Summer Is Coming! Ups and Downs...

Ok, so today we saw a warm day.  The thermometer here at our house hit 77 degrees.  Too hot for me, but encouraging all the same.  I am so excited about the garden!  Garlic I planted last year or the year before is up and enthusiastic.  In fact, it has been up for months, and I am just waiting for it to be ready to pull.  The beans, carrots, and onions are just showing, and I am hoping the weather will turn nice enough to encourage the little plants to grow.  Our strawberries are in their third season.  The plants themselves are overflowing the garden they are in (all of my gardens are raised-bed gardens).  I haven't seen many blossoms, but am hopeful!

We also have a beautiful (unplanned) bunch of blackberry vines growing along and onto our front porch. I figure, why wrestle with it now, when we could enjoy fresh blackberries, practically delivered to our front door!  Besides, we don't use the front door often anyway.  LOL

So, what does all this have to do with my life with Multiple Sclerosis?  We have to look for positives wherever we can, especially when we have days that are frustrating, when we are struggling with depression.  Summer is, of course, a time when life seems brighter as the days get longer, the flowers are blooming, and we feel more energetic.  It is also a time when I am more affected by heat, unable to go outside, even on my "good days" when I have more energy.  I want so much to feel the sun on my skin... maybe collect a little vitamin D naturally, while perhaps getting a little "color" (I don't tan, I just get enough color to fade my "glow-in-the-dark" skin!).

The heat makes me more tired, and I find myself needing to sleep extra hours, while not wanting to "waste" all the sunshine.  So, my excitement about summer is kind of a double-edged sword.  It won't be cold, wet, and gray out, which tends to help bring my mood down when things are not going well for me.  At the same time, even though the sun is out and everything is so beautiful that it is harder for my mood to be brought down, it may also get too warm for me to do the things I want, like water my plants, many of which are in pots.  (Usually, I have to go out at dusk to start watering, and that takes hours!  It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that the mosquitoes LOVE me!)  It is frustrating to sleep one's sunny days away!

One coping mechanism I have found that tends to do me worlds of good is, believe it or not, when I am out and getting overheated, water my head down with water from our hose that is hooked directly to our well.  Boy is that water cold!  The first time we did this to me, I was in Portland with my caretaker/friend, and we were walking around some sort of celebration where they had booths for food and drink, as well as booths selling other items.  As we walked, she noticed I was getting more and more tired, and could hardly drag my feet along.  She bought water for us both, and although that helped, she figured I was getting overheated.  She went to get a big cup of ice water.  I was sitting on a bench when she came back, told me she was going to cool me off, and told me to take off my baseball cap and lean forward.  She actually poured that ice water, ice and all, over the back of my head!  Darned if it didn't do the trick!  After gasping a little, I rubbed the water through my hair a bit (I have short hair), and got up from the bench, re-energized.  Ever since then when I begin to feel a bit sluggish due to heat, I go put my head in a sink under cold water, or use the cold water from a hose.  It doesn't matter where I am, and when people look at me quizzically, as people will do, I just explain that with my MS, I have to do this to continue functioning in warm weather.  I get more smiles than anything.

So, for those of you with problems with heat, try dipping your head in cold water.  Sure, short hair is easier, but not an absolute must.  Don't be shy.  Don't be vain.  Instead, just remind yourself you are being PROACTIVE!