I generally don’t talk about me very much in these posts. I have been more interested in sharing information about other people in my life. These include my son Max and people that I support through my pca, yard work, and handyman work.

Today it is different. This was the day to mow my lawn. It is not a particularly warm day. It is in the 70s and may reach 80 F. But I have multiple sclerosis. Any overheating can make my symptoms worse. Generally, for me, I get very hot and lethargic.

For this reason my lawn can take 2 to 3 hours spread over 2 days to mow. And I always feel knocked out when I am done. It can even be difficult writing a post. My mind tends to feel like mush.

However, I am one of the “funny you don’t look sick” people. Others are surprised if I mention that I have MS. I look healthy and I generally have enough energy to take care of others. I just collapse when I get home.

Today I keep stopping and then continuing to write this post. I’ve taken a warm shower which helped cool me down but it’s a struggle. I have a lot more to do today including selling a client’s car, and moving a lot of suitcases for Suitcases4Kids.

I have a couple of clients who are much much more affected than I am. They are in wheelchairs and need the help of a pca 7 days a week mornings and evenings. One of them still works from home; she won’t give up. This is despite having to get help moving from her bed to chair to bathroom.

Even though the heat is terrible for her she still loves to get outside in the summer. She tools around town on her scooter checking up on longtime friends. And she works in her garden. She weeds, plants, feeds, and waters. It is fairly large and I must say each year it looks more beautiful than the last.

The heat bothers her immensely; perhaps more so than me. Because of that when she goes out she wears a Cooling Vest. She puts it on and then loads it up with ice packs that she keeps in the refrigerator freezer. In this way she can keep her temperature down. The result is very little overheating and some relief from her MS symptoms.

I have never used one of these vests but I’m starting to think that after seeing how successful she is with it that I may get one. I find that as I get older the heat affects me more and more. I want to continue to work and this looks like it can help me too.

This is an example of what a Cooling Vest looks like:

This vest is light weight, only 5 pounds. One size fits all and comes with 10 reusable cooling packs. The advertisement says that it can be worn under clothes however my client and others that I have met generally just wear it over their clothes allowing them to easily put it on or remove it.

The Cooling Vest link brings you to the Amazon website where you can find out more about it. If you like it and choose to buy it please note that I do get a small commission. However, other than that Amazon does not pay me to sell their products. I suggest them only to help bring some improvement into the lives of my readers and their loved ones.

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