New line of work

I have made progress by paying attention to my posture, breathing, bowel movements, sleeping, and how intra-abdominal pressure can build up. Swimming has been helpful in counteracting my job-related tension build-up. I am sleeping much better, after getting advise from a PT on how to release pelvic floor tension.
I now have more good days, than bad, rather than the other way around. I might start using some of my earned time-off days, to shorten my work week, because as the work week goes on, I start feeling worse & resenting my job, particularly when I'm pressured into rushing.

Thank you for your comments. Your comments resonate with me.

When paying attention to what makes me feel worse at work, I realized that it's not just the nature of the work itself that's bothering me, it's stress when being harassed to do too much, in too little time, due to staff shortage.
Thank you for the reminder to pay attention to WW posture! As I pay attention to what works for me it is definitely falling more in line with Christine's wisdom, than the advise from PT. At the same time, finding out from the PT that my "resting" pelvic floor tension was way to high ("highest" that she had ever seen....measured after a full day of work), was a huge step for my recovery from insomnia.
I am continuing to find WW advise to be of great help.

Thank you for your suggestions and encouragement. Christine's perspective continues to be a welcome relief. A friend keeps referring to surgery as the only "fix". Initially, I thought my body was broken, after being diagnosed with cystocele, and meeting with the surgeon who reinforced that belief, which was then further reinforced by the description of the lengthy recommended surgery. Somewhere along the line, some of Christine's advice planted the seed in my thoughts that maybe there's better way to look at this.

While still trying to figure out the best line of work in the long run, I am quite pleased with my progress I’ve made with the WW way. I finally seem to be winning out over gravity, which I didn’t think was possible before. My initial goal was to be able to make it through a work day without feeling like I was going to pass out by the end of the day. Have managed to make more progress than that.

Thank you for your encouraging words, Surviving60. Your encouraging words mean a lot to me.

I no longer have that downward pressure, that was so evident back in February when my bladder prolapse became visible. Getting IAP to work with me, instead of against me, helps me realize that my body is not broken. Before, it actually felt like my lower body wanted to eject everything. Now particularly on my days off, my lower body can find peace. Seems that along the way, I have gained a new way of creating internal pelvic strength, that works with me, instead of against me.

Thank you for suggesting firebreathing, and reminding me where to find it in the videos.
Sometimes, I find it challenging to do, and sometimes I find it easy to do.
This process sometimes reminds of untying a kite string with lots of knots Sometimes frustrating.. Sometimes rewarding..sometimes I feel patient, sometimes not.

My initial reaction to having difficulty with fire-breathing, due to lower back tension, was to be frustrated. I felt like my body was being hijacked, despite my many efforts to reduce muscular tension. I'm hoping to change my mindset to something more useful.

I am continuing to make progress with reducing tension and improving prolapse. I think I’ve been carrying chronic tension in my body for years. And this habit of ignoring chronic tension seemed to have also gotten me in the habit of ignoring signals from my body, in general....not a good thing. I am determined to turn this all around. I feel that I am successfully improving the quality of my life by paying attention to what works...so I'm 'all ears" to WW suggestions. To Surviving60: Thank you for suggesting to try different positions for Firebreathing.

I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to be fitted for a pessary, but as I'm reading WW advice, I'm starting to question the benefits vs. the possible issues. I was initially diagnosed with cystocele, back in February. Then later diagnosed with diagnosed with rectocele and uterine prolapse, by a uro-gynocologiest, who wanted to surgically remove my uterus, and "fix" the anterior and posterior vaginal prolapse. Well, I have very gradually come a very long way from that dismal assessment. Now it seems as long as I avoid repetitive heavy lifting, and strive to keep my bowels moving & soft, and remain aware of my body mechanics (WW breathing, WW posture, etc) that my uterus stay up and I don't have constant pressure pushing down on my bladder. I do agree with Christine's assessment that a flattened vaginal space is a safeguard, so I'm second guessing my decision to make that appointment, if pessaries prop open the vaginal space.

Initially I was gathering Christine's wisdom through a rather piecemeal approach.... from the WW website...reading the WW forum and following some links posted in the forum. I was at a crossroad when my physical therapist told me that my chronic pelvic muscle tension had subsided enough, to start working on strengthening those muscles, because I knew that the suggested Kegels never felt right...particularly not while lifting. Then I purchased & downloaded the Prolapse First Aid Videos. And I am glad that I signed up and joined this forum when I did. I have absorbed each suggestion and appreciated the encouragement. Luckily I have gone back to streaming the videos, because I had overlooked Module 5. Until I was reminded of Module 5 in a post, I was still relying on piecing together information from various forum posts, regarding WW techniques, like Fire-breathing.
When not distracted, I try to make WW breathing and WW posture as much apart of my day as I can. Even though I am using the WW posture while moving from room to room down the hallway during my work day, I can't say it's the WW walk, because I am hampered by pushing a housekeeping cart, while pulling a rolling trash bin.
I started the WW Fire-breathing, when it was suggested recently. It definitely feels like the right stuff for me to emphasize, at the right time. Getting WW advice is making a tremendous positive difference. That's why I keep saying "Thank you". Thank you!!!

No surgery. No surgeon. (In response to Surviving60's comment/ question). I initially saw a surgeon at my friends advise. I am primarily focused on improving the quality of my life, which I am accomplishing without surgery. I changed my mind only 2 weeks before the scheduled date. I would much rather give my time and attention to non-surgical ways, than undergoing surgery. I will continue to find ways to listen to my body, not to the surgeon. My body deserves it.
p.s. I actually joined this forum hoping to feel more encouraged in my way of getting better, because my close friends are pro-surgery. And I do feel encouraged and supported. Thank you!!!

I set up the appointment to have a pessary fitted quite a while back, on the advise of the Physical Therapist. I'm questioning it at this point, after reading that a pessary can cause the vaginal space to be more open. I agree with Christine's advice, that a flat airless vaginal space is better.
Being fitted for a pessary was originally suggested to me by a Urologist back in March. I didn't follow through because the downward pressure on my vaginal space was so obvious to me at that time. A pessary would not have stayed in place, it would have popped out immediately. I no longer have that constant downward pressure, while standing. I felt quite awful then. So my current dilemma seems easy in comparison, I can try a pessary or not.
I was feeling the need to have a doctor say something positive about my improved prolapse situation, so that, in turn, I could tell my friends. I can let that go.

Ending the prolapse conversations with my friend is my best option at this time. Earlier on, conversations with my friend felt supportive, because we were encouraging each other to take good care of ourselves in prolapse-friendly ways. Now I think I'll do better stopping the prolapse conversations with her, and saving the friendship.

I cancelled my appointment to have a pessary fitted. I'm continuing to feel more confident in the improvements I've made with my prolapse.

Thanks. Yes. At first I wasn't feeling much hope at all. I was convinced that I had chosen the wrong employment (housekeeping), at the wrong time (menopause). And that I had ignored my body for too long, while caring for others. But in many ways, my job became my incentive to take control. I had to find a way to keep making it through each work day. There were so... many... work days, I felt defeated... by gravity, stress, and everything else. Now I feel that my mindful efforts are paying off.

I started being more consistent with WW posture after seeing a sketch in Christine's blog article, "A New Model of Core Stability", that shows how WW posture manages pressure in a prolapse-friendly way.
https://wholewoman.com/blog/?p=1509

I'm currently finding it easier to stay motivated with using WW techniques because my improvements started going more smoothly after I started excluding other techniques that weren't helping. I initially thought gravity would always win, but now realize that's not true, as long as I continue to find ways to prevent pressure from building up.
I'm still trying out different ways to keep my bowels moving, because otherwise I do start feeling downward pressure. Currently relying on Slippery Elm Tea and being mindful of what I'm eating.
I'm finding it harder to stay motivated with my job search, but will find a way to persist. My job can be quite stressful due to frequent under-staffing. But I will persist in finding an employment solution that I'm more comfortable with.
I have stopped talking about any prolapse issues with my friend, because she is persistent with her belief that there is only one decision to be made - choosing the right surgeon, even when I stating "I'm not having surgery".

Last night, I was aggravated by UTI-like symptoms. Realized that laying in bed feeling "punished" for "doing something wrong" was just serving to aggravate me, I woke myself up enough to see if I could solve it. Decided that it was sort of like having a headache, not really solvable. Decided this morning to continue to look for ways to bring pelvic inflammation down. As I am paying rent this morning, I'm reminding myself that I need to move on to a place that is more conducive to enjoying healthy meal preparations. I have a make-shift kitchen here, and I can't continue to rely on my friends' kitchens. This was intended to be temporary place, near to work. In the future, I want to be able to look back at this time, and to see that it's purpose was to call myself to action to take better care of myself.
New job....new place. I just need to just keep at it, and it will all come together.

Trying to remind myself to keep in mind what I have learned regarding keeping myself safe in a prolapse friendly way.
It feels frustrating to acknowledge that my body has limitations. But the reality is that I feel so much better when I respect those limitations. And actually by respecting some limitations, I am allowing my body to heal and be stronger, in it's own way.
I try to think of this as being on Team-Prolapse. When I played sports, I enjoyed paying attention to how my body felt. Trying to see this process of paying attention to what my body feels is prolapse-friendly in a positive light. And to encourage myself, that when the expected avenue doesn't look appealing, to continue looking for another, for as long as it takes.

Saw my primary care doctor yesterday. When I told her that I had cancelled my surgery, she seemed surprised when I referred to it as "Optional" Surgery. She told me how she remembered when she was 11, that the reason given for putting her grandmother into a nursing home, was that her grandmother had started bleeding from her prolapsed uterus. So this primary care doctor seemed confused by my choice to opt out surgery, despite me telling her that I am continuing to make progress. She even wants me to see a Gynocologist. I don't feel that she's on the same page, luckily it was a short conversation.

What prompted me to make the visit was after having some upper body discomfort a couple of afternoons at work.....which I later figured out was due to cleaning a room filled with an overabundance of stargazer lilies.
I once had a very down to earth Doctor of Osteopathic medicine, so I expected the same of this one, I guess. I had only seen her one time in early May, and there wasn't any real discussions then. So I wasn't really feeling the need to start a prolapse discussion, now. I was a bit evasive, because I thought telling her about all my improvements with sleep and feeling better would be sufficient. Beyond that I was a bit evasive, and then when she brought it up a 2nd time, I said something like...since there was a possibility at the time, that my son, who has Crohn's, was going to need surgery, I cancelled my "optional" surgery. She pondered the word "optional" out-loud a few times.
I was also following up on the results of an EKG from back in mid-May. The EKG was part of a series of tests that were done mid-May, prior to my planned optional surgery, that I cancelled.

That's a good question about whether posture alone can help move your uterus up. The answer might differ for each of us. For me, posture alone wouldn't have been enough to move my bladder up.
The WW posture has helped me, because it has enabled my body to manage inter-abdominal pressure, in a positive direction (forward), instead of all down (ugh). I had done my best to modify my lifestyle (less lifting & carrying) to reduce the inter-abdominal pressure. But I was starting to become discouraged because my progress felt unpredictability, and I couldn't figure what else to reasonably modify, without having a constricted life. When I began to focus my attention more on WW posture, breathing, and toiletry, it gave me hope again.
Initially, I was pushing my bladder up and over my pubic bone, and then relying on WW body mechanics (posture, breathing, bending, etc) to keep help keep it there. Now I use jiggling and fire-breathing as a convenient way to encourage upward movement.
My recovery has been a step-wise process.

After making progress with my cystocele, then I became more aware that it seemed to be slow moving bowels that would put downward pressure on my uterus from above. It seemed for a while that my uterus had to compete for it's space back. And it sometimes felt that constipation was bothering my urinary system too....pinching it somewhere.
I didn't get a job offer after 2 interviews. It seems that everything is a step-wise process, that requires persistence.

Still need to get into a new line of work. Stress level is certainly up this time of year, with the workload at a peak. And the Linens are heavier this time of year, because more blankets are used, and more linens are stored in the rooms. So bagging the linens to remove them from the room takes me more time, because I use several linen bags to lighten the load, in other words, several smaller bags, instead of one huge one. So I'm viewed as a "Slower" worker....more stress....
I can do this. I can transition into another line of work. Why do I write this here...because I continue to get lots of good information from this Forum. And I am continuing to manage my prolapse issues well, despite my less than ideal job, thanks to all the Whole Women ideas and suggestions!! I will try not to give myself a hard time regarding my sluggish progress in 2 other key areas: job and living quarters. These changes are both necessary, and I feel are vital in my on-going process of "taking good care of myself". I finally understand that concept, but need to continue to take action on that increased understanding.
I did successfully complete an on-line course which should improve my job opportunities. Onward...and upward....

I found the confidence to quit my job.... just in time to avoid the onslaught of heavier winter-time lifting of linens.
I've learned to be as fearless as possible with my approach to prolapse, so hopefully I can apply the same attitude toward my other goals.