She Never Quit: Gail Marx’s Journey Through Trial and Error

Watch Gail share her story

TriHealth patient Gail Marx has always been an outgoing person. She enjoys going out, being active and social—just doing things. Unfortunately, frequent trips to the restroom began to make it more and more difficult for her to live the active lifestyle she is so used to.

Things got so difficult, in fact, that Gail stopped leaving her house entirely.

 “It was depressing,” she said. “I didn’t leave my house for close to a year, other than maybe just running to the grocery store, because I would always have to go to the restroom.”

What seemed to start as a small problem, frequent restroom visits began to drastically affect Gail’s quality of life.

“I was at the point where I couldn’t even travel anymore,” she said of the progression of her struggles. “I’d be dehydrated when I went to the doctor because I wasn’t drinking any water.”

In addition to the physical discomfort, there was a deeper psychological burden Gail was shouldering at the time as well.

“I knew it was a bladder problem—I was concerned because my dad had bladder cancer,” she confessed.

It was during this time that Gail began looking into urogynecology, which is when she scheduled an appointment with Dr. Kelsey Lewis, a Urogynecologist here at TriHealth.

The road to even find a diagnosis was long and difficult, sometimes testing Gail’s resolve to keep trying.

“I was ready to give up, to be honest—but she kept working with me,” she said about the process of trial and error she was experiencing. “I’d go in there and I’d be crying. She’s seen me at my worst and she’s seen me at my best—she would be very sympathetic and she would understand.”

Despite the early setbacks, Gail could feel the confidence that Dr. Lewis projected about her situation.

“She just pushed on. She’s like ‘No, we can figure this out—we’re just ruling things out until we find something,’” Gail said of Dr. Lewis’ attitude, as first attempts to diagnose the problem fell short. But their shared perseverance eventually paid off.

“I have an overactive bladder and I had crystals in my bladder,” Gail said of her eventual diagnosis.

Gail’s treatment included a once-a-week therapy that helps to retrain the bladder and brain to work better together in sending urinary signals. She also learned the importance of drinking water in bladder regulation.

“I never thought that drinking the water would help me, but it did,” she said of the counterintuitive direction from her care team. “I just feel like I know a lot more now.”

Gail’s persistence in finding the issue and sticking with treatment has made a tremendous impact on her well-being.

“I felt 100% better—I finally started going out and doing things,” she said, beaming.

Gail is also aware of the stigma that can often come attached to urinary issues, but she has been determined to help show others what is possible when you truly partner with your doctors, who at TriHealth, are always there to help and never to judge.

“Some people don’t even want to talk about it—I know people who just ignore it, but it doesn’t go away,” she said. “Don’t ignore it to the point where it takes a long time to heal.”

Learn more about Urogynecology with TriHealth Women’s Services here.