Heat Exhaustion - Hyperthermia - [quote wikipedia] Hyperthermia, in its advanced state referred to as heat stroke or sunstroke, is an acute condition which occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate. It is usually caused by prolonged exposure to high temperatures. The heat-regulating mechanisms of the body eventually become overwhelmed and unable to effectively deal with the heat, causing the body temperature to climb uncontrollably. [end quote]
And that ladies and gentlemen was what happened to me when on a sunny Monday morning when mercury in our normal very mild temperature wise NorthWest Pacific town was rising to a ridiculous 102F and our heat pump decided to brake down.
I woke up that morning wondering if I had a bad dream because I was all sweaty, wet and nauseated, until i noticed the room was also very warm and humid. I jumped(*cough*, no really ;-)) out of bed and held my hand above one of the central air vents. Warm air was blowing out . This could have 2 causes,
1 - my husband had set the thermostat accidentally to 'heat' instead of cold or
2 - the pump just broke down and was blowing the warm hot air in.
After a check I decided it was number 2.
I panicked and mailed W. and upset email. 2 weeks before a company sent us a brochure claiming it would be a good idea before summer to have a air-conditioner tune up. i thought so too, after all I am home all day, the central air is on all day if it brakes down I'm not a happy puppy. I's like a car, you don't wait until you car brakes down but have regular check ups. But W. was sure it was a scam and just a brutal way to make some money over the backs of stupid consumers.
Well.... look who was stupid now hmm? It was me, who had to sit in the f*cking heat all day!
Funny how quickly a house heats up if you have no central air no matter how crappy it is. Within a couple of hours it was just as hot inside and it was out. Luckily after W.'s refusal to tune up the air I purchased a wind blower on Amazon thinking it somehow could be useful to have a powerful fan like unit on hand, just in case.
I turned on the fan, did a miss wet t-shirt contest on my own and sat in front of the fan in my wet t-shirt. It really helped to cool down.Of course all companies I called to come out and have a look at the heat pump where busy for days. The first appointment I could get was Wednesday afternoon. That would mean 3 days in this scorching heat! And not just me but also my pets, Lotte our oldest dog is 14 really had problems breathing and staying cool. I hosed her of every hour to keep her cool. W. took mr. puppy-dog to doggy day care where is was cool and where they have a pool, lucky bastards! W. himself went to his employer in his air cooled building and I was left at home on my own.
I did pretty well the first 2 days but at the end of day 2 I was getting really ill feelings, my heart started beating irregular, I didn't sweat anymore, my skin felt cool but it was like I was burning up from the inside. I couldn't pee anymore no matter how much water with electrolytes I drank, my body decided to hold on to it. I couldn't sleep that night, the whole house was like an oven and we had clocked that day at 108F. My body was swollen like a pregnant whale and that's how I felt like too.
Wednesday morning W. took me and the pups to a coffee house with free wifi and the dogs were allowed inside as well. We stayed there till 1:00 PM, I was still pretty optimistic, thought it would be fixed in no-time. Unfortunately the guy who came around to look at it saw a leak in the freon pipe and declared the whole stuff broken down and advised us that we needed a new system. The pipes run under the ground, finding the leak would be impossible according to him. Problem was a new system would take 2 weeks to install.
Needless to say I went berserk, I really went hysterical, and I can get real pissy and bitchy when I'm overheated. The thought of another day in this heat(it was a 114F by than) was enough to send me over the edge. My whole body shot down, I started shaking, had goosebumps, blurry vision, irregular heart beats etc the whole shebang. Typical signs that one has before going into a heat stroke. I told W. I either had to go to ER or to a hotel. I could not stay out in the heat a day longer it would have killed me. I would like to take the pets with me so they would be cool as well and so we moved into a hotel, which gave us some time to figure out what to do about the heat/cool system.
After a few hours of lying in a wonderful quiet dark room with cool air running over my body I felt a whole lot better. Still in a full flare but not at the end of a full brake down and death. Still every time I went outside to get some food or let the dog pee I got the same symptoms very quickly and made it back inside in a hurry afraid of fainting in front of the hotel guests and being taken to ER or so.
The estimate for a new heating/cooling system was about the price of a new car $16,000 - $20,000 That was a shocker. And that didn't even include the features I wanted like HEPA filtration and zone heating/cooling. To me it has always been ridiculous why I would need to cool/heat the whole house if I only use one room. So zone heating was high on my list. We thought about it over the weekend in the hotel, decided to hunt for a portable air conditioner so I could at least cool my office/room where I also have my hospital bed and I could sleep there. That wasn't easy, AC's were sold out in almost every store. In the end I found a nice one at Frys that is portable and we can use it in other rooms as well. W. installed the AC let it run and came back to fetch me from the hotel. We decided to ask a second opinion from another company on fixing the heat pump. I didn't see the point in spending a 20,000 for a system that didn't include my features.
My room was lovely cool, it was strange opening the door to the rest of the house and being in an oven again. I have spend the rest of the days in bed, really really ill, I have horrible back spams that occur when I'm upright for longer that 2 minutes. Being in the heat with heat exhaustion affected my immune system and made it work even less than it already did and destroyed a big part we were working on building up again. The viruses and bacteria in my spinal cord saw their chance and started an inflammation in my spinal cord, which renders me basically immobile.
I can't cook anymore, I love to cook and bake but I can't stand in the kitchen anymore, it's just impossible. Not being able to cook means less nutritious and healthy meals. When W. comes home from his work he's exhausted as well and doesn't want to cook so we are getting by on take out now during the week. I hate it. I want my body to become strong and eat well but I can't even fix myself a salad or a sandwich. I can't make my smoothies anymore or my protein shakes. I suddenly came to the realization that I'm really disabled now! ;-(
And with that realization I knew I had to get an electric wheelchair. One of those power chairs so I can move around the house, it will give me the rest I need so much while still being able to cook and do my hobbies.
My physician agreed with me and I'm researching models I would like. We will need to make some changes into the house, like the sunken living room floor and the bathroom so I can maneuver the chair around. Scott, our contractor is experienced in that so he will come around to discuss what will be best for me. Maybe in a few months my spine will be recovered, or I finally will be able to get rid of the viral and bacterial infections that plague me but the treatment plan we have is for 5 years so I do not expect a speedy recovery. The chair will come in handy in so many ways, if I don't need it anymore I can always sell it. For now I'm looking forward getting one and being able to do things I could not do the last year. I could even do exercises in my chair!
And the heat pump? It has been fixed for $400 within an hour by the other company. All this stress, pain and waiting for nothing just because a company wanted to sell a new system. I should sue them! ;-)
# # #
And that ladies and gentlemen was what happened to me when on a sunny Monday morning when mercury in our normal very mild temperature wise NorthWest Pacific town was rising to a ridiculous 102F and our heat pump decided to brake down.
I woke up that morning wondering if I had a bad dream because I was all sweaty, wet and nauseated, until i noticed the room was also very warm and humid. I jumped(*cough*, no really ;-)) out of bed and held my hand above one of the central air vents. Warm air was blowing out . This could have 2 causes,
1 - my husband had set the thermostat accidentally to 'heat' instead of cold or
2 - the pump just broke down and was blowing the warm hot air in.
After a check I decided it was number 2.
I panicked and mailed W. and upset email. 2 weeks before a company sent us a brochure claiming it would be a good idea before summer to have a air-conditioner tune up. i thought so too, after all I am home all day, the central air is on all day if it brakes down I'm not a happy puppy. I's like a car, you don't wait until you car brakes down but have regular check ups. But W. was sure it was a scam and just a brutal way to make some money over the backs of stupid consumers.
Well.... look who was stupid now hmm? It was me, who had to sit in the f*cking heat all day!
Funny how quickly a house heats up if you have no central air no matter how crappy it is. Within a couple of hours it was just as hot inside and it was out. Luckily after W.'s refusal to tune up the air I purchased a wind blower on Amazon thinking it somehow could be useful to have a powerful fan like unit on hand, just in case.
I turned on the fan, did a miss wet t-shirt contest on my own and sat in front of the fan in my wet t-shirt. It really helped to cool down.Of course all companies I called to come out and have a look at the heat pump where busy for days. The first appointment I could get was Wednesday afternoon. That would mean 3 days in this scorching heat! And not just me but also my pets, Lotte our oldest dog is 14 really had problems breathing and staying cool. I hosed her of every hour to keep her cool. W. took mr. puppy-dog to doggy day care where is was cool and where they have a pool, lucky bastards! W. himself went to his employer in his air cooled building and I was left at home on my own.
I did pretty well the first 2 days but at the end of day 2 I was getting really ill feelings, my heart started beating irregular, I didn't sweat anymore, my skin felt cool but it was like I was burning up from the inside. I couldn't pee anymore no matter how much water with electrolytes I drank, my body decided to hold on to it. I couldn't sleep that night, the whole house was like an oven and we had clocked that day at 108F. My body was swollen like a pregnant whale and that's how I felt like too.
Wednesday morning W. took me and the pups to a coffee house with free wifi and the dogs were allowed inside as well. We stayed there till 1:00 PM, I was still pretty optimistic, thought it would be fixed in no-time. Unfortunately the guy who came around to look at it saw a leak in the freon pipe and declared the whole stuff broken down and advised us that we needed a new system. The pipes run under the ground, finding the leak would be impossible according to him. Problem was a new system would take 2 weeks to install.
Needless to say I went berserk, I really went hysterical, and I can get real pissy and bitchy when I'm overheated. The thought of another day in this heat(it was a 114F by than) was enough to send me over the edge. My whole body shot down, I started shaking, had goosebumps, blurry vision, irregular heart beats etc the whole shebang. Typical signs that one has before going into a heat stroke. I told W. I either had to go to ER or to a hotel. I could not stay out in the heat a day longer it would have killed me. I would like to take the pets with me so they would be cool as well and so we moved into a hotel, which gave us some time to figure out what to do about the heat/cool system.
After a few hours of lying in a wonderful quiet dark room with cool air running over my body I felt a whole lot better. Still in a full flare but not at the end of a full brake down and death. Still every time I went outside to get some food or let the dog pee I got the same symptoms very quickly and made it back inside in a hurry afraid of fainting in front of the hotel guests and being taken to ER or so.
The estimate for a new heating/cooling system was about the price of a new car $16,000 - $20,000 That was a shocker. And that didn't even include the features I wanted like HEPA filtration and zone heating/cooling. To me it has always been ridiculous why I would need to cool/heat the whole house if I only use one room. So zone heating was high on my list. We thought about it over the weekend in the hotel, decided to hunt for a portable air conditioner so I could at least cool my office/room where I also have my hospital bed and I could sleep there. That wasn't easy, AC's were sold out in almost every store. In the end I found a nice one at Frys that is portable and we can use it in other rooms as well. W. installed the AC let it run and came back to fetch me from the hotel. We decided to ask a second opinion from another company on fixing the heat pump. I didn't see the point in spending a 20,000 for a system that didn't include my features.
My room was lovely cool, it was strange opening the door to the rest of the house and being in an oven again. I have spend the rest of the days in bed, really really ill, I have horrible back spams that occur when I'm upright for longer that 2 minutes. Being in the heat with heat exhaustion affected my immune system and made it work even less than it already did and destroyed a big part we were working on building up again. The viruses and bacteria in my spinal cord saw their chance and started an inflammation in my spinal cord, which renders me basically immobile.
I can't cook anymore, I love to cook and bake but I can't stand in the kitchen anymore, it's just impossible. Not being able to cook means less nutritious and healthy meals. When W. comes home from his work he's exhausted as well and doesn't want to cook so we are getting by on take out now during the week. I hate it. I want my body to become strong and eat well but I can't even fix myself a salad or a sandwich. I can't make my smoothies anymore or my protein shakes. I suddenly came to the realization that I'm really disabled now! ;-(
And with that realization I knew I had to get an electric wheelchair. One of those power chairs so I can move around the house, it will give me the rest I need so much while still being able to cook and do my hobbies.
My physician agreed with me and I'm researching models I would like. We will need to make some changes into the house, like the sunken living room floor and the bathroom so I can maneuver the chair around. Scott, our contractor is experienced in that so he will come around to discuss what will be best for me. Maybe in a few months my spine will be recovered, or I finally will be able to get rid of the viral and bacterial infections that plague me but the treatment plan we have is for 5 years so I do not expect a speedy recovery. The chair will come in handy in so many ways, if I don't need it anymore I can always sell it. For now I'm looking forward getting one and being able to do things I could not do the last year. I could even do exercises in my chair!
And the heat pump? It has been fixed for $400 within an hour by the other company. All this stress, pain and waiting for nothing just because a company wanted to sell a new system. I should sue them! ;-)
# # #
(0) Comments