Joni wasn’t even 25 years old when she noticed symptoms of incontinence, following the birth of her son. After another five years, she became desperate enough to see about having something done, remembering, “I couldn’t pick up anything heavy, run, jump, cough or sneeze,” she said, without leaking.

However her physician at that time didn’t recommend surgery. He said a bladder tack was “serious and invasive.”

This past spring, after two of her friends sought treatment from Dr. Lonny Green, Joni looked into it, too. This physician said, “You’re a candidate.”

But Dr. Green wasn’t referring to a bladder tack. Technology has improved immensely over the last few years, and more options exist for women to address incontinence.

Joni underwent an outpatient procedure for a synthetic sling, which acts like a hammock to support the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder.

“He went over everything,” Joni said of Dr. Green. “He made me feel comfortable. He was very knowledgeable. And he got right to the point and didn’t waste my time. But he was thorough.”

“It’s been a life-changing experience,” she said, “I had forgotten what it was like to be normal. I haven’t even had one accident.”

She recalls, “I went in at 6 a.m. and was on my way home at 11 a.m. I was very alert when I woke up; didn’t even feel like I had been to sleep.” And the results were immediate.

Joni reported having a sneezing fit when she got home – perhaps a reaction to an allergen outside, she figured. “I just knew something was going to happen,” she said, insinuating a leak or any sign that the procedure hadn’t worked. Her husband and son stood by looking for the usual signs of distress:

“Nothing happened.” she said with a smile. She hadn’t leaked a single drop.