worst experience yet...

[ateamchick]

i work as a counselor at a circus camp in vermont (circus smirkus, for those that are familiar) and i had an absolutly horrible experience with my emetophobia last session...


every night there is a staff member on "night duty" in one of the three dorms. this means that you have to stay awake from 9-12, so the counselors who live in that dorm can go off and enjoy their night untill curfew at 12 and the campers have someone looking after them. well, i was hanging out with my friend matt who happened to be on duty that night. one of his campers comes out into the common room crying because his head hurts so bad that he can't sleep. we give him some advil and a cold cloth and send him back to bed thinking that everything is ok... well, ten or so minutes later he comes back out into the hall, says he's going to the bathroom, takes about three more steps and explodes all over the common room - six feet away from me...


needless to say that i panicked and ran out onto the porch as fast as i could. while matt took care of the camper and the mess i tried to calm myself down as best i could, and tried to reassure myself that NO i wasn't going to get sick too. when matt had it all cleaned up he came out to see how i was doing and basically carried me to his room, layed me down and tried to calm me some more. i was curled in a little ball shaking for about twenty minutes while he reassured me that i was alrightbefore i thought it was ok for me to hike the long path back to my own dorm. i was still shaking so bad that when i stood up to walk back, i was overcome with dizziness and passed out into his arms...


i slept on the couch that night.

[youngemet222]

Oh my gosh! That's horrible. I'm sorry that had to happen. You were in one of those situations that we all have sometimes where we are at the wrong place at the wrong time. It must have been extremely bad for it to happen to you at camp. The experiences seem worse to me if they happen away from home. Okay....that boy probably had a migraine. You didn't really need to panic that much, to the point of passing out. That must have been horrible, and I understand that you were afraid because I panic, even when I know that the v****ing person does not have something that is contagious.


It is very good that Matt tried to help you. I mean, a lot of people, if you are friends with them, and tell them that you are afraid of v****ing, they will start making fun of you and will not be supportive. It is good that he didn't make fun of you.


Have a good day!


Peace.


LIZzy

[Jenneh]

that is a horrible thing for you to go thru. im so sorry u found that so hard. i think i wud too!


how are u feeling now? does the experience haunt you? or can u just forget about it?


Jen xxxx

[Melikasa]

Sounds like a great guy. Understanding in both cases. A guy that can clean up after an incident, console a camper that is ill (migrain, heat stroke, Advil on an empty stomach) and then come and comfort you. Awsome.
I am sooo sorry that you had to go through that. I think that having that happen when away must have made it harder than if you had been close to a safe place like home. I think that if you can put yourself back into the situation again (camping I mean) you are a strong person.
You were wise to keep it running through your mind that you werent going to be sick. The body still goes through it's state of shock. So the shaking and the passing out was just your body being to overwhelmed, your adrenaline was pumpingto deal even though your mind knew.


BIG HUGS

[Galadriel]

Hey there,


Im so sorry you had to witness that. I too was a camp counselor for a summer (never again!! Not just emet reasons, just not my cup of tea) and well, yes that was always at the back of my mind, and in fact one of the weeks one girl who was a overnite camper (thank GOD i only had to spend the nite thurs nites) got the stomach flu and was sick all nite long. Thank God I wasnt there that nite, but the next nite i had to sleep in the bed she was in, and man, I was shook up, but I was ok and never got it. I understand tho your fear, and being away from home makes it REAL hard.

[crazybeautiful]

Oh my god!! Thank god you had your friend there for you. I can imagine how horrible that was for you!!


This guy may have had a migraine, and that's why he was sick. You have to think positive, I know it's hard.


How are you now?

[sunshine16]

Wow that must've been terrible. How are you now?

[charity]

You are so lucky Matt was there! If you were alone, would YOU have had to clean it? You were in charge of them, right? Matt is a hero! I am going to school for sports nutrition and X country coaching and while on duty I will be responsible for whoever I am training/coaching. I know some people V* after running long distances. I know I will have to be the one to manage it all. It crosses my mind every day but this is a job I always wanted. I feel trapped!


My #1 most re-occuring nightmare is that I am a camp counselor somewhere and one of the kids gets sick and I have to take care of it. Youexperienced my nightmare! I hope you are coping well. I know it's not easy to witness that. On a daily basis I still think about elementary school when kids got sick all the time in front of the class. I remember all those times so clearly. I wish I could get rid of those memories.


Here's something you might want to know. The last 2 times I was in a situation like that I did NOT run away. (Well... I did, but not completely. Both times I just stood outside the room with the door open and my back turned. I could hear all the V*ing going on but could not see it or smell it.) The first time, my ex drank too much and puked in the bathroom. I stood about 10 feet from him in the hallway with the bathroom door open. I didn't see anything (thank god). The second time was visiting a friend in the hospital whothrew up her medicine in a pan with the nurses all around her. Istoodoutside her room aspeoplewent in and out.I heard all the noise. It was horrible of course but I forced myself not to run away each time. Also, both times I hugged the person just minutes afterward. Seriously, facing it is the only way to help yourself! I panicked and criedlater but those experiences to this day have not haunted me in the least. In this lifetime, I never thought I could have stuck around and listened. I always ran away in the past and still have nightmares about each occasion. The onlytimes I didn't have nightmares was the last 2 times. See a pattern? Maybe you can work on that? Eventually I want to be able to see it all, clean it up, etc. But for now I am barely able to hear it. Try itnext time! Hope this helped you teamchick!!!


Monica

[ateamchick]

thanks for all the support guys! it's great to finally have people that understand and can share in my experiences... without laughing first! thanks for all the advice too. i'll try and work on that next time the situation comes up... which hopefully wont be ever, but we'll see...


but oh boy, you won't believe what else happened to me while at camp... you can read the whole story here: www.livejournal.com/users/ateamchick/, but here's the jist -a camper picked me up over his shoulderand then dropped me (somewhere near the area of six feet - he's a big one!) and i landed with my head onto a door hinge and was bleeding. they took me to the hospital an hour or so later when i lost conciousness on my way to bed and i was told i had a concussion. eek!


it was ok for the first day, but they took me back again a day later because i was showing signs of a more serious injury... i guess... and they gave me pain killers for the headache - but they didn't give me any food! and it was eight o'clock in the morning so i hadn't eaten anything... so it was making me feel really sick. they finally gave me some toast and things, but for the rest of the day i just felt like crap. a few days later, when we were leaving camp for good i took the meds in the morning because my head was killing me - but the kitchen was locked, so there was no food. so the whole ride from craftsbury to burlington - with a stop inbetween - i felt sick to my stomach. oh buddy was that a fun car ride... stupid vikadin!


however when we finally got to burlington we went to ben and jerry's... problem solved!