The heat is on!

The UK’s heatwaves have definitely been strong during this Spring & Summer. It’s been affecting me in some unique ways!

Context: my back garden in West London.

Alt text: A photo of a raised flowerbed made of railway sleepers.  The beds are full of flowers & shrubs including gladioli, verbena, salvia & lavender.  The garden wall is made out of ‘yellowstone’ brick.  Fixed to the wall is a large, round, green, metal sculpture that is shaped like a tree & called ‘Tree of Life.’  There are also some small, clear garden lightbulbs that are strung between black, metal hooks.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a post about me complaining of being too hot, although it is tricky in London when the heat mixes with the pollution (I have to stay indoors when the temperature hits 30 degrees & above).  Just like in very cold weather, my nerve & joint pain increase to the point where I want to chew my own bones off!  This is a blog about the unique ways in which heat can affect me.

I was caught out a couple of weeks ago & I had to take a trip to A & E (the Emergency Room for my US friends!)  One July morning I noticed a terrible rash on my foot – it happened to be my partner Stephane’s birthday & we were going to the Ealing Blues Festival in West London, UK.  My foot was very red, hot & swollen – an infection was beginning, but it wasn’t spreading at that point as my lymph nodes in my groin weren’t swollen.  It was a bit of a shock to us both.  It’s quite usual for me to feel very little in my foot until it’s quite bad, but I was surprised because I look after my feet very well, alongside having monthly Podiatry.  Nothing was picked up at the appointment two weeks ago.  My rule is that I don’t panic unless my foot is green, it has red track marks traveling upwards & my lymph nodes in my groin are swollen.  Nothing like that was happening, so we went to the festival, celebrating Stephane’s birthday with friends.  We had a great time but I did have to come home early because my foot was hurting, but also to watch the celebrations of the England Ladies Football team winning the 2025 Euros – ha, magic!

The next day my foot was like a balloon & very hot.  Whilst there was still no tracking & my groin lymph nodes weren’t sore, I knew I had to go to A & E.  I was feeling a little bit sick & I had a temperature, so I knew that I couldn’t leave it any longer.  It looked & felt like my foot had cellulitis (roughly speaking, an infection of the white blood cells), but I hadn’t had this for about three decades so I was at a loss as to what might have caused it.

But there was something else bending my mind.  Three weeks previous to this infection, I’d noticed two to three rashes on my right boob.  I’d never seen anything like this on my boob before.  I wasn’t near the surgery site but it was accompanied by a lot of vomiting & I’ve been extremely tired for about three months, even struggling to stay awake in the daytime.  I called up the MacMillan Nurses Navigator service at Charing Cross hospital, where I’m being treated for Breast Cancer, & they booked me into their clinic at the earliest available time. 

No matter how hard you try, the ‘Scaniexty’ kicks in immediately, & I’m straight back on the road of not understanding my body, feeling like something dreadful is coming up.

Anyway, back to my A & E trip.  It was over quite quickly.  The doctor confirmed that it was in fact cellulitis (so perhaps I’m getting back to understanding my body) & that it had been caused by two or three insect bites.  Pesky bloody things!  I’m never barefoot except in the shower because my feet are so delicate, so I blamed a large spider that I’d seen in there!  Why did it have to get me?  Luckily, I avoided intravenous antibiotics (I find that procedure so very painful) & I was sent home with very strong penicillin, or as I like to call it, my old friend Flucloxacillin.  I’ve been taking this medication on & off since I was four years’ old.  That’s how long I’ve been getting foot infections.  I hate it.  It makes my skin stink, it upsets my stomach & it makes me so depressed that I cry.  But it is good at healing skin infections, so you know, every cloud & that!

The Flucloxacillin mixed with strong pain relief wiped me out completely for two days.  For a foot that doesn’t feel much, it was agonising, so God knows how much it would hurt if I had full sensation!  When I could return to the front room & rest on the sofa, I had my foot elevated, using an ice pack wrapped in a towel to take down the swelling.  

My GP had a look at my foot whilst she was giving my monthly Zoladex injection (part of my ongoing cancer treatment) two days later.  It didn’t look much different & we were both disheartened.  I promised her that if it didn’t look better by Friday, that I’d return to A & E.

I was praying that Friday would give better news because I didn’t want to jeopardise my appointment at the Breast Clinic the next day (the clinic is open on Saturdays too because they have so many patients).  

Thankfully I turned a corner on Friday.  The swelling had reduced & there were less areas of redness on my foot.  In fact, my foot looked more bruised – a shade of light purple.  As said before, anything is better than green!  I also noticed that the rashes on my boob had faded.  They’d never itched or hurt me, but they were previously very red & raised.  I was beginning to suspect that the rashes on my boob were just playing with my emotions.  Not cool.  Not cool at all.

Early morning Saturday I attended the Breast Clinic as planned.  The clinic was packed.  I watched one lady chatting away happily with her friend, then her demeanour changed once she’d seen the consultant.  “I wasn’t imagining it, there’s definitely something there”, she said anxiously to her friend. She had to wait for a scan.  Her friend was very kind & tried to keep her spirits up, getting her a coffee.  But the lady had stopped talking, her thoughts were pre-occupied & she looked scared.  I’ve been there, and many of you have too, & it’s a terrible, dark place to be.  I hope that outcome is good for her as it sometimes isn’t as bad as it seems.  But you just don’t know & the waiting is torture.

Context: the route to the Breast Clinics at Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial NHS, Fulham, London.

Alt text: A photo taken inside a hospital of large, wooden double doors. One is open, leading to a long corridor with a couple of wooden chairs with blue padding along the side of the corridor which has large windows.  The corridor walls are painted off-white & the non-slip flooring is a magnolia colour.  The sign above the hospital doors says ‘Breast clinics (screening & assessment).  Endoscopy,’ with an arrow pointing ahead, all in blue & white.  There is a standard emergency exit sign in white & green, with an image of a person running.  The ceiling is tiled in white & grey.

After about an hour of watching people go from consultant to scanning & back again, my name was called.  Thankfully it was a female consultant who I’d seen before.  She had already read the discharge notice from my trip to A & E so she asked me about it.  I then got a thorough examination, & I explained why I’d come – that I’d never seen rashes like this before on my boob.  She was very kind & gentle, reassuring me that there was nothing untoward happening, & most importantly, the rashes were disappearing.  I was embarrassed & expressed that I might have wasted her time, but she insisted that I should always come if I was at all concerned – any changes must always be checked out.  In my discharge letter to my GP, she even expressed that she was happy to see me anytime, which helps my mental health.

It’s been a couple of weeks since the foot & boob incidents.  My foot is still a bit swollen & a light shade of pink, but the Podiatrist checked it over & there’s no sign of infection.  The rashes have gone on my right boob.  However, this morning I noticed a similar rash on my left boob.  

It seems those insects are determined to get me!

Context: me in the hospital’s cafe, putting my head back together before the short drive home.

Alt text: A selfie pose of a white-skinned, middle-aged woman sitting in a hospital cafe.  She has long brown, blond & grey hair.  She is wearing glasses, a white face mask, & a light & dark grey furry hoodie.  She is making the ‘thumbs up’ sign with one hand.