Posted by KC on 25/6/2014, 4:35 pm

Hi All, Thought I'd share my experince following the beginners workshop in London. I can't make the follow up workshop in August, but Looking forward to the next follow up workshop! In the mean time I have still been working on things, fluid loading at work plus stopping & starting several times when I do go to the toilets at work (taking control). I've also changed my route to the toilet block at work - I used to walk round the back where no one would see me walking to the loos, to walking round the front so people see where I'm going - not hiding any more, I now realise what lengths I used to go to to avoid even being seen approaching the toilets. I have also made a couple of de-sense trips to the public toilets in the park on my way home from work, scary stuff, but un-eventful. Finally I have a session with my counselor at home & we are going to repeat what we did at the hotel, with him moving closer to toilet each time, which we plan to do on a fortnightly basis. One real positive - last week I walked out of the loos at work & realised I'd emptied my bladder without even thinking about it! I have also been to my Doctor, who knowing my history had no qualms allowing me to self catherterise & was happy to give me catheters on repeat prescription. I did have to my own research to find a suitable catheter, he would have given me the indwelling type which is not very practical in use outside of a clean room. The catheter I'm going to use (I haven't had need to yet) is called Speedicath compact male. Its a single use telescopic catheter, not much bigger that a pen when in its original tube & can be used safely virtually anywhere. It was an interesting consultation as I was educating him on the condition! I said if he comes across anyone else who has the condition I'll be happy for him to pass on my email for support. Interestingly he did also say there was a time when he was at Brands hatch, when he had to queue to use the urinal & people were telling him to hurry up from behind in addition to standing almost shoulder to shoulder he was unable to perform, having to resort to find himself a spot in the woods to relieve himself. If anyone wants more info on the speedicath the please respond to this post & I'll be happy to help! Many thanks & good luck! KC

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