Hot

It has been a really hot summer so far. Makes you wonder if Al Gore may be more than the inventor of the internet after all. Nah, he’s just an opportunist. And to top the summer off I have very regular hot flashes as a side effect of my medication. Don’t get me wrong, I understand just how minor a side effect it is compared to say ‘throwing up your meals every other day’, but it can be aggravating just the same.

I love to work in the yard, working in my flower beds, spreading mulch and dirt, laying out landscaping cloth and watering my plants, but I have to really keep an eye on my internal temperature due to this hot flash business. Sometimes it feels like I’m cutting grass with a Franklin stove stoked with seasoned hickory. I must sweat a quart of water every hour because after only fifteen minutes my clothes look like I just took them out of the washing machine. So, what I’ve learned to do is work about 20 to 30 minutes, come inside and stand in front of a fan while guzzling water. After about 5 minutes I’m ready to head back out and continue. It certainly takes all day to complete a major project, but I have to do it that way or you end up with heat stroke. A minor inconvenience, yes, and I’m not complaining at all, just stating the facts.

The only thing that really bothers me about the whole thing is the sweat that seems to be generated on my eyelids. I’m sweating so much that sweat keeps getting in my eyes which do not like it at all. I keep a rag with me to continuously wipe the sweat but there’s no way to keep ahead of it. I honestly feel like it must be my eyelids that are sweating even though that sounds crazy, but it certainly seems like it.

Oh well, such a small price to pay to live with cancer and not expire, so I’ll just keep wiping my brow and eyes and keep working. I’m just thankful I can work around the house and do what needs to be done. I certainly couldn’t afford to pay anyone to do it.