The morning light was so beautiful as I sat outside with my coffee. I had only intended on being out in the back yard for a few minutes, long enough to get through most of a cup, and to let the cats have a little fresh air. Alfred had to ruin everything by jumping the fence while I was Sitting Right There Looking At Him, and I had to get up and chase him in the alley, to carry him back inside the house. And of course, while I was up, I refilled my coffee and got some cottage cheese and strawberries for breakfast, and I stayed out a little longer. I wandered around a little bit, taking pictures of things that looked so pretty in the light. And then, while we were there, we started doing a few chores. The Mr swept the patio. I trimmed the dead branches off of the giant common sage. He pulled weeds. I planted two pots of kitchen herbs. Then while I was at it, I planted the last of the dahlia rhizomes. And he told me that if I wanted the new coreopsis and dianthus planted, I should point out where I wanted them while he was willing to dig holes. Once we had used up enough chores in the back yard, we moved to the front. I pointed out where I wanted the two hydrangeas, that he sank into the ground, while I planted flower seeds in a giant pot that never seemed to successfully grow trees, no matter how many saplings we've put in it over the years.
Somehow, without paying attention, we managed to be out in the sun for hours. And even after I said out loud that I'd be better served by stopping the chores and going back inside, I was still out watering in everything we planted for another twenty minutes or more. I could feel the sunburn starting, but I ignored the sensation. Not long after, once I was alone and inside, I got a message from my daughter who wanted to go to lunch. I met her downtown, and I managed to walk around in the sun some more, and before the end of the day, we were out in it yet again.
I got upwards of four full hours of sun today. Normal people hear this and think, yeah, so what? The problem is, I had extreme sensitivities to the sun for decades before my diagnosis, but now that I'm on heaping handfuls of medications every day, it takes the merest brief exposure to wear me down. My face went long past "pink" to "rashy" in no time. I felt like crap. And somewhere over the course of the evening, it occurred to me, even after all of my research, all of the doctors for the last sixteen months, I have no idea what to do to feel better after sun exposure. They tell me don't do it, but I can't remember what they said I should do if I can't avoid it. It's possible that allowing the sun to bake my brain has cleared all sense of self-preservation out of me. I'm at a loss. I take all of the pills I can stomach, and they just make me more sun-sensitive. I don't think there are any that could have helped in this case. I sat and rested as much as I could, after the fact. I thought maybe a cool shower would help, but I just couldn't be bothered to stand up that long. I drank a ton of water. Perhaps there really is nothing else but to wait it out and see whether I face the consequences over the next day.
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