If you are going caroling straight from work, you should at least bring a pair of socks and warm shoes to replace your heels.  If you are going caroling in the cold and are planning on sitting in a chair, you should at least bring a blanket...or two.  If you are caroling and find yourself trembling from bone deep cold, leave...even if you have to ask for help in doing so.  If you have gone caroling and find yourself having cramps from the cold, accept help in getting home.  If you have gone caroling and have cramps in your legs and arms, do not be surprised if you become fatigued from the tremors and cramps.  If you have gone caroling and know you are in a bit of a spot, do not eat a cookie before you leave thinking you will be able to get inside from your car in time to eat enough protein to offset the sugar.  If you have gone caroling, are freezing cold, do not get into your car, buckle yourself up, and forget to remove your coat before you crank up the heat.  If you have gone caroling, have gone from freezing cold to too hot, are too weak to get out of your car, and have plummeting blood sugar a hour and a half later, call for help.  If you have gone caroling and find yourself in a real pickle, well, work real hard to remember the words of the carols instead of your internal assessment of your own stupidity.

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I am well known for not wearing a coat.  A turtle neck as a layer, a scarf, and perhaps gloves are enough to deal with cold weather.  Cold really doesn't apply until the temperature reaches the twenties.  The thirties are brisk.  The forties are balmy.  The fifties comfortable.  The sixties a bit warm.  The seventies sweltering.  Anything higher pure misery.  I am well known for not wearing a coat.

I wore a coat.

I was cold.  You know, when I have my chills and I am shivering beneath that arctic weight comforter, I have to eliminate every speck of draft, even the tiniest access to the room air brings waves and waves of chills.  My godmother provided a huge blanket, but I couldn't warm up my feet.  And cramps set into my legs and then arms.  My godmother also attached her daughter to me to warm my torso, but I couldn't warm up.

Tuesday evening, I was telling Pizza Man, his Lovely Bride, and his Sister about the fact that I cannot be in the water.  Vee and El thought swimming would be good exercise for me.  I told them that the last time I was in the water, in an indoor pool the summer of 1995, I nearly drowned.  I nearly drowned because when you are in the water, you use many muscles at the same time.  I nearly drowned because the cacophony of an indoor pool precluded the lifeguards from noticing my peril.  Muscle fatigue happens much, much more quickly in the water.  Apparently, the same happens when many parts of you are shivering.

I ache so much.  I feel as if I have been lifting weights and climbing stairs for hours on end.  All from shivering.  All from being too cold.

Eating gel icing to raise your blood sugar will only temporarily help if you do not eat afterward.

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I had a less than successful conversation just yesterday with someone who was telling me that she didn't want to accept my offer of help because she wouldn't want me to become ill in the process. I kept insisting that if I was off of work, I could help.  If I couldn't help, I would not offer.  I would not offer if I couldn't do something.  I hate, really, really, really hate being treated as if I am a child, as if I cannot make decisions for myself.

If washing dishes is painful for me, I still think I should have the choice of doing so, of making that sacrifice for someone.  If being tired from moving things weighs me down, I still think I should have the choice of doing so, of helping someone despite the cost to me.  After all, I already count too many costs.

I willingly gave up my Wednesday evening bible study because the house is heated too warm.  I didn't walk out soon enough at the evening prayer service when the air-conditioning was not working, but I have not tried to go now that the heat is on there given that nursing homes are usually kept warmer.  I do make good choices.  I am stupid sometimes, but mostly, this past year, I have found myself struggling not because I was being defiant, but because things had changed and I didn't realize it or because I had not yet encountered the situation.

After all, Tuesday evening, I ate only one small piece of chocolate, chocolate death cake and refused multiple offers for another slice...or two!  I can make good decisions.

I rarely wear coats, but I brought a coat and put it on at the beginning, not after I was already too cold.  It didn't matter.  For even though I still get too hot too easily, I apparently get too cold as well.  And being too cold is not just being miserable with chills like I have been for over a year now.  Being too cold also means overwhelming cramps and muscle fatigue from shivering.

Being too hot brings on wet noodle.  Lesson Learned:  So does being too cold.

Five hours of being stuck in my car....