It's been nine days since the Botox injections into my bladder, and it has made a difference. I'd say it has reduced the pain about 20%. I'm a lot more mobile, I can walk short distances without too much pain, and it doesn't hurt as much after I've been moving around a bit. I don't have to spend the rest of the day in bed taking painkillers, and having a TENS and a hot water bottle permanently attached to me, after attempting a short walk. I even managed to walk to a park near where we live for a BBQ on Monday, and only had to pop back to use the toilet once!
However I still feel pain as the bladder fills, and my pelvic floor is still always tensed up because of the pain. I can relax it temporarily when I do some Qigong (a version of Thai Chi), as you have to focus on movement and breathing at the same time. I do the exercises that benefit the kidneys and bladder, and fatigue. I'm glad I gave it a go and went to classes last year. I'm usually very critical of a lot of new age healing stuff, most of it is utter bullshit. But it really made a difference. Even when I forced myself to go after a bad pain day, it would take about 10-15 minutes in, and I'd forget about the pain, it eases off the more you do. But obviously I can't spend all day long doing Thai Chi.
I won't see my consultant for a couple of weeks yet, but he said before that if the Botox didn't have the desired effect, then he might consider nerve blocks. Still, I'm glad I had it done. I just hope it lasts. Although if I have it done again, I hope they leave me under anaesthetic a bit longer, I don't want to wake up in that much pain again!
But just side-tracking for a moment, I got my rescue cat from Cat's protection on Easter Sunday, and she's absolutely gorgeous. She was treated badly and came to them in poor condition, and was there for two months as no-one wanted to take her on. She's very skittish, but very loving. The first day she was with us, she spent 10 hours under the bed until she'd come out. Then when we went to bed, she got in with us! Spend all night snuggled into the pillows between us. It's very satisfying watching her trust us more and more, and she's a welcome distraction from all our troubles.
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