The Daily Hailey

Ok, friends. Be ready. We’re going to talk about bathroom stuff today. I AM allowed to discuss this all, yes. I have Brady’s full permission. And I’m also a classy enough lady that I won’t steal his dignity. The reality of the situation is that NO ONE talks about bathroom stuff after surgery, and its important!

If you’ve part of this for a LONG time, you’ll know that Brady has been struggling to pee for months. If he really has to, its easy enough, but when he just wants to fully empty his bladder before bed, or something along those lines, it could take around 45 minutes of focus to make it happen. It only got worse over time.

Since Brady’s surgery, as you know, he has limited sensation below his ribcage. This, paired with the need for a catheter for the first stretch, has not helped the pee journey.

When Brady left RUH and went to City Hospital, they got rid of the catheter and helped him through the steps of being able to use the bathroom independently. Now, this is where I hesitate about details, because I don’t want to overshare, but I also feel like people have no clue what all goes on. So I’m going to talk about things, but not in crazy personal detail to Brady. Fair? Yes.

So there is a “bed urinal” which means about what you can imagine. Its awkward but it gives the opportunity to sit and wait, and be independent from a catheter. When a person uses that, its usually followed up by a bladder scanner to see if the bladder is retaining any urine, and if so, how much. That has been his system for a while.

Along with this, there is the commode chair, which is about as glamorous as it the bed urinal. Its basically a beefy plastic chair you might find stacked up in a school, but it has arm rests, and a big hole cut in the seat. Its an easier method of getting a patient to the toilet when they still need some assistance. Its vulnerable and awkward, but it works. At RUH, it took a whole lift to get Brady on the commode chair, but he was able to transfer himself on and off of it in the recent future.

Today, he was FINALLY able to get from his wheelchair to the toilet, and back again. This is a HUGE victory!!! Besides all of that, he has regained enough sensation to know better when he has to pee, and he is retaining next to nothing. He is officially DONE with the bladder scanner.

I know this is all “personal” information, but its kind of huge in the recovery game, so we’re happy to share it. Brady pees easier now than he did before his surgery! This is VICTORIOUS!!!!!

The rest of the bathroom stuff is less exciting to talk about. Bradys pain meds are a friend to his back but not to his bowels. One day, that will be a lot more independent too, but for now, he needs some help, and thats ok. The fact that he can get to the bathroom and take care of everything in there on his own is a gigantic saving grace in terms of dignity and independence.

HUGE congratulations to Brady for needing to pee, and being able to do it! Man, the things we get excited about now 😂 Bunch of old folks, I guess!!