Dilation and social situations?

[Guest Maria_B]

Hi there, I'm a bit curious.

I was thinking earlier about how dilation schedules and having social outings would work. Largely I hear that 3 is about as low as you're going to get for quite a while, and I probably can't avoid being social for 6 months at the least.

How did you handle those situations? Did you miss out on the middle man for a day, or ask sheepishly to dilate somewhere?(Not sure I could handle that one, I dont even like pooping at other people's houses).

[Guest]

Hi Maria,

I have to wonder about some doctors and the rigid dilation schedules that they prescribe. My doctor's instructions were "don't lose depth". He told me to try to do it twice a day until it was comfortable, and then back off to once a day. I've been doing once-per-day dilations ever since I went back to work at about the two-month mark. In actuality, I miss probably two days a week due to social or other obligations. Even with that loose schedule, I've actually gained depth and girth.

I shouldn't encourage you to ignore your doctor's instructions. But, I don't think that missing a time now and again is going to hurt you either.

Love, Megan

[Drea]

These whole day events?

At 3x per day, generally one can work...Do before work, right after work and then just before bed.

A social situation of similar duration could be worked around. Of if it is just an occasional thing, one probably can be skipped.

Personally I would stick with surgeon's recommended schedule and discuss situations with the surgeon. While I think what I said above is reasonable and a good chance surgeon will concur, there are always individual circumstances.

[VickySGV]

The exact instructions from my discharge papers says "For the first 90 days it is recommended to dilate three times a day for 10 to 15 minutes each session." No mention on the spacing of the dilations or set times I would be monitored for. There were days, especially on the trip home where I did not get all three in, and it did not make much difference if one session was skipped, except for the days I had my infection. My usual 3X schedule was Pre Breakfast, Pre dinner and Pre bed time. From day 91 to 180 and I was nn my 2X schedule it was Pre breakfast and Pre bedtime shower/tub bath. I had family members over to my house during the first 90, and since a couple of them smoke which I don't like being near, they were happy to have a 30 minute smoke break out back in my patio while I entertained my boyfriend, as I described it indoors.

[Guest Valerie]

My doctors orders are to dilate X2 per day, for the first six months, then once a day. Then once I reach my maximum girth, once every couple of days.

He told me that missing a day here or there would not really have any effect. So, my flight from Bangkok to Texas I can miss my dilating periods. (12.5 hr flight to London, 4 hour lay over, then 10.5 hr flight to Houston)

When I started planning this little trip, I had informed my work place that I would be gone for 3 months. Once I come back to work, I was planning on having to dilate X3 a day, not twice. I had informed them that I would only be working until 1200 each day for the first month that I was back to work. This was due to the fact that all of the restrooms in the building were I work do not have and Hot Water, just Cold Water. Two of the restrooms do have a shower in them and they only have Warm Water, and no privacy. This had a potential to become an issue, so I decided that I would work 6 hours then go home at noon, this would allow me to dilate at home, without any interuptions.

/Love

Valerie

[Guest Jenni_S]

I'd make every effort to keep up with your surgeon's recommendations. They probably aren't making them lightly; when I asked my doctor what can happen if you don't keep up with dilating, she got this ominous look on her face and said one word: "collapse." Now I grant that is probably not going to happen from missing one here or there, and that she was reinforcing what she was saying. Still, I have to believe that such has happened, or she wouldn't be saying such a thing.

But you can usually make it work, if you can manage to set aside a half hour or so at some point during the day. I was told three times a day in the first twelve weeks, then two for the next twelve. I was back to work after eight weeks, so I'd do first thing in the morning, right after work, and then right before bed. Aha, but then there was the other job, scoring basketball games, that popped up on a few days in there after the eight hours at the first job. Even then, I was able to get in some time in the office restroom before heading over to the second job.

There were a couple of times, too, when I wasn't able to do that middle day dilation. Both jobs, and a medical appointment squeezed in between them, made for three days when it just wouldn't happen. No, the world didn't end. But oh my, I sure knew it when the next dilation happened! You're "catching up," so to speak, and well, it was uncomfortable, to say it nicely. So, while it's do-able to miss very occasionally, I definitely would not make a habit of it. Try to work it in there somehow; I've even read of people using airplane restrooms as a last resort, and that they were able to do it. (I'm trying not to imagine that!) But say, a party or something like that, see if you can get it in before, or perhaps arrive a little late, or leave a bit early, and get the job done. It's not going to last too long, in the overall picture, and you'll be back to your usual schedule in no time!

[Guest NatashaJade]

When I went back to work, I was still within the time when my surgeon wanted me to dilate three times a day. The problem for me is that I work until around 6 and by the time I got home, I needed to do my evening dilation.

So.

For the first two weeks back to work (at a high school), during my morning prep period, I would lock the doors of my classroom, turn out the lights and go into my very large storage closet where I had set up a chaise lounge a student of mine had built for a show a few years earlier, read a book (Kindles are great for dilating) and dilate.

You do what you have to do

Tasha

[Guest Leah1026]

Well I took 9.5 weeks off for SRS. So by the time I came back to work I was 2 months post-op. And my surgeon gave me the okay to go down to dilating twice a day at that point (instead of at 3 months). How did I manage otherwise? Pretty simple really. I'm a night shift worker and have no social life to speak of. So it wasn't an issue for me. Unless you have no choice I would simply not attend those functions for a couple months. Once you're down to twice a day it's a matter of once after you get up and once before you go to bed.