My Struggle with Uncontrollable Bladder

Roseline Atieno reports her interviews with two women who suffer this condition, known medically as vaginal fistula.

Jemimah (not her real name) has been operated three times. Her problem with urinary incontinence or fistula, started when she was 16 years old, in 1998, after she delivered at home. She lived with the condition until 2005, when she went to the hospital and had an operation.

However, her joy was to be short-lived as the problem recurred again after vigorous movements while traveling in a matatu tore her stitches.

During her second operation, the doctor found out that she not only had a problem controlling her urine but was also developing a similar problem with her bowel.

Though she was repaired she says the problem with her bladder recurred. In January this year she heard of a Fistula Project at Jamaa Hospital in Nairobi. She availed herself and was operated on 16 January 2008. She says, ‘I have had difficulties with the problem, but I thank God that I will finally be able to pass my urine normally.’

Joanna fixed her eyes on me. Perhaps wondering what exactly I wanted from her. Starched in a bed at the far end of the ward, Joanna (not her real name) lay there with a urine catheter below her legs. I expected the stench of an unbearable smell from the ward, for I came to understand that that was the characteristic of people in such a condition. Amazingly, the ward was sparklingly clean – and so was she. She had suffered uncontrollable flow of urine for seven years. Joanna goes down memory lane to explain her condition.

Joanna found out that she was pregnant in 2001 to a man she was seeing since 1997. ‘At that time I was eighteen years old!, she explains. ‘I however hesitated for a while before I finally gathered courage and went to his house to tell him that I was expecting his baby. To my disbelief, he denied the responsibility and we had an argument. That day I experienced serious pains in my stomach. Two days later I miscarried. I lost the baby at five months.’

After that incident Joanna decided to go back to her parents upcountry. ‘I felt I had already over-burdened my uncle, with whom I was staying in Nairobi. After a while l started experiencing severe abdominal pains. I went to the hospital where after being examined I was operated. I stayed in the hospital for two months after which I was taken to the theatre again. At first I didn’t exactly comprehend why, but I was told that the stitches needed to be removed because something had been forgotten inside my tummy.’

Four months later, Joanna was discharged and went back home. She says she cannot explain what happened, but she suddenly lost control of her bladder. Completely.

Matters got out of hand and before she could hide it everybody in her home area knew of her condition. She was ridiculed and mocked and many are the times she locked herself indoors. Only her parents comforted her.

In 2005, Joanna went back to Nairobi to live with her cousin. It is during this period that she met Erick, her husband, and they started living together. Then came the hardest part of her relationship yet: revealing her medical condition to her husband. She feared being abandoned. After soul troubled searching, she decided it was better for her to keep mum—at least for some time. She had over time trained herself such that she urinated mostly during the day, at which hours her husband was away at work. She narrates. ‘He did not even notice my daily laundry, as I had to wash my clothes whenever I urinated on myself. And since I felt no urge of a short call during the night. I kept my secret safe.’ Unfortunately, nothing can be hidden forever.

‘He found out one night while we were in bed.’ she says. ‘I had just urinated and he happened to get awake. He suddenly arose, in disbelief, because the bed was all wet. He looked visibly shocked. He said he could not understand how at twenty four years of age I could wet the bed.’

Joanna later gathered courage and told him the whole truth. Everything. ‘I came clean and he was sympathetic. He understood,’ she says.

However, Joanna’s troubles were not limited to her own house. ‘One time I went to visit my husband’s parents, where I was to sleep over for sometime.’ she recalls. ‘I was afraid that they would question my daily laundry but fortunately they did not.’ They probably thought Joanna was a very neat woman, or one full of vanity, hence washing her clothes every now and then. She was relieved by their indifference about her habit. ‘The entire time I was at their home I remained aloof. The only person I sought encouragement from was my husband. My in-laws have never known, to date, that I have a problem.’

People who knew of Joanna’s problem, she came to learn, had claimed that there was no way she could get married or maintain a husband in her condition. No man would understand! ‘Even today I know people who seem perplexed because I am still married.’ she muses.

Why did Joanna not seek medical help? She says, ‘I lived with the condition for a long time because I could not afford the cost of medication. It was only after I talked to my husband about it that my medication started. He took me to hospital.’

Doctors fitted a catheter on Joanna. This is a tube made of polythene, rubber or gum-elastic which withdraws fluids from the bladder. At first it was very hard coping, especially while at the hospital. I would sleep but dream that I was wetting my bed. I would suddenly wake up only find it was a nightmare.’

She was operated on 17 January 2008. ‘I believe that with God’s intervention all will be well for me,’ she concludes with a smile and a lot of trust in her Creator.

END:PG12/44