I've been on many field trips with my kids. I've even been on field trips as a substitute a couple times. While they are usually loud, chaotic, and take forever, they are also usually fun. This third time, though, was not.
I'm a decent substitute teacher. I guess so because teachers ask me back. I follow the plans, keep the kids in line, and normally manage to have fun. I'm great when things go as planned. However, let's just say I'm not someone you want to have around in an emergency situation, and if bodily fluids are involved, well, count me out. You think you know where this is going, but you don't.
It all started off well at our city's Environmental Education Center. Three moms came along, and each was in charge of six kids. I had seven kids and, as expected, had some of the kids with behavioral issues. We did ok, but maybe that's only because halfway through the trip I had to abandon my group.
One of the mom volunteers let me know a girl in her group was crying. "She won't stop. She says she doesn't feel well." So I went and got her and she stayed with me for a while. She said her head hurt really bad, and she would cry off and on. When she told me her belly hurt, we hurried inside to the restroom. We made it no farther than the lobby when she stopped in her tracks and vomited.
I turned to look at her, and my face probably scared her to death. Her nose was bleeding into her mouth, and her vomit was bloody, too. I grabbed another teacher to get some help, and I rushed her to the bathroom in case more was on the way. By now, both this kid and I were frantic. I'd never seen anything like that, and my first thought was that she was hemorrhaging. I'm not a doctor or nurse, but she'd been telling me her head hurt so my irrational state of mind assumed she was bleeding out of her head? I don't know. My thoughts went to all kinds of bad places in a very short amount of time.
Our feet led us to the bathroom to clean her up, though. As one might expect at a place called an Environmental Education Center, there were zero paper towels in that restroom, and there's only so much you can do with two-ply toilet paper. The amount I would use was not environmentally friendly. When the guy arrived with a first aid kit, he put on gloves and took over while I washed my hands with enough soap and water to also be considered environmentally unfriendly.
After she was cleaned up and settled for a bit, she had some water and they gave her some crackers. I sat with her for about forty-five minutes before the principal arrived to take her back to school. Then I washed my hands of all of it, literally and figuratively.
I don't know what happened after that. I hope the school nurse was able to contact her parents so she could go home. Her day was definitely worse than mine, and I hope she's feeling better soon.
I'm off field trips for a while. Also, this would be a good time for it to be Friday. Ugh. One more day and then we're all off for two and a half weeks. Fall break, you are right on time.
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