Not a cold ward, just cold blood

Heatable bean bag (in fetching red tartan) in right hand;

left hand inserted through frontal kangaroo pouch will 

draw bean bag into pregnancy position. RR, soon to be

warm as toast, wearing his new Lushforest hoodie

OK I fibbed, but through ignorance not though malice. Not that ignorance is a great excuse, there’s far too much of it about. I apologise.

My December 19 post, Polar News, described the discomforts of trying to sleep, post op, in a hospital ward where the heating seemed to be at a less-than-normal tropical level. Having to wear my outdoor trousers and thick jacket under the sheets, even which didn’t work.

I complained to the visiting surgeon the following morning and the only thing on my side is she sort of acknowledged the lower ambient temperature (which may have been slightly reduced because of cost) rather than point to a more likely reason.

When I got home I again felt cold but I couldn’t blame the heating. VR and I are old people, we need the warmth. Yet even at 19 deg C my bones rattled chilly. Soon the real culprit was identified; blood thinner medication had reduced my blood to the consistency of tap-water but without changing my physiology to that of a penguin.

Christmas approaching, my two daughters took over. The first online purchase consisted of a modern electric blanket. Formerly such blankets lay flat on the mattress; distorting them risked damaging the cable and shorting the supply. Now much more flexible, they may be wrapped round you and their output adjusted with a multi-level switch. Nor do they need to be switched on for long periods. You retain their heat by wearing a Lushforest oversized furry hoodie. Bought online.

The hoodie also has a kangaroo pouch at the front. Into which you may slip a bean bag, heated for 4 min in the microwave, and thereafter stalk around the house as if fully pregnant. But warm.

I’m glad the NHS wasn’t at fault.