We brought Cass to see a Professor at UMSC (University Malaya Specialist Centre) yesterday for a second opinion on her urine leakage problem.
The Professor did a quick non-invasive test on her to see the extent of the urine leakage. He asked Cass to cough and pressed her abdomen to see if there is any urine leakage. He also checked her rectum to see if there are feces. Constipation is one of the reasons for urine leakage, caused by the distended intestines putting pressure on the bladder.
After a long Q&A session with him, he advised us to help Cass do some exercises at home to strengthen her pelvic muscles. He opined that Cass either has weak sphincters or an overactive bladder. If the exercises do not help to show any improvement in her leaking issue after a month, he will then carry out a Urodynamic Test on Cass’ bladder to study the bladder activity. That test is invasive, i.e. a catheter will be inserted into her urethra and rectum respectively and water will be pumped into the bladder.
One of the exercises is shown in the picture below. I’m not sure what this is called but she has to grip something thin with her thighs. This process will strengthen her pelvic muscles and the urinary tract muscles through the ‘tightening’ exercises.
The Professor also recommended swimming (in particular breast stroke) and yoga. I am planning to start Cass on kids’ yoga class next month.
I also taught Cass to do Pelvic Floor Exercise and I also jump on the trampoline together with her.
It is NOT easy to get this rascal to obediently go through these exercises on her own. She will only do them provided I do them together with her. This means I will have to squeeze out an hour of my time everyday to do these physio exercises with her four to fives times in a day (15 minutes each time). As it is now, I am already struggling to complete all my must-do tasks each day, with some tasks not accomplished on most days. God is indeed testing my patience! But I will do anything for my baby girl to save her from having to be drugged on a daily basis or be placed on the OT table the fourth time.
