~Brian~

Expense

Disposable

Diaper/Nappy (Have to Say it once and awhile )

@adhb @Little Sherri That is correct - You normally would be getting the "diapers" that are pull ons, and they are the CHEAPEST ones that they can give you, and anything the state pays for is the cheapest that they can get away with. (Prevail Air Briefs, etc) I had to go 4 weeks using the diapers that they first give you, and I had to prove that the ones they give you do NOT work for me. Once I did that, I needed: 1. The Doctor to say that my condition is such that the cheap stuff they normally allow you under the rules does NOT help me, and would not be adequate for my needs. He then writes the Name of the Diapers and Size on the authorization. He then will explain WHY I need it, and why the diapers that are given without the authorization will NOT meet my needs. The doctor and I usually speak about stuff like that each time it may come up. This last time, my script was up, my doctor retired, and I was assigned a new one. The new doctor, of course, is going to want to see a patient before authorizing the script. All I needed to do was to tell Dr. Ingram that I needed them, and he asked me a couple questions, and then sent his approval of the script to Medicaid. Since they are allowing me to get the diapers that work for me, and they said that is what they want for me, they already have a contract with a provider in New Hampshire (US) that provides me the Underpads, Boosters, and Diapers. 2. To have a provider that can supply me the diapers, underpads and boosters that I use, which was something that the State of Vermont does. They have a "Special Pricing" contract with the provider of my supplies. The "authorization" is basically asking Medicaid to allow me to get the supplies I need, even though they already provide diapers to those that need them, Authorizations basically tell Medicaid that I need what I need, and am asking the state to provide me with the diapers, boosters and underpads I need. In My Case, I am asking for the State to allow me to use Northshore Megamax diapers and boosters (In the appropriate sizes), and to provide me with disposable underpads. 3. The State to say "yes." Once that happens, my IC Supplies Provider calls me and then would ask me if I need any supplies. They send me 90 Diapers, 90 Boosters, and about 90 underpads monthly - the Supplier will order what I need, and I usually get it in 4 days. The Supplier and I will speak each time, and when and IF the Authorization needs to be renewed (They do every six months), The supplier sends me an email when the current Authorization expires, and THEN she will do the renewal with Vermont Medicaid, and do whatever has to happen with the agreement to provide the supplies to me. Vermont Medicaid is paying the provider to provide me with plastic backed diapers, as no one in this state can supply them (Medicaid did tell me once that they CAN provide them if needed, and they do that because I need them.). Then, IF the authorization is in need of renewal, she will call my doctor, and do all that for me, and all I do is interact with her, and with Doctor Ingram when I need his assistance with things I need. Most times, I don't even have to worry or do anything, because she's ON the BALL, and will send ME an email to tell me when she has done that, and how long it lasts! The REASON that these authorizations only last six months?: The Price of things can change, go UP/DOWN or stay the same, and that way, the state and the supplies provider aren't paying HIGH prices for diapers, like when we had $4.95/Gallon Prices for gas, That way, they can work with providers to see if they can work out a new deal if necessary. Frequency: I can order twice a month, once on the 1st, and once on the 15th. The Authorization says that I can have 90 Diapers per order. So, what I do is always TRY to have 180 diapers on hand, and I have done that a few times, where I have ordered twice a month for 3 months: During COVID-19, I had a large supply and I ordered I think I ordered 5 times during 2020, 2021 and 2022, to keep the supply up. I only order enough so that I can have a 2-3 month supply on hand, as I don't have a lot of storage, so I have to plan when I need an order, as I want to be able to shelve and store it. 4. Northshore as a Direct provider of the supplies: I needed to set this up, because the State Pays the IC Supplier to provide me with the Boosters, the Diapers and the Underpads. The IC supplier can send me the underpads no problem, BUT: I used to get the IC supplier to order them through Amazon, UNTIL I ended up with an order that was in error, and they sent me the wrong product. The NSC Rep asked me one day why we were ordering through Amazon, and reminded me that NSC MAKES the products (Boosters/Diapers) I use, so I asked them if they would be willing to work with my Supplies Provider. I then asked the Supplies Provider if the Agreement that she has with the State of Vermont says anything about WHERE she has to order them from. She told me that the Agreement did NOT say that she could NOT choose WHERE she gets them from. I then asked her to get in touch with NSC, and they set her up with an account. NSC set it up so ANYTHING ordered through the IC Supplier is paid for by the Supplier, and any orders I get from the supplier show up on my NSC Dashboard on the website. I also have my address and info there if I want to purchase anything, but I have not had need to do that for a long while. That way, I check with the doctor if something needs to change as far as the Authorization, and she calls me to check to see what I need. I just say I want [COLOR: White/Pink/Black/Blue/Tie Dye] and , She will ask me if I need boosters or underpads, and If I do, she'll send them. I am also set up with my Home Health Agency: They have ordered things for me that Medicaid will NOT cover: This includes: Wipes, Gloves, Topicals (excluding: Baby Powder, as I get that mysef), Diaper Disposal Bags, Can Liners for the Akord Jannibelle, Bag Balm, NSC Trifectas, Onesies, etc. If I want it, I can ask, and if they say YES, then they order it, through whomever they get it from, and they have an account now with Northshore, so I can make sure i have what I need and want available. I should point out that during the time I was required to try everything the State wanted me to Try before allowing me the Northshore Megamax. Also, I was in contact with the state, and they were able to set up the "special pricing" contract and get me the diapers I needed within 2 Days of the call to the doctor: This is because I was "flooding" the cloth backed diapers, and they were causing skin problems and rashes. I basically had to TELL the state that what they provided me BEFORE the change to Plastic Backed Diapers were JUNK, and that I was basically wetting the FLOOR, which is UNACCEPTABLE! Brian

@Little Sherri@FretaBWet@LilRugrat That can happen, as when you go to the doctor's office, and you need something like a new authorization for incontinence supplies (such as I did when I first met my new doctor in 2023) or when you use PT or OT, or an Orthopedic Specialist. These things only last a year or so, and they expire. With incontinence supplies, the owner of the company that I get them from takes care of that for me. Those authorizations have to be done every six months, and I like the way it is done now, because SHE knows when it's due to be reauthorized, and SHE calls and deals with the doctor and gets that all set for me. I had to go through hell during the pandemic, because once my authorization ran out, not only did it run out at the end of the six month authorization period, it EXPIRED and sat so long that the WHOLE PROCESS had to be redone from the START, because someone was NOT paying attention, and did NOT tell me anything until well AFTER the thing was expired. That resulted in me NOT being able to order diapers, boosters and underpads for 7 MONTHS! Lucky for me, I am able to order TWICE a month, and so I could get a total of 180 diapers in reserve - I NEEDED to use that reserve when this snafu happened, and that was when the OWNER took over, and will let me know either by phone or email the status of the authorization, and will make the necessary call when it needs to be renewed: I don't worry about THAT anymore - But when you have snafu's happen in systems like this, you CANNOT bank on whether something is DONE or NOT! I don't have any problems with the fact that My records indicate that I suffer from incontinence of feces and urine - In FACT, I WANT it stated on my medical records, because of the hell I went through in 2018 and 2019 with accidents, diverticulitis, IBS and mobility issues. I'm not as FAST as I used to be, and that is a problem. Because of people on DD who helped me deal with the issues I was dealing with, and discussing things with me, I was able to accept what was happening, and I learned that it is not bad to wear diapers and i was able to finally understand and accept my situation, and I am glad that I had a bunch of good people here that are understanding and know what is what when it comes to issues like this! For that, I am grateful (You know who you are) One of the many things I've learned is that you should EMBRACE the situation you find yourself in, and NOT worry about what people believe or think. What is important is that you do what you do, in a responsible manner, and that you do it because you feel lt is the right thing to do. Just because people think that "diapers are for babies," they are NOT - and they help people deal with incontinence and other issues. I have been lucky, in that my diagnosis happened in 2019, before the pandemic started. I have only been to the hospital once during the pandemic, and I was asked to mask, which is OK with me. Having them KNOW of my incontinence, they know, in fact they may EXPECT that I am wearing a diaper, and they sometimes ask if I am in need of a change, and they have done that for me in the ER twice, and when I had my colo, they changed me 27 times in two days. They did it with care, compassion, love, understanding, and professionalism. There have been many times I am sure that they have helped others in my position: They DID say something about how GOOD my Northshore Megamaxes were, to which I did say, "I am TOTALLY incontinent BOTH ways, so I need the best" Most medical professionals won't even bat an eyelash when it comes to dealing with incontinence, because to them it has been done before, and it's not a big deal or an issue. With severe IC noted both ways NOTED on my medical records, they KNOW about it, it's DIAGNOSED, and I don't have to hide it anymore, or my feelings about the situation. Once, we were talking about Incontinence in chat, and we were discussing a "desire to be incontinent" Vs. "medically diagnosed incontinence." I remember a LOT of people who have visited here, and in their journey, they ask "What is it like to BE Incontinent?" My answer: Think of it as you being two to three years old, and still in diapers. You have a diaper on, and you have to GO to the bathroom, and you try to hold it, and you can't and you just let it all out. You don't have any control at all, you don't KNOW WHEN you will release, or WHAT you will release, but you KNOW you are going to wet/mess that diaper. I tell them that people that are IC are just that way: They don't have a CHOICE, because they WILL release. @~ashley~said it best when she said her "Plumbing is broken downstairs" (and I will always remember what she said, because it is a PERFECT explanation of the situation): She tells it like it is, and I do the same thing - I am glad that I was able to get the help I needed, as well as to give others the same help and support. That is why I always say, you may have a negative because of incontinence, but for each negative, you try to find the positive: In my case, I am IC, and I have to wear diapers, but I can also deal with the feelings and urges that I deal with by wearing them, which is an appropriate way to deal with it. I remember someone asking me if I knew what I was talking about, and @Little Sherri said that I am the "real deal" when it comes to incontinence - which made me chuckle - I've dealt with diapers on and off all my life, and I've been a DL since I was 8. If you read my "Journey Thread", you'll get an idea of what I went through as a kid, with all of the time I spent in pediatric rehab, and It's no WONDER I am the way i am - They put people in diapers because they don't want you to get up and move around without help, and even then, you had them help you - At night, they would diaper you, so they would not have to take you to the bathroom. If you didn't wear diapers, and you wet/messed the bed, they would diaper you because they had to take you to the bathroom, and they usually didn't want to do it, resulting in people having a wet or messy bed, because (in my mind) they were LAZY and did not WANT to help us once we were down for the night: They wanted to only have to change diapers, which is easier than taking us to the bathroom. My journey thread explains that and more HERE @superabsorbantpolymer Most medical questionnaires have questions like that, as they may be trying to help you and having an issue marked on a form like that would alert the doctor if someone is normally NOT having problems with bladder or bowels, and suddenly has a problem that presents, and one of the things is that they are having troubles with bladder or bowel control. However, I have never heard of a message place asking something like that, BUT, they could do that, so they could be prepared for such a need if someone is incontinent - When you are dealing with the doctor, they may want to know the frequency, the amount of void, the color of the urine or stool, or if the smell is different, which would be an indicator of further problems, or at least a warning that the doctor may want to investigate what's going on. Nothing wrong with having a diapered massage! I've had dreams of DD members giving me one: which was the inspiration for me writing my story ~Brian's Dream Comes True~, (HERE). Nothing like a message to help you unwind, and loosen up tired, achy muscles! @Little Sherri That reminds me of the questionnaire I completed for the University of Vermont's UVM Health Network: UVM Medical Center Headache Clinic in Burlington, VT (USA). That was FIFTEEN (15) pages long. Because that thing is done, Now I can see Dr. Reagan more quickly than I expected, it is better for me, as my responses were able to help her decide, with help of a couple of doctors that she consulted, what medicines i could take that would NOT cause problems. I see her in 3 months, but today, at 5:30AM, I had to take a 100MG fast acting tablet cause my head was KILLING me!! I don't think you'll regret doing it: I was scared as hell when I first started having problems with incontinence, and because of the good people here, and knowing about Daily Diapers being here, I KNEW where I needed to come to get the help I needed, and I can tell you, it's the BEST decision I ever made: Life is so stressful out there, and the LAST thing I, or anyone else should sweat over is a wet or messy diaper when it happens (Unless there is a REASON to suspect that the reason is due to some abnormal situation, which in that case, you should ALWAYS check to make sure nothing is REALLY WRONG!). I've been wearing 24/7/365 since 2020 - and I DO NOT have any regrets, and I am happier now: I think of wearing diapers as a necessity, as well as a comfort to me, and think of the fact that the world, as @Kawaharu has stated before is so Stressful, that I think of wearing diapers as a stress reliever, as well as using the diaper as a stress reliever, as what you release is the "Junk" You and your Body do NOT need, so it is ejected and then you change when you are ready I don't have any regrets, other than that I wish that I would have done this earlier than 2020, but sometimes, the right circumstances have to present, and you have to have the right support systems to make that happen - i have those now, and I will NEVER have to worry about that again! Brian

@spark@DAQ I also don't see anything that indicates that she is wearing diapers in either of the photos. However, I must RESPECTFULLY point out that she may BE disabled. As such, she deserves the same considerations that are given to anyone that is not, and when disabled, you are given special considerations that make it so that people know of your limitations. These "limitations" are why they design IEP programs for people in this position. Greta, if she is autistic, deserves the same respect as anyone else that is autistic, or who is dealing with other conditions that may be a challenge to her, as we do not know what problems/issues or situations she may deal with on a daily basis, and if disabled, she should be given consideration for her limitations. I have limitations myself, and even though I wanted to be able to do things with my peers "exactly like they do," I realized that there are things that I CAN do with my peers, just like they do it, and there are things I can do that they can do, but I may have to have adaptations made so that I can participate with them, and have fun doing it, and there are things that, regardless of how many times I wish I could do something, I am unable to do it, and that is something that I realize is NOT the end of the world. I can't Drive, but I can use my computer and help others with those types of issues. @Elfyand @Cute_Kitten and @Kita Sparkles could probably write 5 books and have them published before i ever get even one published. Even so, what I am saying is that some people are BETTER at things than other are. When you aren't as good at something as others are, you ask for help, and then your peers help you to LEARN to do something. You may need help again and again and again, and you may have to repeat something ad nauseam: The word FAIL, I saw somewhere could mean: "First Attempt At Learning" and BOY, is that the TRUTH! I know that I lost my temper and cried MANY times, because I just was not understanding WHY I could NOT understand why I was "so dumb" and my teachers would say that I am not dumb, it just may take me LONGER than my peers to get the same concepts. or complete the same work assignments. They always tried to find a POSITIVE for EACH negative I would bump into, and I can say I THANK them for that! They made me see that I concentrate on what I can do to better myself, and do my best at what I CAN do, and NOT worry about the things i can not do! That is important to people in my position, because there is always gonna be some asshat that is gonna try to trip me up or make it harder for me, but I always gave it my best, and even then, it was not always resulting in the results I would have hoped for Grade wise (I wanted a "B", I Got a "C", or I wanted an "A" and I got a "B", and even there were times I got the dreaded "D" or "F".) My point is that: It does NOT matter whether someone is disabled or not. If someone has struggles, they have to deal with them just like anyone else does: They may have to ask for help, and they may be RELUCTANT to do that, as they may think they don't need it when they actually WANT the help and they may not know how to ask for it. People also may not think they need help when they do actually need it. That's why there are people who are trained to "pick up" on subtle "cues" that someone may need help. Being Disabled, means that you have to deal with all of the struggles a non-disabled person deals with, ON TOP of your own disability, and that can get in the way of learning, understanding, coping, and all that: It may take you longer to do something, or longer to understand the basics, and I know of people who are dealing with Autism, and Down Syndrome, and stuff we can do every day that we consider SIMPLE, like getting dressed properly, or doing the dishes, or doing laundry may be something that they would have to have help doing. Heck, they may even need someone to help them use the bathroom, or change them if they need to, or if they wear and use diapers for that. As far as Greta goes: I don't know what struggles, issues or problems that she faces every day, but If she is indeed autistic, she deals with issues that may be unique to her, or unique to her condition, and if dealing with other disabilities, she may, and likely does deal with others as well: There are many here on DD that are considered autistic, and there are those that are considered disabled. either way, they may wear diapers for need, or they may wear them for comfort, or whatever the reason, but the main idea here is they are special and unique, just like Greta is: she has her strengths and her weaknesses, her aptitudes and her shortcomings, but she is a person who has her opinions, her beliefs, her likes and dislikes, but she is allowed to have those, and whether we agree with them or not, the beauty of that is that we don't HAVE to agree with what someone says, but we should RESPECT each others views, as @DailyDi says "we are all welcome here" I agree with @spark: Greta and others who have concerns about the environment are speaking out, and doing what they feel is right, and doing what makes them feel like they are doing something that helps the planet. If she wears disposables or she wears cloth, she wears diapers, and that should not change the IMPORTANCE of the message that she is trying to get across: The fact is that she is concerned about the environment, and the fact is, that we are NOT doing enough to combat climate change, and I don't know if we could change and correct the damage that has ALREADY been done, but we are making changes. You also have to understand that there are people who may NOT want to wear cloth because of the work involved. For those that CAN wear cloth, and can deal with washing diapers every week, that's cool and awesome, but there are those (like me) that wear diapers for need, and do not want to mess around with folding cloth diapers so they are ready to use, or having to wash cloth diapers each week: For those individuals, disposables work well Respectfully, Brian

Daytona (International Speedway)

Green

Finger (what you tie a string to sometimes. When growing up, watched Sesame Street, and they always had someone with a string tied on their finger, as a way to remember something)

ALPINE UPGRADED TO 2.26 / IMAP FUNCTIONING ON ALL BBUS IMAP BOXES, AND ALL GMAIL ACCOUNTS 4/8/2024 @ 02:11 EDT After struggling for over a week, and with the help of Mr. Chappa, He suggested that the problem was that I was running Alpine 2.24, which was ONE problem I was having: The way that you authorize is to either choose "device" for those authenticating on one device, or "authorize" if using gmail accounts. With his help, i completed the Outlook (office365) authentication with my bbus accounts (brian@, and root.bbus@ for my domain and the outlook accounts. I had to download alpine2.26 from the developers website, then untar and unzip the resulting archive. Then, using instructions I found online, I compiled and made alpine binaries for the programs: alpine. pico, pilot, etc, and then once that was done, backed up my .pinerc, and then moved them from ~/alpine-2.26/bin/ to /usr/bin, for all of the programs. Easy way for me to do that was to ln -s alpine2 ~./alpine-2.26/bin/alpine. I did that for all binaries, and then made a directory in /usr/local/bin/alpine-2.26 coped the binaries for alpine, pico, and pilot to that directory. Since I had alpine 2.24 installed, I made each program distinct by adding a "2" (i.e. alpine2, pico2, pilot2, etc. I also copied the help files too, moving those as well. I then did 'apt-get remove alpine' to remove the 2.24 version and with the Links I made to the new programs, and then moved the resulting binaries from /usr/local/bin/alpine-2.26 /usr/bin, that way I don't have to mess with the path variable, since the /usr/bin directory is in the path, and so is /usr/local/bin. Job Done! ALPINE 2.26 COLLECTION LIST Folder: INBOX 22 Messages + Incoming-Folders Incoming Message Folders Mail Local folders in mail/ IMAP FOLDERS: store-director Folders on outlook.office365.com/ssl/user=store-director@outlook.com/auth=xoauth2 in home directory IMAP FOLDERS: wizkid38 Folders on outlook.office365.com/ssl/user=wizkid38@hotmail.com/auth=xoauth2 in home directory IMAP FOLDERS: BBUS Mail (Gmail) Folders on imap.gmail.com/ssl/user=bbus.brian@gmail.com/auth=xoauth2 in home directory IMAP FOLDERS: (Wizkid3878@gmail) Folders on imap.gmail.com/user=wizkid3878@gmail.com/auth=xoauth2 in home directory NOW you can see ALL Imap setups for the accounts, and in Incoming Folders there is an INBOX for brian@ and one for wizkid38, and one for each of my accounts I need: I cleared about 3,100 messages out of my Personal Gmail Inbox, which was piling up BAD: Gmail does NOT use the same conventions as outlook or conventional email providers, so they have a folder setup that is a tad strange. It wasn't too painful, but MY GOD, the authentication process was a NIGHTMARE, until Mr. Chappa sent me a client-id that would allow me to authenticate properly. This is the reason I had to download, decompress, and install Alpine 2.26 - There was a change that google made that he said was causing problems, and the authentication was trying to send a code to another host, and so he made Alpine 2.26 so that when you sign in to google, it allows you to choose your account, enter the password, and then it will drop out and say that it cant connect to localhost - Then you COPY the URL that you get from the desktop browser (Firefox for me) and what happens is the ALPINE 2.26 program will then tell you to copy the "code" from the URL you received: You Copy that whole URL from the Address bar (all of it has to be blue: it will start with something like https://localhost [blablabla) and it will have a code, and you go BACK to Alpine. Then, Press "C" and it will ask you for the code: Paste the whole URL right there, hit Enter, and when it asks if you want "thunderbird" granted access to gmail, in my case, even though using alpine, click OK, THEN go back to ALPINE: It will say: Perserve access token(s) for next login? (Y)/(N. Hit "Y" and alpine will save the tokens. Then, all you have to do, is Q(uit) Alpine, and then Hit "Y", then it wlll drop you to shell. open alpine again, give the Master Password, and you will be sitting at the main menu. From there, Press (S)etup/(L)Folder Collections and create your folder collections: You have to have a client-id and client-secret key for this to work: Add that using (S), and (U)) to put those in, then save them, then add your collections: 1. Add ALL Incoming Mail folders to "Incoming Folders: Press (A)dd to add the folder AFTER you have opened the Incoming Folders and you are seeing the white cursor ON INBOX. Hit "A" and follow the prompts.. when done, a connection will be attempted to your server [where your inbox is), and once it does, you will be able to read email from ALPINE. You can manage your mailbox folders too. [Will finish later on:) Brian

@Little Cub Pants Happy Birthday!! Hope you have a GREAT one Brian

I've got two I have been listening to today: 1. "This Time I Know It's for Real" By Donna Summer 2. "Living Years" By Mike and the Mechanics Have a Great Day! Brian