Bladder balance

Today I had the thought that a bladder needs to be balanced. It needs plenty of fluids, preferably water. Yet too much fluid overworks and stresses it. Apparently, you divide your weight in kgs by 30 to get the litres of fluid you should drink a day. Note that this amount is for healthy bladders and cancerous ones need more – it’s what every doctor has ever said “drink plenty of water!”  Water in inevitably means water out or “looing”. This term was coined by my new local-bladder-cancer-warrior-buddy and aptly implies the frequency we experience.

A certain drying out of the bladder is required during intravesical treatment with chemo or BCG. There are two reasons for this; the drugs have more effect if they aren’t diluted and it’s more manageable retaining the chemicals inside for the required two hours. I usually stop drinking after 10pm the night before my chemo and don’t drink anything before receiving the treatment the following morning. After the two hours the patient drinks copius amounts to literally flush out the toxins.

Some days bladder balance is easier to hold than others. As is keeping “work live balance” or any other balance. Yogis know it from holding a balancing pose like the tree (standing on one leg with the other crooked and resting on the inner calf or thigh of the other). The tree is practiced on both sides and held for 5 deep breaths each. My app gottajoga says of the tree pose „some days the right side will be stronger and sometimes the left and maybe one day there will be no difference “. This pose is a favourite because it strengthens the core, works the pelvic floor and feels as if it is strengthening and balancing the bladder. Mostly there isn’t in fact any difference between balancing either of the sides but my bladder in the middle is still a way off being balanced, I fear.