HOT FLASHES!!!

Me during a hot flash.

I hate fucking hot flashes. A couple years before chemo my flashes had diminished significantly. I was down to nearly zero hot flashes. After chemo, they came back with a vengeance. They come as regular as clockwork.

Ten minutes after a shower. Hot flash. As I'm about to drift off to sleep each night. Hot flash. Exactly two hours after I've gone sleep, a hot flash wakes me up. Then every two hours throughout the night. When I start a meal. Hot flash. For some reason when I reenter the car after stopping to pick up our mail, hot flash. No matter what day or what time of day.

Watching TV a hot flash will arrive because in the previous hour I was really cold and I bundled under a blanket with my Ugg boots on. I throw off the blanket and whip out one of my many trusty fans. I have nearly as many fans around the house as I do reading glasses. I have cute fans from Africa, paper fans, lace fans, and battery operated hand fans from Brookstone. I have one that is beautiful purple feathers. It does a fine job. But sometimes I feel a little carpel tunnel from fanning so much, so I go to the battery operated fans.

I think my thermostat is broken. I'm either too cold or too hot. The blessed moments in between when everything is just right, are few and far between. Not only am I super hot during a flash, literally feeling like I'm going to burst into flames, but I get a little short of breath and I need to sit if I'm standing. I tell you, this old age is not for the faint of heart. There is always a challenge.

I feel for the poor hubby, during the night, he says he starts dreaming of icebergs and snowcaps, then wakes to me with the ceiling fan on high, blowing him out of the bed. I bought a cooling gel mat that cools my overheated head on the pillow at night. Sometimes the only thing that works is an airy walk to the bathroom with nothing on. Letting the cool breeze touch every superheated part of my body. Ahhhhhhhhh. It feels like I'm sizzling as I cool down.

The flashes last exactly 2 minutes. Oh, yes, I've timed them. Knowing that I only have to wait 2 minutes for relief is what helps me get through them. I don't want to take hormones, they scare me as a cancer survivor. I've tried all of the herbal remedies with no luck. I don't want to wish away my life, but I'm hoping in my future these flashes die down and come to an end.