HalMidLife
Contributor
- Messages
- 229
- Role
- Diaper Lover
- Incontinent
Ok, sorry for the "clickbait" flavoured post. But it does feel great to say that. Sharing this in case these vignettes about confidently wearing protection might provide some encouragement to others 
So here's the backstory. My family and I have travelled a lot in the past 12 months, and it's also during that time that I've started wearing taped plastic-backed diapers while travelling (air or ground), rather than pull ups. I've now had enough "moments" to confirm that I don't care anymore if someone knows I'm wearing a diaper, and trust me, being "there" is a fantastic feeling. I hope everyone else can be "there" too at some point on their journey of managing incontinence.
Working backwards in time (my temporal memory is bad so I might be off here or there), here are some personal experiences:
-last week, when going through airport security I forgot I had a bottle of sunscreen in my backpack (i.e. my "diapers and other things" pack). So I got stopped for a search. The security agent emptied the whole backpack, which included a white bag with I think 4 diapers in it. He clearly knew what was inside (else he would have opened the bag, because he exposed everything else) and just went about his business. There was no sense of awkwardness from him and it didn't bother me at all. I even said to my wife "that guy was a total pro".
-about two months ago on a road trip, I had panicky rest stop because breakfast wasn't sitting well. No choice but use a large and busy public rest room with stalls. I untaped one side and slipped the diaper down on one leg - something I wasn't used to doing. I was a bit embarrassed because I was making a lot of crinkling noises, but I'm happy to say, the embarrassment kinda just went away, and after that, it didn't bug me at all to put the diaper back on, tape up, and go.
-about 6 months ago I had an early dentist appointment (she starts at 7:30 AM), and to my surprise, the exam room was silent - literally pin drop quiet. Sure enough, as I entered the room and settled into the chair, there were some **very** obvious crinkling sounds. Anyway, I quickly decided to decapitate the elephant in the room by patting my outer hip and making a joke about age catching up to me about 25 years earlier than expected. After that, she asked about my general health, if the issue was serious and how long I'd be managing incontinence, and commented that I was clearly doing ok with wearing protection if I can joke about it.
-After a very long day stuck at the airport, I needed to change really bad. The only option was a public washroom and a stall with elevated walls...at first, I was nervous and even considered keeping the same diaper on, but after sitting for a minute or so, I smartened up and said "the hell with this - it's a medical device and I need it". After that, I proceeded to change...lots of crinkles and tape noise. Turns out I didn't care nearly as much as I expected to. It was nice to have that experience in my back pocket.
-First time getting a pat down by airport security since I started using the taped diapers. When I got nudged aside, and know what was coming, I was nervous. sure enough, the agent's hand brushed against the diaper's edge on my outer butt cheek. In the moment, I realized it's probably a very regular occurrence in that line of work and it didn't really bother me.
So that's it...nothing special, but just sharing that in none of those situations did I openly get laughed at. For sure, I can't know about afterwards - but even if one clown said to another "I think that dude was wearing a diaper"...so what? I doesn't affect my life one bit and it is nice to be in a place where I can say that with complete confidence!
So here's the backstory. My family and I have travelled a lot in the past 12 months, and it's also during that time that I've started wearing taped plastic-backed diapers while travelling (air or ground), rather than pull ups. I've now had enough "moments" to confirm that I don't care anymore if someone knows I'm wearing a diaper, and trust me, being "there" is a fantastic feeling. I hope everyone else can be "there" too at some point on their journey of managing incontinence.
Working backwards in time (my temporal memory is bad so I might be off here or there), here are some personal experiences:
-last week, when going through airport security I forgot I had a bottle of sunscreen in my backpack (i.e. my "diapers and other things" pack). So I got stopped for a search. The security agent emptied the whole backpack, which included a white bag with I think 4 diapers in it. He clearly knew what was inside (else he would have opened the bag, because he exposed everything else) and just went about his business. There was no sense of awkwardness from him and it didn't bother me at all. I even said to my wife "that guy was a total pro".
-about two months ago on a road trip, I had panicky rest stop because breakfast wasn't sitting well. No choice but use a large and busy public rest room with stalls. I untaped one side and slipped the diaper down on one leg - something I wasn't used to doing. I was a bit embarrassed because I was making a lot of crinkling noises, but I'm happy to say, the embarrassment kinda just went away, and after that, it didn't bug me at all to put the diaper back on, tape up, and go.
-about 6 months ago I had an early dentist appointment (she starts at 7:30 AM), and to my surprise, the exam room was silent - literally pin drop quiet. Sure enough, as I entered the room and settled into the chair, there were some **very** obvious crinkling sounds. Anyway, I quickly decided to decapitate the elephant in the room by patting my outer hip and making a joke about age catching up to me about 25 years earlier than expected. After that, she asked about my general health, if the issue was serious and how long I'd be managing incontinence, and commented that I was clearly doing ok with wearing protection if I can joke about it.
-After a very long day stuck at the airport, I needed to change really bad. The only option was a public washroom and a stall with elevated walls...at first, I was nervous and even considered keeping the same diaper on, but after sitting for a minute or so, I smartened up and said "the hell with this - it's a medical device and I need it". After that, I proceeded to change...lots of crinkles and tape noise. Turns out I didn't care nearly as much as I expected to. It was nice to have that experience in my back pocket.
-First time getting a pat down by airport security since I started using the taped diapers. When I got nudged aside, and know what was coming, I was nervous. sure enough, the agent's hand brushed against the diaper's edge on my outer butt cheek. In the moment, I realized it's probably a very regular occurrence in that line of work and it didn't really bother me.
So that's it...nothing special, but just sharing that in none of those situations did I openly get laughed at. For sure, I can't know about afterwards - but even if one clown said to another "I think that dude was wearing a diaper"...so what? I doesn't affect my life one bit and it is nice to be in a place where I can say that with complete confidence!
