I Should Just Move To An Iceberg And Be Done With It

I'm going into summer with my health the best it's been in years.

I want to be optimistic, it's easy to get excited when I'm finally seeing obvious improvement. We've had a few hot days already and they've hit me hard, but not fatally. It seems I've leveled-up and the old baddies aren't quite so bad anymore. On a good day, I'm able to hike up our once daunting hill like it's nothing, barely losing my breath, and with no head repercussions worth mentioning. My legs are strong again; when I first noticed the hardness of muscle, it scared me. It had been so long since I'd felt firmness on my body, I thought it was some kind of growth. It took me only a moment to realize that what I was feeling in my thigh was a muscle, but it was enough to feel profound. I was that sick. I was that inert for years that my whole body changed. It's scary, I feel like I lost time. I was 27 when the migraines started. I'm 34 now. I'm afraid to blink, my forties could spring on me at any moment!

So, my exertion-related migraines are less-easily provoked, but everything else is pretty much the same. I'm still super sensitive to smells, lights, and noise. I still get occasional dizziness, slurring of words, stumbling, and inability to focus, but at pretty much the same frequency as in the past. The motion-sick feeling is also still prevalent, often triggered by actual movement, but it's not unusual for it to start up for no discernible reason. But, it's still never productive, just a general barfy malaise I combat with ginger tea, ginger ale, ginger chews, water, marijuana, and/or whining. I still have to be quiet and still for a bit after nearly everything I do, but I do notice my recuperation time is often less than it used to be. I do feel like I often get more done in a day than I would have been able to before. I'm enjoying the benefits of improved health.

But, back to the heat, we've got a hot one coming up, and I'm scheduled to leave the safety of the trees. We picked up one of these spray-bottle-with-a-fan jobbies and I'm excited to give it a whirl. Back when I was well, I once survived an eight-hour drive in 90+ degree weather in a car with stuck-shut windows and a cooling system that demanded the heater be blasting. I could have waited until night to make the drive, now that I look back on it, but I had this spray-fan and it possibly saved my life, because I probably should have died of heat stroke, but I didn't, so the story ends well. Thanks, spray-fans!

Because of that experience, and my improved endurance, I feel like I might just survive this summer. I might be spraying and fanning myself constantly, but whatever it takes to not be miserable.