I can update the spreadsheet if i am out ... question now is if it will work or do I stay with paper. Below is a snapshot from the diary.

The biggest problem I think I have is remembering that before I stand up or sit down I must do a strong pelvic contraction. This closes the bladder and ensures no fluid escapes as its only gonna go one way and thats out!  Its early days so this is somethign I must drum into myself.

I suspect coughing and sneezing - as well as the painful effect on the internal surgery - which now seems to be not as bad, will result in accidents. One of the guys on my US support forum reported only this week, a year after his Open RP, that he still wets himself if he laughs too hard, has a head cold or coughs and sneezes - so its something I am gonna have to get used to.  They call this 'Stress Incontinence' so I think I am doing quite well.

What I now need to do is to start to increase my bladder intake and also increase the length of time between toilet visits. The Physio discussed this with me in hospital and the District nurse has given me a leaflet about it. Essentially he described it as going to see a good film at the cinema - say the Godfather. As he said, i dont want to be getting up every hour to use the loo, I need to be able to last the whole length of the movie. So I need to start pushing loo visits to 2 hour, then 2 and half then three hour intervals. This will also help with the evening as I need to be able to reduce the times I get up during the night so I can get a longer time sleeping.

All of this will also help with work, as I drive a lot - 4 to 5 hours somedays travelling south and the same back. Stuck in major traffic jams is a fact of life for me so I need to be able to hold it.  The pelvic exercises are helping with this - so I do them all the time.

Example of bladder sheet: