Preface

There was a time in my life when I thought the cold would never go away. It could be in the middle of August, eighty something degrees outside and I'd still be wearing oversized sweatshirts and boots.

It ran through my veins like ice and it settled in my bones, gripping them in iron vices and never let go. No amount of sweaters, hot showers or warm drinks could change the seemingly permanent chill in my body.

It started in my hands.

Of course, there was always a chill in my body. It never went away. Sure, there were times where I could ignore it and be content in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. But sometimes, it just got to be too much to handle. And it would always start in my hands. I'd shiver and it was like the ice was liquid; it would run through my fingers, making them stiff; run through my arms, into my shoulders and make them ache; then all the way down my legs, until they were bumpy with goose-bumps, down into my feet. I could be wearing three pairs of socks and still, my feet were like ice cubes.

My doctor told me it was iron deficiency anemia. My body couldn't make enough red-blood cells to carry oxygen to my brain, and as a result, I was constantly cold.

Until he looked at me.

And in his eyes, I saw. I'd never be cold again.