Body Temperature

I have been wondering, and am now completely certain, that the stroke has affected Pete's body temperature.  It has got more noticeable over the last couple of months.  The first sign was when he suddenly, some time last year, found that a normal cup of tea and some foods were too hot for him to eat or drink.  But now he has also been finding it hot in the house, even when the heating isn't on!  Yesterday, after a long, involved question and answer session, he said he wanted some sleeveless t-shirts as against the normal ones.  I thought perhaps he was getting cold and wanted an extra layer, but no, today he has just been wearing the new one which is, basically, a vest.  So he is wearing a vest, a shirt and a jumper - and still getting hot.  Not hot to the touch, he just feels hot in himself and will discard the jumper at the drop of a hat!  Meanwhile, I'm wearing 2 t-shirts and 2 jumpers just to be comfortable, and sometimes a cardigan on top of that!  We can only have the heating on when he says so, otherwise he gets angry.  So half the time I'm shivering and he's only wearing a vest and shirt!!!   Now, normally this wouldn't have worried me to any great extent, but last night we saw a programme on how the elderly and vulnerable are coping with this cold weather - the main thing being when they don't put the heating on because of the cost - but they compared a lady who was very comfortable when her house was cooler rather than warmer and a man who kept the house cool because of the cost.  The point they were making was that if the surroundings are cold then their blood pressure rises to try to warm them up.  They found that both the participants' blood pressure rose as the temperature fell, even the lady who would rather do without heating, and this is dangerous for their health.  So now I am worried that Pete's blood pressure will be sky high as his body thermometer isn't working normally. But there is nothing I can do as if Pete feels hot, even when he actually isn't, then that is how he feels and he won't be told that it isn't good for him.  Just one more thing to worry about.

There are also stormy waters ahead in the next couple of days as the strong painkillers, paracetamol and codeine, he takes are about to run out and he can't have any more for a couple of weeks.  I have been warning him this was going to happen and trying to get him to cut down, but he won't.  We have already had a rage about it this morning when he wanted me to get more, and he is angry that he can't have any more than his regular prescription.  So, I am definitely not looking forward to the next couple of weeks when he will only be able to take paracetamol.  There will be much raging and/or depression.

There has also been a setback in getting the new catheter inserted.  Pete had an appointment today for the pre-op assessment and to get a date, but yesterday the hospital rang to cancel the appointment and the next available one is 13th February.  So I can see it is going to be a while before that happens.

Bad times.