Visit to a Nursing Home Summary: Frank has M.S. and is in a nursing home where he is diapered 24/7. His friend Roger has a lesser form of MS and functions almost normally with the help of diapers. He comes to visit his buddy Frank, but his day goes much differently than expected. Frank is sitting in his lark machine, and Roger is hanging out in a chair talking to him. Roger says, "Fran, you got an extra diaper in here? I need a change." "I'll buzz the nurses station and they'll bring yah one," says Frank. "Don't do that! I've got some extras out in the car," says Roger. "That's silly, running all the way out to your car in the cold, when we've got plenty of diapers right here, they'll bring yah one real quick," says Frank. Frank buzzes the nurses’ station despite his friend's protest. “Don't be embarrassed, they deal with this all the time around here," says Frank.” No sooner does Frank finish his sentence when Bill, the nurse’s aid comes in the door. "You rang?" he says to Frank. "Yeah, my friend needs a clean diaper, can you get him one?" Looking a little surprised, he looks at Roger, than realizes that he has MS too, despite his relatively good physical appearance, and says, "oh sure, no problem, I'll be back in a sec. How's yours Frank?" "I'm in good shape," says Frank, "Tommy changed me right after lunch." Roger is embarrassed but trying not to make a big deal out of the situation. For his friend Frank, telling the nurses’ aids that he needs his diaper changed if an everyday occurrence, several times a day. Sometimes when he comes to visit his friend, an aid comes to check on him to see if he needs a change. Frank is always changed by a nurses aid because he is so crippled from the MS, unlike Roger who always changes himself. Bill comes back in the room with a big blue disposable diaper, and he grabs a diaper doubler insert from Frank's shelf. Roger starts to get up to take the diaper and the doubler from Bill, but Bill isn't motioning to hand them to him. Instead, he puts them on top of Frank's nightstand, and doesn't even notice Roger start to get up. Bill turns his back to Roger and opens up the nightstand, and takes out a container of Johnson's baby powder and a tube of diaper rash ointment, and grabs some rubber gloves. When Roger sees the gloves, he realizes that Bill is getting ready to change him. Bill says, "Just lay on Frank's bed and I'll take care of you." Roger is really embarrassed and says, "oh, you don't have to do that, I can change myself." "Oh", say's Bill surprised. "I'm sorry I didn't think to ask you, we're just so used to doing all the changes around here, I didn't even think about you changing yourself." Bill starts to peel off his gloves as Roger walks toward the night stand to get his diaper. Before Bill even has one glove off, he sees a wet spot on the chair that Roger was sitting on, and immediately checks the back of Roger's pants. "You need a change of pants, you leaked." "I did," says Roger, with a look of shameful embarrassment on his face. Frank chimes in, "he can wear a pair of mine, just get him some sweats out of my drawer over there." Bill examines the wet spot on the back of Roger's pants and says, "Do you want a sponge bath just from the waist down, that way you won't go home smelling like pee?" Roger really does not want all the fuzz, but realizes that he shouldn't turn down the offer for a sponge bath, because it would be offensive to him and to everyone else if he smelled like pee. Bill says, "just take your pants and shoes off and lie down on that pad (the disposable underpad on Frank's bed), and I'll be right back with a basin of warm water." Bill leaves the room and Roger proceeds to take off his shoes and wet pants. He drapes the wet pants over the chair where he had been sitting, with the dry side of the pants touching the chair, and he sees the round wet spot, about five inches in diameter on the chair, and one a good bit larger on the back of his pants. "Man, I'm sorry I peed on the chair Fran." Frank say's, "Ahh, I'm sure it's not the first time and it won't be the last around here. Bill will bring in some spray disinfectant and have it smelling like roses in a few minutes. What's more important is that you get cleaned up and into a fresh diaper." Roger walks over to the bed in his socks and his wet Attends with the blue wetness indicator showing that it's time for a change. He lays down on the bed in his diaper until Bill comes back with the water for his sponge bath. Bill comes back, and Roger says: "I'm sorry for all this trouble when I'm not even a patient here. You won't get in trouble spending all this time on me, will you?" "Oh, don't worry about that. You're a good friend to Frank and you visit him a lot, and he needs that. Anything we can do to help you be more comfortable while you're here is a service to Frank. The head nurse told me to take good care of you just now, and I'm sure the owners of this place would say the same thing if they were here right now." (Frank is in a church related nursing home where the staff and the owners really seem to care about the patients). Roger thinks to himself, “now the head nurse knows I'm in diapers, too.” Bill pulls the curtain around the bed and takes off Roger's wet diaper, then rolls it into a ball and tapes it up and lays it at the foot of the bed. Next he bathes Roger's privates, then rolls him on each side and washes his buttocks and each leg between his waist and his knees. He dries Roger thoroughly with a towel, then applies diaper cream to his bottom and powder to his front side. Then he takes off his sticky gloves, puts on a second pair, then opens up the big blue diaper, and puts the male guard diaper doubler in the front portion of the diaper. These blue diapers have a nice, powdery scent. Bill tells Roger to lift up his bottom, then he slides the diaper under him. This diaper is bigger than the Attends that Roger usually wears, and comes higher up on his waist. Bill stretches the front wings of the diaper in each direction so that padding goes around the front part of both hips. Then he tapes up each side, and the padding in the back wings almost meets up with the padding in the front wings. Roger has never had this much protection from one diaper before, and he asks Bill what kind they are so he can use them at night, or whenever he has to go a long time between changes. Bill says, "They're a generic brand but they work very well, especially with a doubler in ‘em. I'll pack a few up so that you can try them at home when you go." "Thanks", says Roger. "This ought to keep you nice n dry for a while. You just keep right on visiting with Frank, and if you need a change again, just ring the bell, okay?" says Bill. "Okay, thanks a million, Bill," says Roger. "Ah, don't mention it, I'm here to serve," says Bill. Bill opens up the curtain and Roger, stiff from his own MS, struggles a little bit to get off the bed. Bill helps him up from the bed, and he starts to walk toward Frank in his thick blue diaper. Bill removes the pad, Roger’s old diaper, and all of the other supplies, and Roger says to Frank: "now how about some pants for me." "Just grab a pair of sweats out of that bottom drawer." as Frank points toward the dresser in front of his bed. Roger walks over, bends down stiffly, opens the drawer, and grabs the first pair of sweat pants he sees. “They're a dark blue color.” Roger says, "Are these ones okay, Fran?" Frank says, "sure, put ‘em on." Roger puts them on. They seem to accent his diaper a lot more than his own pants, plus he can hear more plastic rustling as he walks, more so than from his Attends. Oh well, he thinks to himself, he is in a nursing home. He goes over to the bed, sits down and puts his shoes back on. As he's doing this, Bill comes back in with some spray disinfectant and a couple of disposable underpads, one for the chair and one for Frank's bed. Bill tells Roger that he can return to the chair if he wants, and so he does. Frank says, "now that you're changed do you want to start a game of pinochle?" "Sure", says Roger, so Frank moves his electric lark machine toward the nightstand, gets out his cards, then drives over closer to Roger's chair. Roger wheels over the hospital tray table, lowers it, and places it between them. A couple of inches of blue diaper is visible above the sweats when Roger walks. Frank notices but doesn't say anything, cause to him, it's just the same as when his undershorts were showing before either of them were in diapers. He never told Roger years before when his underpants would sometimes show a little, so why mention that his diaper is showing now. After a while, Bill comes back with ginger ales for both men, and asks them how the game is going, and if either of them need changing. Both say that they're doing just fine. Bill leaves, then a few minutes later returns with a brown paper grocery bag. He says to Roger, "I've got your pants in here and they're in a plastic bag. I put a few Pampers in the bottom so that you can try them at home. They'll probably work a little better then the one's you're using now, especially if you use a doubler. Do you have any of these at home?", as he reaches toward the shelf with the doublers. "Yeah, I put them in my Pampers too, they help a lot. Thanks so much, Bill." "Ah, don't mention it, go back to enjoying your game," says Bill. Roger stays until the game is over. He has wet in his diaper by now, but not enough to need a change. Frank needs changing, but he hasn't leaked. They say good bye, and Roger promises to come back real soon. "You better, cause you got my best pair of pants," says Frank. "Yeah right," says Roger, "these are your best pants." They laugh, and Roger leaves with his bag of wet pants and extra Pampers. He has about 3 inches of blue Pampers sticking up above the waist in the back of his pants. It shows until it is covered up by his coat. He walks past the nurses’ station and thanks Bill again. Bill says: "It's always great to have you, come back and see Frank real soon." "Don't worry, I will," says Roger. On future visits when Bill is on duty, he always checks with Roger to see if he needs changing when he checks on the condition of Frank's diaper. The end.