NOMS’ noted gynecologist, Dr. Rick Visci, wants you to keep your drawers on. He sees incontinence in people as young as 30. Mostly he’s just astounded that anyone, regardless of age, is prepared to live the rest of their lives with the nuisance and embarrassment that nicely serves up. There’s no reason to.
While we were talking, he offered me this example: Paula was one of those people. At 55, she began enduring bladder control problems. She became a slave to bulky feminine pads and had to lug extras every time she braved leaving the house. As her condition worsened, she used further outsized pads and visited the bathroom so frequently, it bordered ridiculous at best, mortifying in-the-company-of-others, at worst. Even on short trips with friends, she’d use every rest stop en route.
When Dr. Visci found out about her travails, he suggested a simple outpatient procedure: Interstim. Today she’ll tell anyone who’ll stand still, it changed her life.
It’s this simple. After you make an appointment with Dr. Visci, he’ll do a “Peripheral Test” in his office. For a few days before the appointment, you’ll keep a log of how often you use the washroom. During the first visit, he’ll tape a temporary wire, about as wide as a hair, to your bottom and clip a little device to your waistband.
You’ll go home and continue logging the number of times you need to “go.” Medtronic, the company that makes the device, will call you. If there’s improved bladder control, you are deemed appropriate for the quick procedure which gets you out of the good doctor’s office in about a half hour. The procedure is easy. Dr. Visci compares it to an epidural or a saddle block commonly used during delivery.
After the small device was implanted under the skin in Paula’s buttock, she was back to work in a day and change. And because she was determined treatment-appropriate, Medicare picked up the tab. Since the procedure, Paula has zero bladder problems. She drives from Sandusky to Cleveland and beyond without a single pit stop and can frolic with her grandkids, a raucous joy previously off-limits.
Dr. Visci says the treatment works 70 percent of the time for bladder control and 90 percent for fecal incontinence. Talk with him. Set up a convenient time for an appointment by giving him a shout: 419.625.2841. You’ll thank yourself - all the way down the road. (More information is available @ everyday-freedom.com.)
