Positive breakthrough

My sister peed on the couch yesterday.

About a month ago, she confided in me that she was feeling like she had more bladder control than she used to and she had been trying to actually pee in the bathroom and go at least short periods of time diaper-free. Naturally I was happy. I was happy both to hear that she was seeing improvement in something that we had all just decided was never going to get better and because her diapers are probably the biggest household expense we have. I’d love to cut that out of our budget.

What followed was a comedy of regular pants wetting. Actually, while it may have been funny for an outside observer, knowing how badly she wanted to get better it was sad to see her struggle with it and fail. We bought some of those disposable mattress pads so she could sleep without a diaper, but wouldn’t ruin her mattress if she had an accident. And it seemed like she had an accident every night.

After talking to her about it one morning, I suggested she set alarms to go off periodically during the night so she could wake up and use the bathroom. She liked that idea, but ended up turning off the alarms without getting up. So, being the good sister that I am, I set an alarm and every two hours I would go into her room and wake her up and drag her into the bathroom.

It worked. Waking her up every two hours to go to the bathroom kept her mattress dry. And we learned from that that as long as she went to the bathroom extremely often during the day, she wouldn’t wet herself. It was a positive breakthrough and I was happy that she was really making progress.

She still wears diapers when she goes out in public because the humiliation of wetting herself in public is too much, but when she is home she does not wear them. Her occasional accidents are becoming less and less frequent.

But yesterday she fell asleep on the couch and woke up in a huge wet spot. How do I clean a couch cushion?

Use carpet shampoo and sponge it into the area well if it’s not a suede or leather sofa. Afterwards I reccomend shop vaccing the excess water out and then letting it air dry. It might still stain though. She needs to take the responsibility to get up… What will she do when you aren’t there to get her up?

Zuccini

December 23, 2011

I’m thinking you need one of those wet-vac type vacum cleaners? It kinda puts down foam and water then sucks it up…? But on the other hand, awesoem that you ahve helped her come so far!

TheDiva

I wet the bed forever. And when I say forever, I mean forever…I ruined SEVERAL beds growing up and suffered a lot because of the stigma from not being able to control myself at night. If its a 3 piece sectional, you can take it to the dry cleaners, most will do it. If it’s a 2 or 1 piece, or you don’t want to take it to someone, you’ve got to unzip the cover then wash the insides

which are usually cotton and some kind of stiff lining. You can put the cotton in the cover, zip it and throw that in the wash, but make sure the stiff lining isn’t in there. The lining is what gives the cushion it’s shape and if you wash it, it’ll break down, making that cushion less..um….well, cushiony. You can spray it with a hose or put it in the bathtub too. You’ve gotta hang it to dry tho

and make sure its clean and dry ALL the way thru…don’t just pat it to check, b/c it’ll feel dry, but when you sit, however, it will be soaked. If it’s a FOAM cushion w/no lining, put the cover in the washer, then the foam part in a dry tub, drench the foam w/laundry detergent, THEN turn on the water. As the tub fills up, squeeze the foam over and over. Let it dry & put the cover back on.

I’m telling you, I ruined nearly everything I sat on for a very long time, and it was humiliating. Its funny because even though they live in a house that will soon be condemned, my mother claimed she had a nose like a dog and ridiculed and embarrassed me every chance she got, which only made me wet the bed more. Hope the tips help.