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"Salty Black"

23 April 2003

Well, two more weeks have passed and my underarm sweating is still in hyper-HH mode. I'm not used to sweating this much on a daily basis. It used to happen only during stressful events, but now it does even when I'm not particularly stressed. The doctor still wants me to stay on this higher dose of thyroid hormones for several more weeks.

By lunchtime every day at work I've soaked my blouse down to near my elbows, and it stays that way the rest of the day, leaving behind enormous salt rings after drying. I've tried bringing a spare blouse to the office and changing into it for the afternoon, but I sweat through that too and I wind up with twice as many to launder.

I own just one black suit and have been wearing it frequently to hide the sweat. It's not the best suit because the skirt is probably too short for the office and black looks dreadful on me (note to self: buy a new pair of black pants). I sweat so much I soak right through the lining onto the jacket which now has salty rings building up on it too. That's another thing that's bad about black for me: since my perspiration is so salty, it shows up against the black.

When I drive home after work I take my jacket off so as to let my blouse dry some, as well as not salt stain the jacket even more. Yesterday I stopped at the supermarket, and without thinking, left the jacket in the car. I had on a pretty spring ruffle blouse like that pictured here (no that's not me!), and my sweat had soaked it thoroughly. It must have been bad because I was getting more looks that normal. Just rolling my cart down the aisle or reaching up to get something from the shelf I could see people looking at my armpits.

About mid way through the store I turned around a bend and saw Kevin! OMG, I hoped he hadn't seen me. As you know from this site I'm rather comfortable with my HH, but I'm not used to the stepped up level of sweating I've had this month, and I didn't want him to see me like this. The damp sweat stains were plainly visible front and back, even with my arms at my sides, and extended most of the way to my elbows.

Well, I made it to the next to last aisle of the store when I saw Kevin pushing his cart from the opposite direction, right toward me. I cringed inside. He stopped and gave me a big hello, and then his gaze dropped to my armpits and flicked back and forth. I felt myself begin the blush and wondered if he noticed. I know many people with HH also blush too, but it doesn't happen very often to me.

He updated me on his brother who is now out of the hospital and in physical therapy. It does seem like he'll be able to walk again. We had a very nice conversation but he kept looking at my pits, which only made me sweat even more. Then, at the end he asked me out for a date this weekend! How about that! I accepted and then we went our separate ways to finish shopping.

Wow, I haven't had a real date in months, not since before my surgery last fall. Between the excitement of bumping into Kevin and then being asked out, the sweat poured out even more. By the time I reached the checkout line, the damp stains had dripped all the way to my waist, and more people were looking, but I didn't even care!

For prior stories, see the archives.