Day 186

I read a tweet this morning about Crohnies and extreme heat and it got me to thinking...

It's been hot here in New York.  Really hot.  For months (okay, more like a week).  I "don't do well" in the heat.  I haven't since I was young.  I used to play softball in the summer and, while everyone else was doing just fine, my face would turn bright red and I would not be able to cool down.  I remember jumping in the community pool after the games and feeling my face burn against the cool water.  It would take me hours to return to normal.

Then there's now.  We went to a photography school/gallery/cool, temporary space made from freight containers last weekend (http://photovillenyc.org/).  The walk to the park wasn't so bad, but we ended up entering the wrong side of the park and walking in the sun for, I don't know, ten minutes?  Now, I just want to say here, I am a walker.  I live in New York.  We walk and we walk fast.  It's part of living here.  On a normal day, a half hour walk wouldn't even phase me.  But this day was hot.  It was already in the 90s by 11:00am, and the humidity and sun were oppressive.  By the time we got to the lecture I really thought for a few minutes that I was going to pass out.  I got to the I'm-so-hot-I'm-cold point and thought that was it.  I sat still and drank a bottle of water until I felt back to normal.

For the entirety of this heatwave, the news radio station I listen to has been constantly reminding listeners that the elderly and those who suffer from chronic illness should take extra care in this heat.  It didn't occur to me that I belong in that category until today, until I read that tweet.  I've been feeling so well for so long that I sometimes forget I have a chronic illness.  It hadn't occurred to me that the headache I couldn't get rid of this week was heat related.  Or that the heat is the reason I've been waking up in the morning feeling like I haven't slept a wink.  Or that the heat is causing the joint inflammation that is causing the feeling that my shoulder bones are grinding together as I type this.

I have been staying indoors in the air conditioning and drinking gallons of water, but maybe it's not possible to totally avoid the effects of extreme heat.  I walk around with a lot of pain a lot of the time, I think I'm just used to living with it.  But sometimes we must surrender.  The A/C is cranked up and I'm going to take a nap.