The Secret Life of Walter Knitty

It’s Thursday and it’s still 100 degrees.  Four days in a row of 100+ degree weather.  I think I’ve had about all I can take. 

The green beans are fried.  I dont think they’ll come back, but,  the cucumber seems to be doing okay.  I picked two yesterday. 

Last night I came home from work, took a bath, changed my clothes and went to the yarn store.  Abundant Yarn has A/C and is only a few blocks from my place so last night I hung out there till close.  It’s so hot that one of the boys who works there came in at 6AM just so he could crash out on the sofa for 4 hours to get some sleep.  Even with the A/C running since Monday it was still about 80 in there last night.  80 may sound hot, but it was more than 20 degrees cooler than it was outside. 

The question I have every day is: How did the pioneer’s do it?  How did they, especially the pioneer women, handle it.  Back then women wore long, heavy, dresses.  In the summer they may not have worn all the petticoats that were usually required but wearing a long dress had to be freaking hot.  Modesty of the day said you couldnt shorten your dress over your knees or run around in your bloomers and undershirt.  There was no electricity, so, no fans during the day or at night, no refrigeration or freezers (no popsicles!).  Women on homesteads often did the same work as men as well as the household chores.  High heat makes me short tempered and very cranky.  I’d be wanted for murder on the High Plains.  Being from Iowa it might be, murder on the prairie, or murder on the flood plain.  

It’s 100 degrees here.  I couldnt imagine baking bread or standing over a wood burning stove on a day like today.  Even if that wood burning stove was outside.  I couldnt imagine plowing a field with horses or if I was too poor to own a horse either me or my husband would have to have been attached to the plow to pull it.  Living in a sod house built into a hillside, might have had it’s advantages.  Dirt is a natural insulator after all.

Even so, farmers and homesteaders were much more dependant on the mercy of the weather than we are today.  If your well dried up or there wasnt enough rain you were just screwed.  It could mean moving or starvation.  Could you imagine digging a well in 100+ heat?  Or digging a well, building a house, weeding and hoeing crops, or harvesting crops when it’s that hot?  There was no “it’s too hot to move”.  There was only “this has to be done so we can eat.  This has to be done so we can survive”.  People probably died of heat stroke/heat exhaustion more often than now.  On a homestead your nearest neighbour could be 5 or more miles away.  The nearest town with a doctor could be a day’s ride away.  You really were on your own.

What did the pioneers on the Oregon Trail do in the summer.  Traveling, walking, plodding along day after day in the summer heat and, depending on the area, humidity.  How many people said “I cant take it anymore.  I’m getting off at the next town”

We’re pretty spoiled by comparison.  I can go home and have a popsicle or have ice water with cucumber and lemon.  I can take a cold bath and run away to the ac at the yarn store.  I can have a cold beer at the yarn store.  I can wear a mini skirt and tank top or a thin silk shift or my undershirt and underwear and I dont have to wear socks and tall boots.  I can say “it’s too hot to do anything”, watch documentaries on my laptop, drink lots of cold water, go up to the store and get something from the deli.  I have a fan, a freezer, and a fridge.  If my plants die I’m not going to starve.  I can get my ice pack out at night and lay on it or put it on the back of my neck.  I’m unlikely to get heat exhaustion. 

I guess, the pioneers wouldnt have known any different.  They grew up that way.  Still, though, I wonder how they would have dealt with this.

I should be used to hot weather.  Growing up in Iowa means long summers of 98/98 (98 degrees and 98% humidity) nearly every day from June through the beginning of September.

Moving to Oregon has turned me into a complete wuss.  It’s going to be 100 through Wednesday and I, like a lot of people who live here, do not have A/C.  Usually it’s not necessary.  Usually it’s 80-85 with no humidity.  Not this week.  It was almost 100 yesterday and still hot at night.  I ended up falling asleep with an ice pack on my lower back.  If this happened right after I had moved here I wouldnt think anything of it.  100 degrees with no humidity is a lot different than 100 degrees with 98% humidity.  I’ve lived here for 10 years and have become a complete and total wuss.

Something tells me there will be lots of cold baths, cold dry white wine, salad, and gaspacho in my future. 

It’s too hot to knit.  My hands start to sweat and my needles start to get slippery.  I might have a lot of grumpy co-workers since a lot of people here dont have A/C.

This morning the plants all got a good soaking and will probably need more by the time I get home from work.  The tomatoes that were most ripe got picked.  I wasnt sure they’d make it if they didnt.  Maybe, by the end of the week, there will be more ripe tomatoes and some ripe cucumbers.  Who knows, maybe my peppers will finally start to turn red.

If any of you are having cool weather, please send some this way.

I was sick Monday, the shawl and I arent getting along too well, I got nothing else, Hawkeye has psoriasis (he was diagnosed when he was eight) and we lived together for 7 years, so here we go:

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes your skin cells to divide faster than normal.  Skin is the largest organ (dont get any naughty ideas) which is why psoriasis can be found all over your body.  Usually your skin cells take about month or so to divide and come to the surface.  With psoriasis, it takes 3-5 days.  Because the skin cells divide and come to the surface so quickly it causes plaques to form on the body.  Plaques can form around joints or all over the body.  Psoriasis can cause pitting of finger and toenails.

The quick division of skin cells is what causes scaley plaques  to form on the skin.

Plaques can form on the scalp.  This is particularly annoying if you have dark hair because it looks like you have really bad dandruff and it makes wearing dark clothes nearly impossible.  Plaques on the palms or feet can inhibit everyday functions and can be very painful.

A little Q&A

Q.Is psoriasis contagious? A. Nope.  Psoriasis is thought to be passed along genetically.  If there is a family history of psoriasis there is a chance you could develop psoriasis.  Most cases develop in childhood through the early teen years.

Q. Is psoriasis related to leprosy?  Um . . . not just no, but hell no.  Even though this was once common thinking a hundred or more years ago, this is no longer the case.  Psoriasis is not going to make your nose or feet fall off.

Q. Do you develop psoriasis from being unclean?  Again, no.  It’s an autoimmune disorder.  An autoimmune disorder is where your own body’s immune system goes a bit haywire and starts attacking you.  In the case of psoriasis, the immune system starts attacking the skin.

Q. Is there a cure?  A.  Frustratingly, no.  There are several treatments, everything from lotions and creams for the most mild cases all the way to injections for the most severe.  There is a new laser treatment coming to market that can treat large plaques.  No idea exactly how effective it is yet. (treatments will be followed up on later)

Severity of psoriasis varies dramatically although, according to Wikipedia at least, over half of people diagnosed with psoriasis have a mild to moderate case.   If more than 10% of your body is covered in psoriasis plaques, then it’s considered severe. 

Psoriasis can be life threatening in one instance: if you have severe psoriasis, are not treating it, and it gets out of control you can develop a condition called  Erythrodermic psoriasis.  When this happens, the immune reaction goes completely ape shit and makes it nearly impossible for your body to regulate it’s temperature.  The skin, instead of coming off in small flakes, comes off in sheets, and it opens the body for secondary infection.  Hawkeye developed this condition (he wasnt taking care of himself) and spent 2 weeks in the hospital once he got back to Iowa.

 Generally though, psoriasis is not life threatening but is a complete pain in the ass.  It affects not just the body, but the psyche as well.  Think about it for a minute.  You have silvery, scaley patches on your arms, knees, hands, and maybe face, of course you’re going to feel extremely self-conscious.  It’s not a well known condition, and we all know how some people can be when they’re confronted with something they dont understand.  You can face a lot of judgement.  It effects your self esteem, the kinds of clothes you wear, the colours you wear, and your dating/sex life.  Psoriasis may go into remission, but it will never go away.  There is no cure.  Cuts and scrapes can take longer to heal and can cause your psoriasis to flare up.  It effects what kinds of activities you participate in (you may not go swimming because you feel self conscious about your skin) it effects how attractive you feel.  The psychological effects of the disease is worse than the disease itself, at least imho.

Treatment: There are several treatments of varying effectiveness for psoriasis and treatment depends on how severe your case is.  If you case is mild, you might only have to use over the counter lotions and creams on your plaques.  Lubrederm, A&D Ointment, Vitamin E oil, Nutrogena Coal Tar Shampoo, (this is good for scalp psoriasis although it’s not clearly understood why coal tar has a positive effect on psoriasis), Dead Sea Salts, etc.  Exposure to sunlight is good too because the UV rays shrink psoriasis spots. 

If your case is more severe there are other more dramatic treatments you can pursue:

Photo therapy:  This usually involves some type of light box.  I’ve only ever seen Hawkeye’s and can tell you it’s about 5 feet tall with lights that look like big fluorescent bulbs.  There are two types of light that can be used: UVA and UVB.  Sometimes creams and coal tar are used in combination to achieve greater effectiveness.  Hawkeye even had little goggles (the kind you get in a tanning salon) to wear.  This is how it works: you turn the light on (make sure to wear your little goggles.  Safety first!)  and stand in front of it for a couple of minutes.  Over time you stand in front of the light for longer periods.  Because it’s UVA or UVB you can get burned which is why you have to build up a tolerance.

There are systemic treatments too involving drugs and/or injections.  Methotrexate is commonly prescribed because it slows cellular growth.  It’s also prescribed if you have an ectopic pregnancy.  Methotrexate can effect liver functions so it’s important to have monthly blood tests.  Liver biopsies are recommended, but having your liver bored into is not the most pleasant experience.

Cyclosporine (which I thought was an antibiotic but isnt) is an immunosuppressant  that is usually given to transplant patients but is also used to treat psoriasis. 

There are a few other drugs that can be used to treat psoriasis, but we’re going to talk about the big guns now.  IV and injections.

Remicade is given through IV injection in a Dr. office.  Imagine how much fun it is to sit in your Dr’s office with an IV drip for 4 hours.  What a way to spend an afternoon.

Humira and Enbrel are administered through self injection.  I dont know much about Humira, but Enbrel is an immunosuppressant.  It helps stop the body from attacking itself, but can leave the body open to other infection.  It’s also used to treat psoriatic arthritis.  It’s very expensive, but also very effective.

Psoriatic Arthritis is a specific form of arthritis associated with guess what? Psoriasis.  It’s similar to rhumetoid (yes, it’s a product of an over active immune system), can be very severe, and left to it’s own devices will destroy the joints.  It seems to effect the joints in the fingers the most but like any arthritis, can effect joints all over the body.

There are other treatments other than drugs.  Stress plays a big role in outbreaks and techniques to reduce stress are helpful in treatment (yoga, meditation, biofeedback, massage, etc)  Food allergies can play a role in flare ups.  Two common food allergies that play a role are wheat and dairy.  Weather can also play a role in flare ups of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. 

The most important thing to remember is that someone with this condition is the same as you are.  Their brains are just as big, their minds are just as clever, and they have the same feelings as you do.  Hawkeye doesnt mind questions, even if they seem dumb.  I lived with him for 7 years, talk to him a few times a week, and still have questions about his disease process.  Practice tact.  Dont be a dumb ass and say things like “Eww yuck! How do you live like that”  You can ask things like: How long have you had this disease?  How do you treat it?  How do you take care of yourself?  Do you have a hard time with people staring?  Yes, btw, people do stare, it’s not nice, but it happens.  Just like anyone with diabetes or arthritis, practice respect and kindness.

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I wish I could say I’ve been busy doing something exciting like taking an unexpected trip to Hawaii, winning a free, all expenses paid trip for a week to Paris, but no, nothing so exciting.  There has been some job anxiety this week which has been very distracting and the shawl and I are not exactly getting along.  For every two rows I knit it seems like one gets tinked out.

And, it’s been so hot the last few days I havent wanted to do anything.  I shouldnt complain.  I know what hot is.  I know what it’s like when it’s 98 degrees with 98% humidity.  For Oregon, it’s been hot.  The last 4 days it’s been 97 or so.  Yesterday was the worst.  It’d been so hot for so long it felt like it was 90 degrees at 10AM.  Good for the plants, (I swear the cucumber grew about a foot) not so much for me.  I was cranky, grouchy, and all around no fun.  Today, finally, the heat broke.  Yea!

Claire got a haircut on Wednesday.  She looks ridiculous!  She went from having enough hair for 3 cats to being almost completely bald.  The only kind of cut available for a cat is a lion cut.  Now she has hair around her face, on the tip of her tail, and from her mid-leg down to her paws.  There are before pictures.  Since it’s not so hot, there will soon be after pictures.  It might give you all a good laugh.  I laughed when I saw her.