No Sweat!

I'm not sure if there is a medical term for my condition. The medical world probably has more important things to do than to diagnose a little problem like mine. My condition is not life threatening, it doesn't cause pain, and it's not contagious, just a little embarrassing at times. And since medical professionals don't take my ailment seriously, I've come up with my own medical term for my condition..."HEAD HOT". Not Hot Head, that implies something entirely different, and although I am probably that too, we're not going there today.

HEAD HOT: definition; a) the inability to extract sweat from one's face. b) Unable to cool down naturally from one's sweat glands. Symptoms: getting really, really red in the face.
Lay-mans terms: My face doesn't sweat!

For those of you who don't share my ailment, you probably don't appreciate the gravity of the situation, afterall, what's wrong with having a little color in your face? Nothing, if you want to look like you've just ran a marathon, when actually it was just 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill, although I may have been guilty at times for letting others believe I just ran a 5K on the treadmill. I like to work it to my advantage at times. But mostly, it just gets me in trouble.

Take the trek for example.

9 years ago our stake was preparing the youth to go on the pioneer trek in Wyoming. Tary was on the high council over the young mens and so we had the opportunity to go beforehand with all the bishops in the stake with their wives to visit the sites and make plans for the youth conference. It was a beautiful summer morning when we started our trek from the visitors center to Martins Cove, about a 5 mile trek round trip. It wasn't a hard walk, but as the sun baked down on us, we all started sweating a little bit...everyone but me that is. Oh, my armpits were probably a mosquitos playpool like everyone else's, but my face was holding in every last bit of moisture it could contain. Soon my face was swelling and turning so red that if there was an oompa loompa around I'm afraid he would have tried to squeeze my head like a ripe tomato to see if he could extract juice from it. No such luck, all I had where several concerned bishops wives who literally took their 'Relief Society' oath into action and tried to relieve me of my condition. One lady gave me her big straw hat to wear, another slathered me in sunscreen thinking I was getting 3rd degree burns, another sat me down and wouldn't let me get up till I had drunk a liter of water, convinced I had heat stroke. Several offered to sit with me while the others hiked up, thinking I had heat exaustion and wouldn't make it alive if I continued. My poor husband, I don't remember any sympathy from him, except for maybe him feeling sorry for me for all the unsolicited attention I was receiving. He was probably rolling his eyes and prodding me along with his walking stick. I was fine...I wasn't dying...I wasn't that out of shape...I was just hot. And that's what happens to me when I get hot. Then I was embarrassed, and that made it worse. I'm just glad I didn't start to cry, my face would have probably exploded.

Sadly enough, I'm afraid I passed down my genetic defect to my son. Poor thing can't run down the basketball court without the coach pulling him out to get a drink of water.
Coach: "Are you OK? You look hot...go get a drink"
I'm not much better though, I'm always nervous when I forget to bring my inhaler because he looks like he's been holding his breath for 5 minutes when he steps off the court.
Mom: "Are you OK? Can you breathe? Go get a drink"
Deep down I know he's fine... he can breathe...he's just hot.

So, there you have it. If you see me and my pale skinned body out and about, but my face looks like it had a close encounter with the sun, don't worry, it's not fatal. I'm OK.

I probably just gone done running a marathon...

No Sweat!