Comments on: I have become a cyborg!!

By: Heady

Heady — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:56:53 +0000

Amanda, I am glad your stim machine is working out. I am having some luck with mine, though with it being in the cervical area of the neck, to control head pain, I end up fiddling with it often. I am still needing pain pills, but it is getting better. After years and years of doctors not believing me, this is so nice to have some relief from the constant pain I was in.

By: Andrea the Integral

Andrea the Integral — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:01:15 +0000

Touche…..never thought of it that way before….

I suppose its the PRODUCTION of urine that is completely involuntary…..rather than the act of urination itself.

I suppose also that the reason I assumed it was impossible to forget how to open urethra and let urine out was because whenever I’ve had to pee, I just sat on the loo and didn’t think twice about it…..it just happened.

Yet ANOTHER misinformed opinion (mine this time) bites the dust.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:13:14 +0000

If urination weren’t voluntary we wouldn’t be able to hold it. If I can forget how to move my arm I can forget how to open my urethra on demand and that’s exactly what I assumed it was. The fact that for me it turned out to be a matter of muscle spasms doesn’t mean it’s impossible to forget how to open your urethra and let the urine out. Happens all the time to people with this sort of movement disorders including occasionally me (still — this implant means that I can open my urethra when I issue the command, it doesn’t guarantee I can iremember how to ssue the command). If you have never forgotten how to do a movement then fine but it is absolutely possible. If urination were purely involuntary everyone would be in diapers.

By: Andrea the Integral

Andrea the Integral — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:59:41 +0000

Littlewolf: hahaha!

Amanda: I read your February post “another medical opinion bites the dust” and while I agree that the doctor’s response to you was deplorable (Bedside manners and patient interaction 101 should definitely be a course taught at any accredited medical school) he was right in thinking that you cannot possibly “forget” to urinate. Urination is not voluntary…..that much is true. The doctor was kind of an idiot for not really thinking about what you said other than just the particular words you used.

And people think autistics are too literal….we take things too literally…this doc fellow was doing exactly that.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:36:11 +0000

Yeah the remote seems designed to avoid that. It’s closer to the remotes we had when I was a kid, where they were connected to the VCRby a wire, rather than a wireless remote. Although some signals (such as apparently the security scanners in doors of shops) can turn the thing on and off apparently sometimes.

By: Andrea the Integral

Andrea the Integral — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:24:06 +0000

Mom-

Yes humor is good for many things….survival being one of them. I don’t know that we’d ( I mean myself, Ivan, and Athena) still be sane without humor….

Come to think of it how do I know I’m sane right now? I really don’t.

By: Littlewolf

Littlewolf — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:34:03 +0000

So if I’m understanding correctly, there is little chance of someone grabbing the wrong remote and thinking it is for the TV or something? (If not, if someone tried to use the remote and ended up causing an unexpected reaction from you, you could say “Wrong remote–‘urine’ trouble now!” (Sorry…I have a juvenile sense of humor sometimes…)

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:21:11 +0000

The remote control actually is like a regular small remote control with a cord attached to a black piece of plastic. The black piece of plastic, you have to hold up to the implant (which is in your butt) in order to use the remote. But you barely ever have to use it. The device is on constantly. You mostly need the remote if something (like some store security systems) has turned the implant off, or if for some reason you need to control the intensity of the electric pulses. But so far neither of those things has happened to me so I have not had to use it since the first time I turned it on. Which surprised me because I was always having to fiddle with the intensity of the trial device, but apparently the real implant works better because I have never had to adjust it and never had a problem peeing.

I’m glad this device is harder to adjust. The trial device just adjusted by a knob, and one time I suddenly had searing pain down my leg and thought I had dislocated something, and it turned out something had bumped the knob so it was sending unpleasant levels of electricity into my body. Having to press a plastic thing to my butt first makes such accidents much less likely.

By: Whirlwitch

Whirlwitch — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 06:57:03 +0000

I’m intrigued by the fact that you get a remote control with it. Remoteness is not a concept that I would normally link to a person’s own body functions.

Best of luck with your recovery!

By: mom

mom — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:22:46 +0000

Andrea…!! :) Humor is a good thing.

This is also one case where having spare batteries is definitely a must. Puts a whole new meaning on being prepared.