Lets talk about being a quadriplegic in the HOT weather. I felt like this would be a good time to talk about it because here in PA it has been very hot the past couple days. Due to my high-level injury, I do not sweat. Weird huh? My body temperature does not regulate like an able-bodied person, so I get overheated very easily. How do I know when I need to get out of the heat? The human body is seriously an unbelievable piece of machinery, when I am starting to get to hot my nose starts to run. That is my sign I need to get out of the sun and into the shade. When I bike, I always have multiple bottles of water to try to stay as hydrated as I can. I also started to carry a water mist fan with me to try to help stay cool. This seems to help tremendously; I stole this idea from one of my buddies who is also a quad.
If you know me personally, you know I am determined and bull headed. Well sometimes I think I can do strenuous activities in the heat, truth is… As hard as I try it never ends well. When I over heat my body literally shuts down and I pretty much can’t do anything and I need to get into the AC as soon as possible. When I have a “spell” I call it, I am pretty much wiped out for the rest of the day… I have learned through this journey that you can only push your body so far until it shuts down. When it is hot and humid… As much as I would love to be out and working around the house, I wait until the evening to do my work… When it is cooler. This issue is one that I feel I struggle with the most because I am so used to going nonstop… I have herd since day one of being in this chair “the being in the wheelchair really isn’t that bad, its everything that comes along with it”. This is a very true statement. Who would have ever thought that a dumb spinal cord injury would cause me not to sweat and overheat so easily?
What I would like my readers to take from this is; it is OK if you fail or can’t do a task,… Believe me this took me a long time to except. I was NEVER one that would ask for help, I would struggle until I did the task myself even though it would have been a lot easier with help… Now I have accepted that I need help doing certain things and that is “ok”.. I have also gotten smarter and I now stay in the shade when it is 90 degrees out. I realized I need to be around for another 70 years to keep annoying my wife… So I figured I need to do the best I can to take care of this sexy body of mine. 😂
