Keeping Calm in an Emergency

I’ve been talking lately about staying calm during stressful situations. True to form, the better I get at my lessons, the more the Universe tests me. I just had a hell of a night dealing with multiple emergencies, but I am so proud of myself for remaining calm through it all.

It’s 10pm on a Friday night, and I’m getting ready for bed because I have somewhere to be early in the morning. My cat is already relaxed on my bed. I turn off the light and get into bed next to her. Suddenly, she starts to make a slight gagging sound. I’m concerned. She makes the sound again, and I turn on the light. She seems uncomfortable, and she jumps off the bed, continuing to cough, and she starts salivating profusely.

My mind starts racing. Okay, what is my plan of action? Is this serious? Will it pass or does she need to go to the emergency room? I decide she needs to go to the emergency room. I take deep breaths and run to my computer to look up somewhere good and close that I can take her. None of the places are as close as I’d like them to be. Nevertheless, I pick one. How am I going to get her into her crate when she is running away from me from discomfort? Problem solved – oddly enough she went into her crate completely on her own. She doesn’t have a vet yet in this city, so I grab some paperwork with the information from her old vet. I continue taking deep breaths and keeping myself calm and telling myself it will be okay, and just stay calm so I don’t forget anything. I make sure to bring anything and everything I think will be helpful to the vet and comforting for her in case she needs to stay overnight.

Driving to the vet, I swear the lights kept changing in my favor. Most likely because it was late and the lights have sensors, but I felt like someone or something was looking out for us. I was also dangerously low on gas, because I’d planned on getting some in the morning. I decided I’d get some after the vet visit, because obviously I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to her and I could point at the fact that I stopped for gas.

So we arrived, and the staff was extremely nice and helpful. They were even worried about the cost for me. They were able to take care of the immediate emergency, but I would need to follow-up with a vet. I asked a lot of questions and got smart on what I needed to do, where I needed to go, what other questions I would need to ask, and how to treat her when we got home. There were a few moments when I was overcome with grief and guilt at how scared my cat must have been, but I pulled it together and focused on what I could do to help and prepare for what would be next.

We got out of the vet around 1:30am. I looked for a gas station. Turns out gas stations close! I’d never needed to get gas this late at night, so I didn’t know that happened. So after attempting to stop at 2 or 3 gas stations that were closed, I took a deep breath, accepted the situation for what it was, and decided to attempt to drive home, with one more gas station in mind that was on the way, but much closer to home. Right as I was approaching that gas station, the empty light came on. And the station was open. Just in time.

But that wasn’t all… when I got home, it was 82 degrees Fahrenheit in my place. The heat pump had been making weird noises lately, and I’d been trying to get help on that, and apparently it was really broken now. Hot air was gushing from the vents, even though the thermostat said 70 and was on the Cool setting. I tried messing with it with no success, and closed the vents, but the floor was getting so hot that it made me nervous blocking all that hot air like that. I ended up calling my parents (at 2am!), and by their advice I turned it off with the breaker switch.

My cat was hazy and unbalanced from having been under anesthesia, so I brought all her essentials into my room, closed the doors and cuddled up with her on the floor, so she could sleep with me without having to jump up on the bed.

What a night…

Despite the numerous emergencies and problems, and a little bit of shaking, ­­I stayed calm through it all. I focused on what I could do, and reigned myself in when I went to the worst case scenarios in my mind. Deal with the problems when they occur, and not before. That scare triggered a traumatic event for me, though. My childhood dog was gagging in a similar way the morning that he died in my arms, so my mind definitely told me this might be it. But I reminded myself that this was totally different.

What’s weird is that I did have moments where I felt like I was being too strong, and I started to feel guilty. But I know better than to allow thoughts like that. I had valid waves of emotions. One minute my eyes were welling up in tears, the next I was researching what happened and vets in the area, and asking the staff questions I had. Staying strong is how you stay capable and flexible in a situation like that. Falling apart may feel right, but it doesn’t help, and I know that, so I was able to remain proud of myself instead of letting myself feel guilty. But if I had fallen apart, that would have been fine, too. You have to feel your feelings – I’ve learned that as well.

So now I wait for the follow-up visit and pamper my cat in the meantime.

How would you handle things in an emergency?