Hot Flashes

These hot flashes that women talk about, before one has ever experienced a hot flash one may think, "What's the big deal? Take off your sweater." But this is not how it works. Hot Flashes are miserably annoying. One moment everything is fine, then, without warning I am flushed and my face wet with sweat. Ugh. I wonder if my system will get back to 'normal' as I recover from Chemo-therapy. In the meantime I have most of these flashes later in the day and overnight.

I like sleeping with covers and usually stick one foot out to regulate being too hot. Yeah, not enough cooling for a hot flash. So then I've kicked off all the covers and it seems like just minutes later I am shivering because I was a sweat-ball during the hot flash but now the cool air is chilling. It's like the lather, rinse, repeat cycle you read on your shampoo (I remember shampoo) and wonder how many times you are supposed to go through the exercise.

Sleep is elusive. In the last few years, let's see what kept me from sleeping; being pregnant with Bailey, having a new born, nursing, cancer and chemotherapy (I took sleep aids so I got some sleep in this period), occasional teething, hot flashes not to mention the general anxiety. I may go back to taking a Tylenol PM nightly just to sleep through some of it. There have been times when absolute exhaustion has gotten me to sleep but those are invariably the nights when teething or earaches come into play.

Some days I sleep when Bailey is napping,but most days I am excited about his nap time being the time when I can do something that I don't need Bailey's "Help" with. For example, I can shower and dress and apply all the make-up that I'll be dabbing off during my afternoon hot flashes. Lather, rinse, repeat.