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[Author’s note: This is a story from a different perspective, and set in the near future. I got the idea of having stories in the same ‘universe’ from other stories, although I’m not quite sure yet how it fits with my other stories. Medical themes and regression are involved in this story. As always, feedback welcome, so let me know what ya'll think] Chapter 1: Experience required After my birthday, and turning 20, I thought I had everything planned out. Most of my childhood health issues had been resolved, and I had my own small apartment. Not to brag, but I was top of my class at nursing school, but had trouble finding work. Hospitals wanted someone with a 4 year degree, or it was basically as a nursing assistant, with much less pay, not a position for a qualified nurse. I had a scholarship, but also earned money tutoring. Tutoring younger kids actually paid better than older kids. It was looking like I was going to have to finish my BSN degree before I’d take her seriously. One of my interviews was at a small children’s hospital. They said I didn’t have enough experience. I spent half my childhood in hospitals, but they didn’t care. I’m quite petite and still only 5’3” so they think of me as a kid, not a fully qualified nurse. Did they really notice that I wore a pull-up under my pants. I dread interviews for jobs, because of peoples weird reaction to my past, assuming they know, since I legally changed my name at 17. I was a medical miracle according to some, but others though they might catch some virus from me. I’ve survived a gymnastics fall that sent me to the hospital, a car accident that put me in a coma, catching the flu every year as a child, and more. Daycare experience: I’ve worked at daycare centers, preschools, and a summer camp. For some reason, I haven’t been able to find a job I actually enjoy. Well, the summer camp work was good while it lasted. Tutoring grade school students pays well, and doesn’t come with the stress of babysitting kids. Unlike most babysitters, I’m quite experienced at changing older kids’ diapers, and changed my cousins many times growing up. Working at a daycare, the thing that frustrated me most, was how many parents, and teachers, bought into the whole ‘potty trained by 2’ nonsense. Kids do have accidents, kids do regress in their potty training. Medical conditions can cause temporary or or short term incontinence. At one one daycare I worked at part-time, the nurse was an idiot, and reassured parents that their little angel is happy, and their temper tantrums, anxiety and other behavior isn’t the parents fault. I quit after 2 weeks, even though they begged me to stay. At one daycare I applied for a job, then changed my mind, the director actually said she was trying to prepare 5 year olds for Harvard or MIT. Do they want their little darlings to need a lifetime of therapy? Then again, My aunt wanted me to work on schoolwork, the day after I woke up in ICU. I wasn’t really awake and could barely get a sentence out. Normal is overrated: Much to my mom’s annoyance, I loved watching House on TV. I still wear my House t-shirts sometimes. Even though I cringe at the inaccuracies, as I had been in hospital enough to notice, I loved the show. When parents insist their kid is normal, and somehow it’s the teachers fault, I want to scream. Kids learn in different ways, at their own pace. If the parents work too much, hire a tutor to help your kids learn the subjects. One phrase I really hate is “mastering their skills”, such as making sure they can do everything expected of a child in kindergarten. If the child is non-verbal, still in diapers, but seems to be able to read, and use a tablet or laptop, then teach them basic math and English. Last year, I tutored a young girl, turning 10, who was still in diapers due to her inability to stay consistently dry. Her mom was surprised that I was well aware some children find being babied by their mommy comforting, and changing diapers is often necessary. I was aware because that used to be me, I was in and out of diapers growing up. After the car accident, with my mom driving, she wanted things to go back to normal, but that couldn’t happen while I had to wear diapers due to a weak bladder. A second car accident, again with mom driving, was more than my mom could handle. When I woke up from the coma, my aunt was there, my dad was there, but no mommy, and I had a complete breakdown. Eventually, another of my aunts, Charlie, who happens to be a nurse, let me stay with her at the farm that was an hour out of the city, until I got better, and the was able to live with dad again, before going back to Aunt Charlie's farm. The reason I didn't stay with Aunt Charlie longer is that eventually word of my past leaked out, probably from staff at the hospital. Maybe they found one of the published medical journal papers, of one of the studies, that I was a part of. Surviving the pandemic: Part of the reason I hide the details my past as much as possible, is that my story was on national news, for reasons that are complicated. When coronavirus pandemic first hit, I tested negative, when people around me caught the virus. Specialized testing confirmed I didn’t have coronavirus, until a later strain hit me like a freight train. The hospital kept me isolated from other patients, including other teens with coronavirus. It was almost like I was a celebrity, well I was, kind of. Anyway, after a month in hospital, I had survived and my aunt Charlie and uncle Jack, took me to their farm about an hour out of the city. We stayed on the farm, although Charlie worked at a senior center as a nurse, part time. That was three years ago, and now I’m living on my own in the city, changed my name and appearance, and nobody knows my past. I’m just a normal young woman, although I still wear a mask, and gloves. Most people still wear masks, in the city. Tutoring Makela: I had been tutoring a 11 year old girl, mainly on biology. She had a concussion and spinal injury, when she came off her bike, due to a crack in the road. She still had a lot of questions, about how her recovery would be, and how the other girls at school, even her so-called friends avoid her since she returned to school, just before thanksgiving. She is surprised how knowledgeable I am on spinal injuries compared to most of the doctors she has seen. She had a tough day, as she had anxiety, and needed to lay down for a few hours, after getting her diaper changed by the nurse. School rules require her to change her diaper in the nurses office bathroom, or by the nurse. There was a different nurse at school today, who was surprised that Makela asked her to change her. During our tutoring session, Makela messed her diaper a bit, along with wetting it, and that upset her. Her parents are okay with me changing her, while I’m there, and so I changed her. A few weeks ago, her mom was surprised when she asked me to change her, as her mom was busy. I changed her without too much fuss, although since it was in the evening, Makela asked if I could put her night diaper on her, which was thicker than her normal day ones. Makela and her parents know I wear pull-ups, but assumed it’s because of my pandemic-related germophobia. Since the pandemic, more and more women are wearing a diaper or pull-up when going out, as it'si one way to avoid unhygienic public restrooms. It’s clear Makela realizes that I don’t find being in diapers a weird thing, and I’m supportive of her need for diapers.

I currently have COVID (I'm OK, no symptoms) I was going to sneak some nappies into the rubbish before collection...until it occurred to me that it could be transmitted through urine. I looked it up and I was right, so if anyone else has it I'd wait until your isolation period is over before throwing them out, because they could potentially pose a risk to the bin men.