Essential Equipment not given to you by VentrAssist

Though you get 2 of almost every thing there is certain essential equipment that you will have get yourself.

Plastic Carrier bag

This is an essential piece if protection for the controller, to keep off rain, water spray, paint and especially creosote.
When steering a narrow boat in Scotland in October. Anyone who has been to Scotland in October will know it chucks it down with rain and blows a gale for at least 12 hours a day which at least keeps the midges away.

To use the protection cover (plagy bag) you need to

make 2 holes in the bottom to allow the shoulder

strap to be attached to the to the fixing points, then

pull the cover down over the controller.

Any carrier bag will do though I have found that the Co-op and Wilko’s bags a little thin, bags from the other leading supermarkets are OK though you would need to replace them daily. If you require the crème de la crème in covers try Aldi which are thicker and could last up to a week the only draw backs are they cost 9p and do not do anything for your street cred’.

Also used when painting and decorating and creosoting the sheds and fences.

Electrical tape
Another essential piece of equipment, for carrying out running repairs on the lead and retaining the protection cover above.

25ml Plastic Syringe (without the needle)
Having caught the my cable in the kitchen draw which kinked badly my nurse practitioner came up with the idea of using the body of the syringe as a protective sleeve. After a few months the cable returned to its normal condition.

Direction of Use
Remove the plunger, cut off the end then cut down the length of it so you can feed over the cable and secure with the electrical tape

Oxygen Tube (or home brew syphoning tube)
If you are caught short without the electrical tape, this is OK as a short term measure, which unlike the syringe method dose not need electrical tape when I caught the cable and cut through the outer cover I used some oxygen tube to cover the hole not the best solution as the cable started to thin where the tube stopped so it was replace by the electrical tape.

As with the plastic syringe cut down the length of one side You can get oxygen tube from your local hospital or as an alternative home brew syphoning tube from Wilko’s or your local home brew shop.

Continental Plug Adapter
AS life evolves around electricity it is essential you have one of these in the parts bag so if you are ever caught short elsewhere in Europe you always plug yourself in or charge your batteries.

Flying Lessons

Birthday today!? and everyone has been asking the same old question :- "What do you want for your birthday?" and I have been giving the same old answer "I dun'o".

However yesterday saw Ventrassist rep Terry who showed me a picture of a teenage girl from Norway in a helicopter which got me thinking, so guess what I got for my birthday.

Yes off to the local aerodrome I did go and whilst registering in the battery low alarm went off. "Is that your camera battery that needs changing?" the nice young lady asked, my answer nodding my head profusely was of cause YES.

Good job I swapped batteries then as the plane was only a small 2 seater and the battery pack had to go behind the seat.

So we took off the pilot flew over our house a couple of times then climbed to 2000 feet levelled off and then asked Do you want to have ago? At this point I could have said either:-

(A) No thank you I have got this here VAD and I don't think my transplant coordinator would would be too happy.

or

(B) Too right I would, give me control.

I will leave it to you to decide which option I went for as I do not want to incriminate myself.