Making the Grade with UC: For Student with Ulcerative Colitis, School Can be a Nightmare

Homework. Physical Education. Lunch. Recess. Friends. School is supposed to be a wonderful experience combined with stress over 'making the grade', but for a student with ulcerative colitis, it can be a nightmare. As I climbed the grades from Kindergarten to senior year, I didn't know that I was cursed with an inflammatory bowel disease. However, I was intimately familiar with the symptoms that every UC victim experiences.

I don't remember flare-ups of ulcerative colitis until I was in the fifth grade. My gym teacher wanted us to play dodge ball because it was raining outside, as was frequent in NYC, and I knew I had to go to the bathroom. However, it was customary at my school to avoid sending children to the restrooms whenever possible - after all, we might skip out of school entirely or make trouble in the hallways. Our gym teacher wasn't any different, and I knew she wouldn't let me go.

I did my best to get hit with the ball early on in the game, then sat in the corner with my knees hugged to my chest, willing spasms of pain to pass. I'd had diarrhea before, but never anything so terrible as this, and although I didn't know something called ulcerative colitis existed, I knew what I was feeling. My stomach made noises every ten seconds and I was sure my classmates could hear the sounds over the bouncing of the ball and the squeak of tennis shoes on the laminate gym floor.

When you have to deal with ulcerative colitis at school, every day is a gamble. Some mornings, you wake up and can't imagine going through eight hours of torture; on others, you feel almost normal. As with many diseases, ulcerative colitis varies in intensity from one victim to another, and I would characterize my case as moderate. However, the days of diarrhea in the boys room and excruciating cramps during math class will stay with me for the rest of my life.