Getting warm enough to stay cool...

One of the blessings of moving to this new home has been my Good Shepherd providing a solution to one of the problems plaguing me.

The dysautonomia has been wreaking havoc with my thermoregulation; the cold spells have been an absolute misery.  Especially at night, I would lie in bed shivering for hours, unable to get warm enough to fall asleep.  I would wear layers upon layers of clothing and try to tuck the comforter around my body, but the tiniest bit of air would send chills up and down and deep within my body.  When I finally fell asleep, I would then grow too warm and would awake weak and ill because of how being overheated makes MS symptoms flare.  At that point, I would start stripping off the layers of clothing and lie atop the covers, hoping to cool down.  Only, most times I would get too cold again and falling back asleep was difficult at best.  I simply could not escape the misery.

While being so frustrated with this continued illness and having to struggle alone, I have been trying to count all of the blessings my Good Shepherd has brought me.  A chief one is the solution--surprisingly simple--to that problem.

When unpacking, I came across the collection of thin white cotton blankets that had been in the downstairs linen closet in my old home.  They are very much like the ones hospitals use, the ones they actually warm up for you.  A short while ago, while shivering in misery, I got up and fetched one of the blankets and wrapped it around my body beneath the sheet.  To my amazement, in short order, I became warm. I suppose it trapped the little body heat I had.  I grew warm and fell asleep.

The nature of my nights, full of night terrors and night mares, leaves me tossing and turning.  So, when I awoke, I discovered that I had kicked away the blanket toward the bottom of the bed and was left with just the comforter.  Voila!  I grew warm enough to fall asleep, but kept cool enough to remain asleep.  That is, I did not awake ill, strip off all the layers of clothing still on, only to become too cold again.  The rather vicious cycle has been broken!

This, to me, is as wondrous as being able to take showers without fear of falling when Sunshine was cleaning my tub for me.

Even though the past week or so has made it very, very, very difficult to remember, I am a beloved sheep of the Good Shepherd, miserable wretch though I may be.


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!