Midnight Micturition

I may be on vacation but ALS is not. It is something to learn, that no matter where I go, the rest of me goes along, whether it be physical or mental. There is no getting away from it, ever. Last night was a good example, although I am not sure if it was a night driven by ALS or aging, both of which can make life interesting.

There are nights when I don't sleep well, nights when for some reason or other I am up or wakeful for much of the night. Last night it was midnight micturition, also known as peeing in the middle of the night. The problem is, however, that despite several awakenings to my bodies demand, I was unable to deliver the goods, finding myself sitting, aiming and waiting. It happens some nights, where my bladder insists that it is ready for relief yet the rest of me says "I don't think so".

When it happens this way, I wake up and try to go, wait for a while, then try to go back to sleep. Unfortunately the discomfort of a bladder saying one thing and the rest saying another stays with me, making sleep almost impossible. So I wait a bit and try again, usually with some limited success. Then I try to sleep again, once more with the discomfort though diminished by my level of success in this process. After a while I get up again, try again, gain what success I can and go back to sleep, if I can.

Last night it happened a few times, my waking and waiting process, the last being at around 7:30 AM, a time when most people get up for the day. My night had been sufficiently interrupted that I tried going back to sleep. I awoke again at 9:30 AM but once again drifted back to sleep until 11:00 AM, whereupon I finally awoke to complete success.

Thank goodness that Cheryl is understanding in all this. When I told her I felt bad about wasting our day in London, she reminded me that we were on vacation, and some days on vacation you just rest. After my bout of midnight micturition, I need a rest.