Tanya Plonske

Gotta Go

In her late 20s Tanya Plonske realized that she was going to the bathroom more often than others. Most nights her sleep was interrupted because she had to go.

Photos courtesy of Tanya

I thought, this only happens to old people, why is it happening to me? Around this time I started seeing advertisements for 'Gotta go, gotta go', which got me see an urologist. I was diagnosed with overactive bladder and put on a prescription drug. This worked somewhat, but I became very dehydrated and I didn’t care for it.

I asked for other solutions. They suggested that I have my urethra stretched. It required a local anesthetic, sedation and a day off work. It was annoying but it worked out okay, I had relief for six months. Then the thing returned and I was right back to where I started.

I did the whole think over again and this time it only lasted three months. By now I was in my early 30s; I’d tried drugs and had two surgeries, without much success. I didn’t want to keep popping pills so decided I just had to live with it."

Dealing With It

Day to day this meant that Tanya had to interrupt what she was doing to go to the bathroom. "Everyone close to me knew about my problem. I’d be in the middle of wonderful conversations with my son Logan and I’d have to say 'Hold that thought I’ll be right back.'

I’d be in meetings and instead of focusing on the discussion I’d be thinking about when I could go to the bathroom.

It was difficult to concentrate.

I wasn't sleeping. Sometimes I’d get up once and other nights it was three or four times.

I never knew what it was like to any energy.

I'd purposely dehydrate myself, so I wouldn’t need to go so often. But this was self-defeating as it didn’t stop my urge to urinate."

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Couch to 5k

"At 35 I decided it was time to get healthy. I was a smoker and my wonderful cousin had recently died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It was so unfair as she was fit and healthy. I gave up smoking and realized that I had lots of time on my hands, as I wasn’t always going outside to smoke. I wondered what to do with all this extra time.

I did a 'Couch to 5k' program and really loved it. As I started running longer (when I was able) my symptoms of overactive bladder really kicked in. It spurred me to search again for a solution."

A Chance Meeting

"Around this time my employer sent me to a project meeting with the company, Medtronic. The Sales Director was giving us the background about "Interstim".

All I could think about was, 'I want this, this if for me, I just know it.' I'd never heard of this product and my urologist had not mentioned it. It was a blessing to be here.

After the meeting, I approached Jim, the Sales Director and asked for some contacts. I met with a doctor who opened my eyes to the possible options. I began testing InterStim to see if it'd be suitable for me.

After the tests, my new urologist explained that my brain worked fine, my bladder worked fine, but the signal between the two was wrong. He suggested InterStim, a neurotransmitter, to correct the signal thereby removing the frequency and the urgency I had to use the bathroom.

In April 2008, I underwent two surgeries, the first was to insert a wire in the base of my spine, which connected to an external transmitter. This was the 'trial period' but the device worked so well that the nurse would laugh when she rang to ask me to change the settings. I didn’t want to make any changes, as I was so happy with the results.

The second surgery was two weeks later to place the implant (device) at the top of my right buttock. Now if I need to make changes to the setting, I have a wireless remote. My only issue was that I wished I’d known about this device sooner."

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A New Life

Tanya was now able to have entire conversations with her son, partner and friends. Finally she slept through the night.

"I could go to the movies and concerts again. I used to wait for the DVD.

Tanya Plonske with her son Logan.

I could fly in a plane and not panic when the pilot said not to move around. I’d been on edge, almost missing planes as I was in the bathroom while they were boarding."

Running Free

After progressing from the couch to a 5k, Tanya stepped up to a 10k, then running 30 to 40 miles a week, she set her sights higher.

As a way to honor her cousin Jenny, and to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in her memory, she focused on a marathon.

She ran for a year and half before hitting the Rock n Roll marathon in Phoenix. "With lots of spectators the energy level was through the roof. Plus any time you can escape Minnesota in January to run in Arizona you’re going to take it."

Tanya Plonske

My first women’s only race was the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I’m a big sports fan; I love, love football and baseball. I’ve always cheered on all the men and for the first time in my life I got to run past the cheering men with all these women. It was so neat.

Last year, I ran the Nike Women’s San Francisco Marathon and it was the best race/run of my life. It’s my favorite city and to see it from that perspective with all these women running together was amazing.

Growing up my mom was strong not only on human rights, but on women’s rights as well. I thought she was over the top and never really got what she was on about. But at the Nike Women’s Marathon I got it. Running with all these women I got teary and thought, this is want mom talked about in regards to solidarity."

Spreading the Word

Tanya wanted to give back to the company that has changed her life. She is now an ambassador for Medtronic and helps other women who want to learn about her experiences with InterStim.

"My doctor says his other patients haven’t been in shape or as active as I am. Younger women with an overactive bladder can feel alienated. Patients ring me and we talk about it."

She is also part of the Medtronic Global Heroes program and will be running in the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on October 3rd in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Medtronic are giving $1,000 to Tanya’s charity of choice, the Society of Women’s Health.


The next few months Tanya's on the go.

She's marrying her partner Neil in Florida at the end of September.

Then they'll fly to St Paul to run their first married marathon in the Medtronic race.

Tanya Plonske & Neil.

Speaking Out

Many women would be too self-conscious to discuss their bladder issues with close friends, let alone the general public. Not Tanya. "Did I have times when I leaked and became embarrassed thinking I was the only one? Sure, it’s not glamorous."

Her mom; who's a social worker, taught her to be strong. "I grew up knowing that if you have a problem, you talk about it. I believe the more people who talk about overactive bladder the better.

Maybe we could get this thing solved."

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