Another step forward I hope...

[NaturalEunuch (imported)]

Progress can feel agonizingly slow, then one day your surgery date is barreling at you like a speeding bullet train. Funny how one's perception of time seems like it moves at different speeds.

[WheelyCurious]

Possible delay... I tend to sign up for a lot of research studies, many have cash or other direct benefits, not to mention the general 'karma points' (for whatever those are worth) of hopefully helping to contribute to medical knowledge and possibly better treatments for my SCI...

I just learned about one that involves electrical bladder stimulation, and pays up to $1,350 I just passed the phone screening questions, and have a 'baseline visit' to verify that I'm eligible, and do the initial visit stuff if I pass that... Downside is it's a 12 week study, and the study evaluator said I'd have to delay surgery until it was finished... However given the speed at which things seem to be moving, I'm guessing that it won't be a huge delay in practice...

WheelyCurious

[Paolo]

They'll pay you that much to shock your bladder?! I don't know if I trust that!

[Valery_V (imported)]

Bladder cleansings are administered in order to maintain the permeability of a probe and/or to eliminate an obstruction, be it a clot, urinary sand or detritus, by means of an infusion of intravenous fluid using sterile procedures through a bladder catheter. This is a technique frequently used with patients undergoing genital-urinary surgery; it is not recommended for routine usage due to its high risk of associated infection. Bladder cleansing can be continuous by means of a permanent bladder cleansing method or intermittent by means of an open or closed system.

* * *

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18497003/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626932/

[WheelyCurious]

They'll pay you that much to shock your bladder?! I don't know if I trust that!

It is a legitimate study that has gone through all the human medical experiment approval hoops. I have actually done stuff in this lab with this particular doctor before, though that didn't work out. So definitely legitimate and above board.

According to the study coordinator, they basically have you come into the lab twice a week. Each time they hook you up to a stim device for about an hour. He said that during that time you can read or do other stationary activity, and that the stim is not particularly noticeable.

There is actually a lot of research on SCI and electrical stimulation, with some good results that are a bit puzzling in terms of the mechanism, as they seem to get results that last much longer than the stim. I'm hoping it will cut down on my leakage problem, as the surgeon was not sure if there was anything he could do about that part of my desire, but if the stim helps instead?

WheelyCurious

[Nathan74 (imported)]

Good luck!

You are very nurturing type of individual. Thank you for taking the time to do what you do in this community. It's a journey for everyone that comes here and one that isn't so easily understood by most people which makes this site that much more important to those who need it. Thank you Valery V for being brave enough to be part of it and for helping all of us.

It's time to go and ice my crotch because the swelling came back after too much activity. I'm so happy to have finally gotten rid of those things. When I was a young child I would sit in the bathtub with my plastic shark and my boats and ponder the world around me for a half hour a day. On a few occasions I found myself wondering why God put these fragile things between my legs to hang in harms way? I used to think, "God must have really made a big mistake". That was pretty much the beginning of me not wanting testicles. And I'm so thankful that I'm not the only one who feels the same way and this website helped me recognize that.

[Paolo]

I think you will find that many here realized early in childhood that something down there had to go!

[Cseriess (imported)]

I think you will find that many here realized early in childhood that something down there had to go!

I am so sorry to hijack your thread WC, but Paolo's comment made me chuckle. I remember sitting down in the toilet as a little boy, flushing repeatedly in an effort to freeze and wash off these awful things growing between my legs. I guess i must have realized about then!

[WheelyCurious]

I don't recall anything of that sort, but my parents had one of those 'blackmail photos' that can be broken out to show potential girlfriends, etc... I was just learning about standing up to pee, and they caught me up on tip-toes because that rim is COLD!!!

WheelyCurious

[Valery_V (imported)]

I often traveled on business trips...

To relieve themselves, in some cases, the situation turned out to be not very intimate.

You can laugh, but sometimes I had to indulge in some tricks .