A Crack in the Mask: The Felt Sense Method

THE FELT SENSE METHOD® A HUMANISTIC APPROACH FOR MANAGING INCONTINENCE 3 faces and in their body language. The messages range from “I am bored, but I can wait” to “If I don’t get in to the toilet now, I am going to wet my pants!!!” Watching, my thoughts go back to times when I would be waiting and doing the line-dance as unobtrusively as I could. Then when I finally would make it into a stall, the true dance began. My maneuvers would be a mixture of squirming and frantically pulling and tugging at buttons or silently cursing as I struggled with an uncooperative zipper. Wearing panty hose or having long fingernails only added to the frenzy of the dance. After I finally freed my garment the gyrations turned to getting my garments out of the way as I tried to sit. One toilet dance memory that often comes to mind is when my husband and I were waiting at the airport in Mumbai, India, to board our flight back to the United States, and I felt a strong urge to go the toilet. In a panic, I had to make a choice. Should I stay in line and hope the line would move fast, or should I make a mad dash to the restroom and hope that there was no line or that the line there was short? After looking at how long the boarding line was and how slowly it was moving, I decided to dash off to the restroom, but upon entering I found that the line there was very long too. As I waited nervously, I heard the call for my section to board the plane. Panic filled me and I broke out in a series of hot flashes. I fantasized that the plane would leave without me and considered running back to the boarding line. Knowing that my husband would not let the plane leave without me, I chose to stay in the restroom line. Standing in line trying to conceal my desperation, I used every trick I knew to hide my panic and assume an air of patience. Even though the line was getting shorter, it wasn’t moving fast enough for me. As each woman entered the emptied stall, it seemed like hours before she came out. “How long does it take to pee?” I found myself screaming inwardly. As the seconds dragged by, I became drenched in more nervous sweat and used all my concentration to keep from wetting myself. I stood with my butt stuck out and crossed my legs to compress my urethra as much as possible. I pulled my stomach in and up, lifted my chest, took a deep breath and held it. I pressed my fingers into my crotch as discreetly as possible. I hummed. I twisted. Whenever it felt that I was losing control, I took in another deep breath, closed my eyes, and concentrated on not bearing down. As more desperation filled me, I started looking around to see if there was a cup or anything else I could use to pee into. All I wanted to do was scream and rush to the toilet, knocking every woman out of my way.