I LOVE IT WHEN THINGS GO WELL!

Today I had a much needed appointment with my psychologist. I've been away for longer than usual because my Mom, who drives me to all my appointments, was out of town for about 3 weeks and then scheduling conflicts etc. So I was ready for today's appointment. I had a lot I wanted to talk about.

I think we all struggle with various issues related to our IC and for me, working with a psychologist is something I find extremely helpful. Going nearly two months without an appointment was longer that I like and I felt like I could have talked for  2 HOURS!!!

In any event, I often try to schedule an instillation appointment right before my psych appointment for several reasons. First, both doctor's offices are right across the hall from each other, so it's convenient. Second, for me, getting an instillation before my one hour psych appointment makes it so much easier to sit through the hour comfortably and not have to get up to go to the bathroom. I love it when I can schedule those together. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make that happen today, so I had to deal with sitting through the appointment, getting up to pee once and interrupt the flow etc. By the time we were done, I was so uncomfortable and my bladder too full that I knew even stopping in the ladies room to pee wouldn't help as much as I wanted since I suffer from extreme retention.

So I had a light bulb moment! I knew I had a catheter in my purse, so I fished it out. I pretty much only self-catheterize at home and use a mirror so I wasn't sure if I could pull this off. But I knew I wanted to try. So I pulled out the catheter and tried to visualize what I see in the mirror and wouldn't you know it, I got it!

I hit the urethra on my first try and my bladder began to empty. Oh what a relief it was!! I was SO proud of myself. I gave it a try, it worked and I got the relief I needed, especially for the hour long drive home. I didn't talk myself out of it; I figured out how to make it work and I did! I just proved to myself that I am more capable than I believed I was. I am so pleased and now will make it a point to always carry a catheter or two with me so if I feel the need when I'm not home, I can try again. I'm not sure I'll always hit the mark but I'm more willing to try in the future. It just goes to show you that we are often more capable of handling things than we think we can. So, my take away that I hope others will also get from this is to give yourself more credit than you might. Know you can do whatever it takes to help yourself and take charge of your own needs.

I love it when things go well! Today was one of those days!