Pick Me Up! Special – September 2019

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BE IN BED BY 10:30PM!


‘Let’stakeyo
the doctors,’ Mum
The ultrasound
my kidneys were fully
grown, at such a
young age.
Nothing could
done about it – th
doctors hoped I’d
‘grow into them’
As I reached m
teens, the
infections becam
more frequent.
I won’t let
them rule my
life, I promised
myself one day.
‘I’m going to
start back at
swimming,’ I
declared to Mum
In 2015, I bega
lifeguard training
my local pool.
I was back in th
place that I loved
Tapping away
computer keys be
the gym reception
spotted a boy lifti
weights in the gym
He was a bit of
thought, blushing
He glanced ove


lifted dumb bells.
We kept catching each other’s
eyes - I couldn’t help but giggle.
After that, we were smitten.
Ryan quickly became my
boyfriend and best friend.
We’re really open and honest.
Open enough, that I tell him
everything about me...
‘Not again,’ I cried to him.
‘I haven’t been for a wee in
ays,’ I wept, worried.
It was May 2016, and the pain
ontinued for weeks.
I couldn’t walk so I crawled
around on my hands and knees.
‘Help me!’ I begged.
Ryan felt my forehead.
‘You’re burning up!’ he said.
Mumrushed me to the
here we
d that I had a
d urinary
n, which had
to sepsis.
d blood
ning!
uelled on
rphine, I
ayed in the
spital to
cover.
‘Your body
as been
hrough a lot,’
e doctor
plained.
‘You could
ve died.’
The scare hit
me, hard.
I had to sort
problem.
was taught to
atheterise,
ng a tube
my legs when
ed to go.
me some
r my body.
I was
was in town
h Ryan.
felt my
mpen.
myself,’ I said.
w I needed to

go,I wasso embarrassed.
‘Let’s take you home,’ he said.
I’d gone from not being able to
pee at all, to being unable to
control my bladder.
I began carrying spare
underwear and leggings with me
everywhere I went.
It was disheartening.
My friends didn’t have this
problem, just me.
‘I feel like an old woman,’ I
sobbed to Mum.
We were shopping online for
waterproof
bedding for me.
I hated leaving
the house.
If I did, my
phone app told me
where I could find
the nearest loos.
‘We need to find
a cure,’ Mum
insisted.
She booked me a private health
care appointment with a
consultant urological surgeon at
Spire Leeds Hospital.
After an internal exam, the
consultant explained my bladder
had completely failed.
‘Your bladder isn’t contracting
properly,’ he said.
‘It could be down to your
hypermobility Amy.’
I’d also suffered with Ehlers-
Danlos syndrome, which meant
that my joints were extra-bendy,

n should be in bed by 10:30pm
ey want to have children,
ientists have warned after
roundbreaking new research.
he team from Aarhus
niversity in the Netherlands
discovered that men who
got some shut eye early, had
nearly four times greater

sperm quality than
men who went to slee
at 11:30pm or later.
Experts explained that
a lack of sleep makes the
immune system overreactand
attack healthy sperm and advised
between seven and eight hours of
sleep as the most ideal.

Men’shealth


I was


crawling


aroundon


my hands


and knees


Get some shut eye

M


butpainfulandliableto dislocate.
The consultant explained that
there was a new device being
trialled that could treat my problem.
‘It’s called sacral
neuromodulation, and it’s available
in six months,’ he said.
It sounded like a pacemaker for
my bladder.
I was willing to try anything.
In April last year, the pocket-
sized implant was placed below the
skin in my lower back.
The implant sends mild electrical
pulses to the sacral
nerve to restore my
normal bladder
activity.
I could finally wee!
It’s a miracle!
The device is great.
I no longer leak,
suffer with infections
or hold on for days.
Best of all, it lasts 15
years before it needs replacing.
Now, I’m 19 and straight back in
the pool, lifeguarding.
‘Someone’s drowning!’ my
colleague calls.
Driving straight in, I gave the boy
a float and tilted back his chin.
I’d never dreamed I could be a
lifeguard because chlorine had
always irritated me.
But now, my device has given
me my life back.
I’m back in the pool, saving other
people’s lives.

It’s been
a difficult
journey

I didn’t know
when I needed
a wee
Free download pdf