I second weighing pads. I wasn’t doing that for the first three months or so, and since I was routinely changing pads throughout the day, I’d convinced myself that I had plateaued with progress.

After I started weighing, I realized that each week, I was actually leaking less in my pants than the week before, and that had a definite psychological effect, encouraging me to really focus on my kegel routine each day.

Where I’m at now: I’ve made a solid week of dry overnights, so I think that’s more or less here to stay. Mornings also have good control, but afternoons, things go downhill a little.

Definitely have traditional stress incontinence, though: sneezing, coughing, lifting, and even doing my kegels, I leak little (and sometimes big) squirts. Holding a kegel while getting up sort of works, but as soon as I’m standing and release it…squirt. It just delays the inevitable.

I’m just banking on it taking time. I can’t say it enough, both to myself and to anyone else going through this: *Be Patient!* Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that blah blah blah.

Everything I read here and elsewhere, everything my care team has given me says it can take as long as 18 months to get bladder control back (and even then, the drips and dribbles may never go away), so guess how much time I’m allowing myself? Yep, 18 months! At 4-1/2 months, I’m still a pup!

My physical exercises consist of those my pelvic floor therapist gives me and a very brisk two-mile walk each day (brisk enough that I’m out of breath at the end).

Adding that I no longer wear pull-ups, I’ve graduated to heavy duty pads inside traditional briefs and that seems to do me. The only time I might switch to a pull-up is if I have to do something like sit in a dentist’s chair for a while, or when I go for my 6-week “beautification” session (😆) - haircut, upper-body massage, encouraging talk - because that takes two hours and there’s lots of pressing and pushing on me (I envision being squeezed like a lemon one day and squirting out a surprise stream, and I want to avoid that!).

I did buy some Menvault washable incontinence briefs (pricey), but I plan on reviewing those separately. The short answer, though…don’t bother with those.

Best advice is, hang in there, do the exercises, weigh the pads, celebrate the advances, don’t sweat the setbacks, and give it time.