Visiting New Orleans with PRP added additional levels of preparation and precaution. This was not a throw-on-a-sundress-and-go type of visit! I am much better but I still can’t really perspire and can’t afford a sunburn. Last year, at this time, I was red over most of my body and I could not regulate my body temperature. I could not sweat. I canceled my plans to attend the Writing Marathon and spent hours soaking in the tub. The best relief and treatment for my skin, at the time, was wet wrap therapy. I’d soak in a tub or a long shower, then apply steroid ointment with wet wraps or a sauna suit. It helped but I was usually wet and cold, in the midst of summer. I’d put the wraps or sauna suit on and sleep with a heated blanket!
This summer, my skin still has bumps and I shed constantly but much of my skin is a lighter pink, salmon color or back to my normal skin color. I still don’t really perspire. I’d hoped the steaming New Orleans humidity would improve my dry, flaky skin but I couldn’t feel the moisture. I felt like I was in an oven, not a simmering pot. While people were fanning themselves, damp clothes clinging to their skin, I just felt increasingly tired and worn out. On my first full day, I kept returning to my hotel room to drink water and sit with my feet up.. After a few trips out, I was drained but wanted to go to the French Market. I didn’t spend too long as I increasingly felt like I might be sick and started to worry about passing out. I came back to the room in time to put my feet up, look out my window and witness a harrowing scene below. A woman was trying to revive an unconscious man on a bench facing the French Market! It was hard to tell if the woman was trying to shake him or give him CPR. I said a prayer, not knowing how else I could help. I was relieved to see many people arriving to assist and calling for help. I saw the gentleman move his hand. He sat up and recovered.
I said a prayer of thanks for the couple below and for myself. I hadn’t been afraid to travel alone but in that moment, I was very grateful I hadn’t passed out near the same spot! Sunday was slower. I went to Mass and brunch in air conditioning, followed by some down time in my room before meeting new people for happy hour and pizza. When I am not overheated, I am just a flaky mess. If I stay quiet, most people assume I am peeling from a sunburn. I went in to that first happy-hour meetup thinking, “I won’t stress about how I look! I don’t know these people and who knows if I’ll see them again?” However, it didn’t take long for me to explain some of my condition over drinks. I liked these people immediately and realized how reassuring it would be if one of them had my back if I did pass out on the street!
Monday we stopped to write in several air-conditioned spots but it was a full day of walking around the French Quarter. When we returned to the Beauregard-Keyes House in the afternoon, I was greeted with “Oh, Lorayne! You got some SUN!” I’d worn my hat and wasn’t sunburned as I appeared, just RED! I was roasted, not burned. This did provide some good material for a writing prompt, the following day! On Wednesday, I realized I had begun to sweat, just a little! Unfortunately, it was as we sat down for lunch at Brennan’s! I apologized with a smile! “Y’all! Of course it had to be as we sit down at this beautiful table but I’m starting to sweat!”
After my week in New Orleans, I came home for a week, officially celebrated my birthday, then visited D.C. for a few days with my husband and youngest. The heat was also intense there so on the day of three museums, I had to remember to slow down and look for every bit of shade on our walks in-between. The heat would have been less suffocating and my shedding would have been less obvious if I hadn’t worn black, every day. I’m dealing with this as best I can but I am too old to start investing in pastels, now! My straw hat goes everywhere with me now and goes with everything!
Plane rides are the most embarrassing but I had direct flights on both trips and I won’t see those people again. (The only way to really avoid shedding everywhere is to wear enough lotion or Aquaphor that clothes end up with white streaks or grease spots. The same goes for the hair. Aquaphor actually helps the scalp but petroleum jelly is not an attractive hair product!) So I leave a little of myself, everywhere I sit. It is still worth traveling! I spent last summer soaking or reading on the couch, avoiding the sun and outdoors as much as possible. I’ve always been a sun-worshipper (which is why I already had an excellent dermatologist) so skipping summer was rough! I don’t mind hibernating indoors during Indiana winters but summers are for exploring. These days, I just need to prepare more for the journey!
Lorayne Cupero 