Emergency Situations

I always sit around and wonder, what happens if there are no bathrooms. What do you do? That could be my ultimate fear. I hear horror stories about people with Crohn’s that can’t make it to the bathroom, for the simple reason that there is no bathroom in sight. I also hear stories of people who can’t make it to the bathroom because there is an emergency situation that doesn’t allow access to the bathroom. I remember my first day doing field experience for student teaching. I wasn’t not even diagnosed with Crohn’s yet, but I was running to the bathroom every twenty minutes. This day would stick in my head forever, because it was a day that I would never forget.

What if there are no bathrooms?!

I was so excited for the start of my teaching career. I was heading to a rural high school in Pennsylvania to see a classroom that I would student teach later that year. I knew that my stomach was getting worse, but I didn’t imagine that it would turn out this way. I got to the classroom that morning and saw how nice the classroom was. I had excused myself from the class to use the bathroom. Fine, had no problems there. Then it happened.

An announcement was sent via e-mail to the teacher that there was a undefined package, that they suspected to be a bomb. The e-mail stated that all students/teachers need to be away from the door and windows, the lights had to be out, and nobody can leave the room. I joined the teacher and students against the wall and waited.

And we waited, and we waited. We heard sirens, and people outside our classroom which we identified to be the bomb squad. An hour went by the another. I had to go to the bathroom, what do I do?

Managing Anxiety

I started to count to ten, and take deep breaths. I was trying to do anything to make the spasms go away. I started to sweat, because the pain was getting bad. I really thought “I’ll never get to the bathroom. I saw one of the police officers through the crack of the door, and asked him when it would be over. He didn’t respond at first, but when he saw that it was an emergency, he gave in. He told me that it might be another hour, and I began to tell him my situation. He really felt bad for me, and offered to escort me to the faculty bathroom. I must’ve thanked him a million times!

For obvious reasons, I never returned to that wonderful high school. I always think back at that day, and wonder what would have happened if that great police officer never escorted me to the bathroom. It would have been a disaster. The advice I would give to people who have bathroom issues during emergency situations is to try to talk your way out of things. Sometimes you have no control around what is going on. You can also play mental tricks such as: thinking of that happy place, counting backwards, or singing your favorite song.