Shower Power

There I stand minding my own business, washing chicken in the kitchen sink, my hands and aforementioned dirty chicken being drenched with warm water. This apparently is a sign that it’s time for those pesky muscle workers to take their break and off they go. My whole bladder empties. Soaking my loose jeans (as to not disturb my urethra, bladder, or recently operated on interstims) and making a wading pool of urine around my feet.

So I ditch my baggy jeans in the puddle for some one else to clean up and I waddle up the stairs like a happily drenched penguin (they of course don’t minding being wet… or covered in their own tinkle). I walk into my bathroom, turn on the shower to the perfect temperature without even looking, strip off the rest of my soggy clothes, and hop into my safe haven.

I sit down in the tub like I’m taking a bath but the shower pours all over my painful regions and I pull the shower curtain liner in front of me to keep my upper body relatively dry. Next to the tub I have a table for my beverage and snack, a short chair with my laptop, and a pocket sewn into the curtain for my breast pump, kindle, and cell phone. I settle in for a long winters shower…

This is just one scenario of many, but this actually happened today. So that’s where I am now, writing this very blog. It’s the only thing that eases the pain. We have 2 water heaters and a tankless one as well… my record is 27 hours in the shower without getting out once. That was a long, wrinkly toe, sore bottom day. That, of course, was an extreme, most days I spend 5-8 hours in here.

I can’t really describe why it helps so much… but after 10 years of this being my only sure fire pain reliever I have come to think of it as the all healing shower. Seriously… have a cold? Take a shower. Hurt your toe? Take a shower. Nauseous? Take a shower. And you think I’m kidding… When my 7 month old son was teething I kept saying “LET’S GIVE HIM A BATH!” He enjoys a bath as much as the next little fella but its magic power didn’t heal his aching gums like I expected it to. Now that I think of it… maybe it was because it a bath and not a shower! Eureka!

I have lived my life in the shower… When I was in high school I had to do all my work from home due to my IC so most it was done in the shower. When Zach and I were dating he would sit outside the bathroom door and we would chat until I could get out. I planned my wedding in the shower. I spent most of my pregnancy in the shower (not too hot of course) until I was too big to get to the floor. I have nursed Titus in here more times than I can count. When I’m hurting too bad or I need to take medicine I pump in here. I sleep in here. I eat meals in here. Oh yeah… and some times I actually like wash my hair and stuff in here too!

It’s hard on relationships to practically live in a porcelain rectangle (are tubs really made of porcelain these days? Not sure.) with water pouring over my painful bits and without a stitch of clothes on. I do, however keep a folding chair in the bathroom for visitors. This very evening my husband sat in here so we could eat dinner together, so romantic!

My wonderful Mom also stops by regularly to visit and usually brings Titus too! It’s hard to be held captive in here and not be able to get out to be a Mommy to my sweet baby. It usually helps to see him but some times it rips out my heart to see him and think of all that I’m missing or hear him fuss and not be able to do a thing for him from in here.  

For those of you with IC if you’re thinking of trying this for pain relief I totally recommend it but get ready for it to be the best and worst thing in your life. You will never know what you did before you discovered its magical pain relieving qualities but it can be devastating to miss out on life while you’re a prisoner in the porcelain prison.