As I sit here in the relative comfort of my not cool enough home (my husband sets the air conditioner to a temperature that is way too high for my comfort,) I see that the temperature outside right now is 94 degrees. If you add the heat index to the temperature, it feels like 109+ outside and it's not all that humid. I'm writing this to warn you all about not heeding your body's warnings when the weather is hot outside. It could mean the difference between your life and death.

Some of you know that I love to hang out at the pool, especially when it's really hot out like this. Why am I not there now? I was outside watering plants earlier -- considerably earlier, and even then, it felt oppressively hot to me. I'm wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt, but I was dripping with sweat. The clearest sign that I shouldn't be out there was that I felt uncomfortable breathing.

Sometime in August of 1983, back when I was a new resident of the state of Iowa, I lived in an un-air conditioned place. That particular summer had record high temperatures. The heat in my small apartment was oppressive, so I guess I decided to go for a walk to find a cool place to hang out for a while. I can't say exactly what happened because I don't honestly remember. Somewhere between my place and a hospital that wasn't terribly far from there, I apparently collapsed. I didn't faint. I lost consciousness and was in that state for more than a week. When I finally woke up, I found myself in a hospital bed, and I had no idea how I had gotten there, when I had gotten there or what had happened. I was told that I had collapsed on the sidewalk not far from the hospital. Some wise passerby whose identity I never discovered realized that I was in dire straights. My skin was bright red and I wasn't just hot; I was burning up. I was transported by ambulance to the hospital which fortunately wasn't very far from where I collapsed. I was told that I was brought in with a temperature of over 106. It was imperative that the medical professionals get my temperature down as quickly as possible so that I didn't suffer from brain damage. They said I was dumped into a tub full of ice. It's probably a good thing that I wasn't conscious because I'm sure that had I been aware of what was happening, I would have felt all of the discomfort of being covered with a good 100 pounds or more of ice. I was dehydrated so they had to restore the fluid balance to my body, too. It took them a good week to get my temperature to stay down and for my electrolyte balance to return to normal. All of this was the result of a short walk -- probably no more than 5 blocks on a horrifically hot August day.

That happened not quite 25 years ago. I remember the aftermath of the incident vividly. I have no memory of collapsing or the treatment I received in the emergency room. I guess that doesn't matter. What matters is what I've learned since then. People who are sensitive to the heat are always at risk for heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion isn't as serious as heat stroke is. Heat stroke is a life threatening condition. Once you've had it, there's always a greater chance that it could happen again. I take precautions now. I wear light colored and light weight clothing. I drink tons of water. I like to drink vitamin and electrolyte enhanced water. I heed my body's warnings. Sometimes I'll start to get a headache when the weather is really hot, or I will start to feel nauseated or have difficulty breathing. All of those things are signals my body is sending me to tell me to get inside.

As much as I love being outside, hanging out at the pool, digging in the dirt and all the other things that people do outside, I don't want to suffer heat stroke ever again. I know that if it happens again, I might not survive it. I am considerably older now and face health issues I didn't face then. So, next time you're outside and it's wickedly hot and you start to feel queasy or nauseated or get a headache, take that as a warning from you body that you need to get out of the heat. Make sure you always wear sunscreen and that you're never out in hot weather without having plenty of water to drink wherever you are.