After my last post about exercising through the heat of summer, I received some first-hand experience in the power of the sun. For the second time in a month, The Monkey has had a mild case of heat exhaustion.
We spent a hot and sunny Friday afternoon at a pool with some friends. We were outside from 12-3, despite knowing full well that those hours are the sun’s strongest. The Monkey had a fantastic time with his friends, frolicking in the water and playing on the frog slide. Not unexpectedly, he fell asleep on the drive home. When he woke up around 4pm, I noticed he was warm. I didn’t think much of it, knowing we’d been outside all afternoon.
When The Monkey wanted to lie down on my lap while he had a little friend over to play that evening, I knew he wasn’t well. Then I noticed his heart was beating more rapidly than normal and he continued to be lethargic. His skin didn’t seem sweaty or clammy or out of the ordinary, so I still didn’t think about sun exposure as an explanation. Later in the evening, he vomited. But after that, he was cheery and seemed much better.
It was only in recounting the events of the afternoon to The Husband (he was out of town) that we began to piece it all together: a few weeks ago, we had a long family swim in the afternoon. The Monkey then became lethargic and later vomited. We know that he’s a sweaty kid by nature. It seems, though, that he’s more prone to sun exhaustion than other kids, too.
Please check out some sun safety tips and symptoms of suspected heat exhaustion as well as the potentially life-threatening heat stroke. And do take good care of yourself and your family.
