It was a typical hot, Okanogan day, guiding on the Thompson river. As usual I simply wore some shorts and a sports bra under my PFD. A group of friends had come out to go rafting and the whole day had been enjoyable and gone quite well. 

We were just going through the final rapid. I pushed hard on the oars to punch through one of the last big waves, a 10/15 footer, and as the raft punched through, I was suddenly hit with a terrible feeling. A feeling so dreadful that you pray it will only happen in your dreams but never come to pass. As it turned out I currently had my period and was using tampons, and as I pushed on the oars it suddenly felt like something had gushed out of me.  

Did I just have a leak….Your kidding!

How much?

Maybe it was nothing, sometimes it just feels serious but isn’t.

But what if it’s bad, I mean like real bad!

Like the type of dreadful, appalling grotesqueness of nightmares,  where there is blood pouring down your leg for all to see. Like a scene that mimics a brutal and bloody murder. Where your last shred of dignity, betrayed by your own body, is drowned in a red liquid.

I just don’t know, but I’m wearing shorts, short shorts, sitting on a white board for rowing, and to top it off there is about twenty minutes left on the river.

There is also no bathroom at the takeout…no trees either, not even large rocks to hide behind, it is basically completely open, unless I run up the hill.

To make matters worse, it is also a busy day with lots of people, and extra guides, the majority of which are men. 

Before I send myself into too much of a panic I take a deep breath, and squeeze my legs together.

Thankfully, I have a friend in the boat, and in my panic, I whisper to her what has just happened, and hand her my helmet so that she can splash me down there, in hopes that it was just a one off leak and not a steady downpour. Besides it’s pretty common that you ask clients to fill your helmet with water so you can cool down, with average summer temperatures ranging from high 30’s to low 40’s, Celsius. I tell her to make it look like she is just splashing me but has bad aim. 

Looking back, maybe not the best idea, as water and blood don’t mix very well…

Despite this rinsing, I keep my legs tight together in hopes of preventing any further potential issues. Maybe, by some miracle or sheer coincidence, I can prevent this nightmare from taking shape. Never did I think that I would be faced with such a ruthless scenario.

Silently I curse mother nature, and the fact I am a woman. 

Twenty minutes later we finally reach the take-out and I immediately jump in the water, in an attempt to fully rinse anything off that may still be present. As I’m standing there, waist deep in the river, trying to figure out what to do because I definitely need to change my tampon, the clients begin to disappear up the hill heading for the bus, and the guides start loading boats onto the trailer.

Finally I decide I just have to go for it, part way up the hill there is a large boulder that I could duck behind.

I always keep a spare tampon in my PFD, because when it comes to being in the outdoors, it’s like your period has a cruel sense of humour, you never know what it will do next.

However, I will have to be quick in case this is a consistent leak, the last thing I want is blood trailing down my leg…so I take off from the water running (not subtle at all really), someone yells at me, “where are you going?”  I yell in return, without stopping, “I’ll be right back!” I finally make it to the boulder.

Crisis averted!

Although I’m pretty sure I wasn’t nearly as stealthy as I thought at the time….