Why I wear Boxers and Diapers!!😁🩳 I created this Tumblr primarily to meet new people and make new friends - both in person and online. I am hoping to meet other bros who wear diapers - and/ or - who are understanding of those of us who do - medically or otherwise. 😉 I guess you could simply say that I’m a regular guy tryin’ to keep my boxers dry!
Keeping my boxers and the rest of my clothes dry was what led me to buy my first packs of adult diapers at the local AAFES in Germany. (AAFES is like the Army version of Target or Walmart).
About two weeks prior, I had been injured in Iraq. When I initially arrived in Germany, one of the doctors patiently explained to me that I had an “incomplete” spinal cord injury. This meant that I would have to use a wheelchair, but I would also be able to walk with leg braces. He also mentioned that rehabilitation would involve “bowel and bladder management.” This meant learning how to use catheters and possibly “briefs and pads”. Once I was cleared to fly back to the United States, I asked one of my more able bodied buddies for a favor. “ could you see if they sell adult diapers at the PX, and if they do, can you get me some?” He did.
in the very early days of my injury, the absolute worst aspects, at least to me at the time, was having to endure wearing a catheter. I hated it. I found it to be equal parts disgusting and degrading. So much so that I began to entertain the possibility of obtaining and wearing diapers, probably once I was conscious for long enough to start to construct such thoughts. I was already starting to learn how to get in and out of my bed by using a wheelchair, and I had even asked a nurse if I could wear a diaper and take the catheter out. The explanation she gave me afforded no clear cut alternative. The hospital supplied “chux” but not diapers per se. So I asked somebody to get them for me and thankfully, they did. I don’t really remember much about putting on that very first diaper, except to say that it was somewhat of a hassle. To me, it wasn’t something like, “ this is so horrible. I have to wear a diaper and use a wheelchair.” It was more like, “ I’m clean, I’m dry, I’m wearing normal clothes, and now I’m going to go down to the cafeteria and sit at a table and eat food like a normal person.” And I did. And it was wonderful.
A day of two later, I was able to leave the hospital for a few hours to go to the PX to get some new clothes and hygiene items. I was able to get a loaner wheelchair from the hospital, and we took the bus from Landstuhl to Ramstein Air Force Base. The army had given us a voucher for this very purpose. Most of the service members who find themselves in a hospital in Germany, have been blown up or injured. I’m not sure if they give everyone a clothing voucher, but you get like two or $300 or something like tha to spend on clothes and other necessities. I picked out a blue Nike, duffel bag, a backpack, two packages of diapers, new boxers, some gym shorts, jogging pants, jeans, sunglasses and a hoodie. The Air Force Base at Rammstein had this big almost mall like complex. For what amounts to be a very unlucky situation, I was lucky that I had a good friend to help me out, to help me navigate the terrain as a new wheelchair user.
It was a Friday night, there was still some snow on the ground here in there. But I couldn’t have been happier. It wasn’t because I was wearing a diaper: I was finally wearing regular clothes. Brand NEW regular clothes. For those few hours, I felt like a normal regular person, having a meal at the mall on a Friday night. That I was wearing a diaper barely crossed my mind.
A few days later, I flew back home to the states. But there was still a long road ahead. arriving back in the United States was somewhat of a surreal experience. There were no parades or cheering crowds. We flew in a C4 or C5 galaxy, I don’t member what the name of the queen was, but it was one of those big gray airplanes. Where are the front and the back open up. I did have to be carried in a stretcher, but I was grateful that I didn’t have any IV lines or tubes or anything like that. And I was especially glad that I didn’t have to wear a Foley catheter, though it did require some persistence and quite a few awkward glances from the flight medics.
From Germany, I think it took about 6 to 8 hours to fly over the ocean. It took some persistence to not have to be cathed for the flight. I had to be persistent and assertive, and somebody even wrote in the transfer notes, “PT refused foley prefers brief.”
Rehab was a very different world than the hospital in Germany. Especially the outpatient aspect of it. In Germany, in the beginning, I was in a regular hospital bed in a regular hospital. After about a week, maybe 10 days or so, I was able to stay in the the outpatient barracks which actually had carpet….in the room! Walter reed was very different. I am going to go out on a limb, and say that the army probably has some of the best healthcare in the world. Or maybe the department of defense. But Walter Reed specifically, I think catered exclusively to the army, maybe there was different branches of the service there I really don’t remember. What was awesome about Walter Reed was that, after landing at Andrews Air Force Base, it was probably like a 20 or 30 minute ride from the Air Force Base to the hospital. It was a cold, rainy day, and I found it odd that they actually were using the siren from the Air Force Base to the hospital. It seems like overkill and felt like it was very unnecessary. My first impression at Walter Reed was not the best. It was cold. It was rainy, and I had to endure another triage. After a quick exam, the doctor asked me if I wanted to stay in the outpatient barracks or in the hospital. I said that if it was humanly possible, that I overwhelmingly prefer the outpatient barracks. Then he asked me why I was wearing a diaper as opposed to a catheter. “ why would I want to wear a catheter?” Was my response.
The first order of business was getting my room assigned and Wheelchair. After a few days of meeting with doctors and urologist and psychologist, I was sent to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
The Shepherd Center in Atlanta is probably like the spinal cord injury recovery Mecca of the world. It was here where I gave my first true honest attempt at utilizing intermittent catheters. For the most part, the staff were pretty empathetic, but sometimes they could be very pushy, especially when it came to things like catheters. They really pushed for a schedule, which meant that they would come into your room at 4 o’clock in the morning to wake you up to IC as it is referred. It was hard, but not impossible to get diapers, but the compromise, at least, for me, was that I really did try and put a lot of effort into maintaining a schedule. And for the most part, it work, see you for a few accidents, here, and there. Luckily, I wasn’t the only person there who had to deal with trouser attrition (wet pants). Because there were lots of other veterans, who were my age, and had the same problems, I really did not feel awkward or self-conscious about wearing a diaper at all. What was even better, was that from the friends that I made in rehab, I learned how to order diapers online and got a lot of both solicited an unsolicited advice about which ones to buy, when and where to wear them, and lots of advice on how to change them, especially in a wheelchair. Some dudes were dead, set against wearing diapers. Probably understandably so. I personally found them to be far more practical, far more comfortable, and much more convenient not to mention hygienic. Especially in the case of accidents.
I received my personal Wheelchair on April 18. It was a green TiLite Aero Z. Being at the Shepherd Center, or even at Walter Reed, is kind of like being in college, except that everyone is either using a wheelchair, walking with crutches, is missing arms, and or legs, or has some semblance of injury. There were some older people in their 30s and 40s, but most of my friends were my age, early to mid 20th. At Walter Reed, you had to wear your own uniform, unless you had a doctors note saying you didn’t. And I made sure that I had one saying that I didn’t. I knew that my career in the Army was over, and the less I had to wear the uniform, the happier I was. I took two weeks of leave (sort of like vacation time) and flew home first class. I had not yet received my leg braces, but I had a brand new, shiny Wheelchair, a backpack, full of diapers (and some catheters) another duffel bag full of diapers (and more IC’s)
wow. This story turned out to be a lot longer than I originally intended, but I think I’m gonna leave it here for now….
