I absolutely hate cold. My body is not made for it anymore. When I left for work this morning the thermometer was 9F (-12.8C). You know how tired I am to hear “But you are Swedish, you should be used to this!”? So let me tell you…

1. Sweden is made for cold. The houses, the clothes, the cars, everything. When you think about Sweden you also think cold and/or rainy weather so you mentally prepare yourself. Maybe you’re not aware of it, but you do.
2. Sweden has a different cold than Texas does. Same with heat. It is a dry cold that in a way is easier to deal with. The snow also lights up the country so it all just becomes winter and acceptable.
3. Texas and this cold = wind… non stop. Yes Sweden can be windy too but again, not the same cold and this wind is actually rougher than in Sweden
4. On a personal level… I did not have the health problems when I lived in Sweden… 14 years ago!!! Have those years in mind. A lot with my body has changed during those years. I was a healthy YOUNG person then. Now I am older with extremely low blood pressure, pacemaker and weird conditions. My pressure this morning when I woke up was 88/45. I have to take vasoconstrictor three times a day to be able to stand up all day long and when it is this cold I have to double and sometimes triple the dose because my body is so tired.

After what happened back in March when I passed out outside my house going to work and it was 32 degrees outside, I was quite nervous about how these days would go. I had made up my mind that I was going to wear my ski pants to ensure that I was warm and keep the wind away. But I was layered up underneath that…

Two pairs of socks and boots is not in the pictures either… Yes it was enough! It was very comfortable and I could move around and do my job as well. I don’t care if they don’t like my ski pants at the “higher ups”, for me it’s about not being the patient but the provider the entire shift and the entire weekend and also get that incident out of my head. Prove to myself that I can do it.

Today went well, will have to do the same tomorrow and then on Sunday I may be able to take off the ski pants along the day because it’s supposed to be around 40 degrees outside… I can at least hope. But now I know what it takes for me to stay warm all day long!