My mother had this done and it gave her much relief. Good luck.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Yep and I am so glad I did. The recovery was a little difficult as I was not supposed to lift anything heavier than 10 lbs for 6 weeks and I had a 2.5 year old to tote around. Other than that restriction, no biggie really. In the hospital for about 4 days (a little longer than scheduled) laid low for another 3 or 4 days and never looked back. Good luck!

Hi Barb,
I had a urethral sling procedure done about four years ago using a minimally invasive procedure. I was 51 at the time, mother of six children and experiencing incontinence with most sudden movements, as well as coughing, sneezing, laughing too hard etc. Wore mini-pads ALL the time. Horrible!
My surgeon ( urological gyno) placed the sling by entering vaginally and poking through my abdominal wall. She made a last minute change and tried to place a different brand/style of sling but after two failed attempts to place the sling, returned to the original sling choice. Unfortunately, during one of these attempts to place the sling she perforated my bladder, which she was trying to go around. This perforation healed on its own however not before there was a large pocket of blood that collected inside my abdominal cavity. I spent one night in the surgi-center, drank TONS of fluids and was voiding on my own by midnight. Went home the following day. Unfortunately, my body didn't know what to do with the pocket of blood so I developed a HORRID post-surgery infection that landed me in the hospital for five days of intensive IV antibiotic therapy. I was vomiting, feverish and in lots of pain when I arrived. The radiologist inserted a drain tube while I was in the CAT scan machine to help move the blood out. Technically, it was called a post-surgical hematoma. It was about the size of a peach. I didn't know it at the time but I was very hypothyroid, in adrenal exhaustion and hitting menopause. Basically, I was a hormonal wreck! I'm sure this affected my recovery time from the hematoma. I was so nauseous while hospitalized I couldn't eat anything until the last day. Lost ten pounds (wouldn't recommend this as a weight loss method!)
The up side - IT WORKED! I don't wear pads at all! Freedom! I still experience a little leaking when I work out on a rebounder. If my bladder is full and I make a sudden movement (step, jump, leap) I'll sometimes leak a few drops. Though my surgeon said I could do ANY form of exercise I found that lying belly down on a bali ball (air-filled half-ball in a round frame) at a few months post-surgery really hurt the poke hole sites and shifted something about the sling. It was after that particular workout on the bali ball that I noticed some leakage that I didn't before. Some yoga poses on the belly (like locust pose) case slight pain at the poke hole sites also. So I back off on some of those.
Bottom line for me: having this surgery was life changing! I'd do it all again, even the post-surgical complication, because it gave me my active life back again. I didn't realized how much I stopped doing because of the incontinence until after the problem went away! Just hiked the Grand Canyon from the south rim to the north rim, 21 miles, in a day. 4000 mile elevation descent down and nearly 6000 ascent back up. I never would have attempted such a feat before fixing the incontinence. Hope this helps a little. Good luck!
Dianne

Thanks for the feedback. I've been out of town on an 8 day bicycle trip. Sorry to hear that you had such an ordeal. Glad to know in the end it worked well. Hopefully mine will go smoothly.

I wondering how long I should expect to be sedandary. I know at least 1 wk for sure since I'll have a cath in. But can one lift anything over head from lying down position or try to do core work without upsetting the healing process. Wondering when I could so some swimming & begin walking then running or even bicycling post procedure.

Barb

Hi Barb,
I'm sure your doc will have specific recommendations. Since my surgery involved a minimally invasive procedure (no abdominal incision) I had my cath out the evening after my surgery and began urinating on my own that night after a nurse encouraged me to really drink tons of water. I was told to only walk until after post-surgery office visit. No running, weights, etc. I would think you would need to be careful with core training too early as it will put lots of pressure on the surgery site. I wanted the best possible outcome so I really followed orders strictly. The surgery is too expensive to undo by jumping into too much too soon.

I'm curious how old you are. I'm 39 and won't do this until I'm sure I'm done having kids (I have one now), but my doctor has already given me the feeling she thinks this is better for older patients, like 50+ because it doesn't last forever. However, I feel like the benefits would help me immensely. I think if I wait another 10+ years I will have grown too frustrated that I may not be as active during the interim

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Suffering on the the bike is always more fun than suffering on the run.

Well I'm almost 57. I am going in this morning for the procedure. I has enough issues about 5 yrs ago that I assummed were related to changing hormones prompted me to go in and ran through a course of PT kegels etc. That alone can correct issues and help just educating oneself for many but we in this summer as things were getting more disruptive.
You might go to the Dr the Dr for an evaluation & t orule anything else out & then work on some PT. Also there have over the years been improvements in the procedure itself now the TOT is preferred over the TVT.

Barb

I had sling bladder surgery for stress incontinence a month and a half ago. it was the easiest, best thing I did for my health. I'm 41 and I wasn't able to work out, run, I was afraid to sneeze, cough, jump, etc... I was waking up twice a night to go to the bathroom, which got me pretty tired and depressed. The surgery was on a friday morning, 8 am, I opted to be put to sleep, woke up at 9 am and my first thought was to see if I can feel any pain. the only thing I noticed, my thighs were sore like after a workout. no catheter was used, the tightness was just right and it didn't affect the urination. I left the hospital at 11 am. they told me to take antiinflamatory and I chose the go the natural way, I took extract of turmeric (curcumin soft gels) and drank colloidal silver to prevent any bacterial infection. It worked just perfect. the only thing that I wish was different was not being on my period while the surgery. If you are unlucky to have your period when you have the surgery don't panic if you have heavy flow following. I had 3 weeks of bleeding out of 5. However I survived and still think that it was a great experience. I returned to work after 4 days and my work is pretty physical. Just don't lift anything too heavy for the first week. Now I can do anything I want, sleep through a whole nite even if I had 2 glasses of water before bed, I exercises on my trampoline and I can pick up running again. I strongly recommend the surgery. Just make sure you find a obgyn or urologist that has a lot of experience. Mine was done by my obgyn. good luck!

Hope all went well. I do a lot of UroGyn, so if anyone has questions I am happy to answer.
HC

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Holden Cain, ObGyn..."People pulling people out of people"

Very glad to see this...I may be on my way to one. I just turned 36 (today!) and never had kids...but riding horses and running have apparently taken a toll on me. Plus my mom had to get her urinary system completely overhauled (they found out she was all sorts of out of whack) so the doc (also her doc) told me that its next on the list. Right now I'm to be eliminating any soda from my diet to see if it improves and doing my exercises.


Any other advice? Its absolutely humiliating...but b/c of my genetics, I'm predisposed to having issues despite not having kids.

while it doesn't work for everyone, I would HIGHLY recommend seeking out a physical therapist who specializes in Women's health. Often this can help reduce or eliminate leakage, pain, prolapse, etc. At the worst - you end up stronger going into surgery and with the piece of mind you have tried everything. If you need help feel free to contact me!

Dana

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Don't Just Live, Thrive!
Thrive Kinematics Physical Therapy - http://www.facebook.com/...8178667572974?ref=hl

So glad I found this thread! I was planning to have this surgery 3 years ago, but had a 1 year old who was extremely clingy and knew there was no way I could not lift him. I have been putting off this surgery since. I am glad to know others have had success and been able to return to active lifestyles again afterwards. It seems like I am always training for something and stopping even just for a few weeks has kept me from having surgery!

Hi I found out my surgery date today 11 th march .. I'm getting a sling I'm 44 years old 4 kids .. but looking forward to no pads and exercising again .. my youngest is 3 years old , I haven't been given any information yet .. to how long I'll be in hospital...or recovery time .. glad I found this site .. looking really positive. . .how long do we stay in hospital.?

I know this thread is very old by now, but I'm wondering how it went for you, BarbBikeTechie? (Hopefully you still receive notifications of new posts to the thread!) And...if there is anyone else out there who has had a urethral sling operation, I'd love to hear how it went for you!

So I was 57. I'm now 61. Couldn't remember how many yrs ago it was. No regrets & haven't looked back at all. I did it in the fall as they recommended not running for 6 wks afterwards. I did a marathon on Sunday & had the surgery on following Wed. I had a cather setup so didn't use my bladder for 3 weeks. Just rested no work etc. It paid off as gave it a chance to fully heal. I also initially scoffed at well I'll be running right away but then did some research & learned it more about internal healing & avoiding developing scar tissue which can cause problems later. I did a lot of walking though.
There is a period of adjustment that I didn't think about afterwards but is to be expected. i.e. I just expected a "stream" like before hand when I needed to go so it caught me off guard. That wasn't the case. Initially coming out more like a trickle so still felt full waiting for emptying. I discovered best was going in the shower (standing). It took a while for that to disappear. More of it was a learning of relaxing the muscles or whatever.
They also prescribed Vesicare which I used for a long while & then just stopped. Again it was mostly just mind body education along with good Standing sitting posture (that seems to degrade in general with aging) that helped. I'd feel an urgency but if stood differently wasn't there so then taught the mind to back off. This all post sling so I'm not saying it was mental to begin with. But one needs to reteach the mental signals that can have been conditioned to respond in act inappropriately.

Either pre or post one suggestion I have for all women is to look at their posture in mirrors, while running etc. The muscles, ligaments seem to just shorten as we age
& one has to now put effort into to what we took for granted. Kinda like the house foundation starts to sag & needs some work to get the floors level again. The sagging & sinking seem so squish things inside so we can put pressure on bladder unnecessarily.

Trying to stand tall getting the "tits behind the hips" even as we lean forward in running along with core strengthing & tightening the abs really helps to lift the upper body off the hips & makes for more comfortable for everything. I find it tiring that I have to think about this more as I've gotten older & more than ever realize aging is not for sissies".
I hope this has been useful.

Yes, thank you, that is helpful. I am scheduled for surgery Aug 7, so wish me luck as well!

I had this done in December 2013, but it was part of a much larger surgery (hysterectomy, etc.). So I can't speak to recovery but I'm very glad I did it - it's made a huge difference with training and racing.

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Cynthia
Blog: http://yousignedupforwhat.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/yousignedup FB: http://www.facebook.com/yousignedupforwhat IG: http://instagram.com/yousignedupforwhat

Hi Barb (and other commenters!),
My name is Ariana Gunderson and I work for a market research firm called Kaiser Associates based in Washington, DC. We are looking to better understand unmet stress incontinence treatment needs and would love to get your perspective as a patient. Please feel free to contact me at agunderson@kaiserassociates.com if you’d be interested in speaking with us. We’d be happy to offer you an honorarium in exchange for your time. Thanks!