Warm from the start: Virgil’s road back to the tennis court

Virgil was anxious as he walked into William Osler Health System (Osler) for his second knee surgery. He'd been through it before — the nerves, the cold, the slow crawl back to his favorite activities, like tennis with his kids. This time, though, something was different. And it started before he ever reached the operating table.

A second surgery, a new experience

For most people, the lead-up to surgery is its own kind of stress. You think about everything that's about to happen. Virgil knew this feeling well.

"I was actually nervous going into it," he recalls. "It's not an easy surgery to have and to recover from."

But Virgil also came with a kind of earned confidence. His first knee surgery, years earlier, had gone well. He trusted the process. What he hadn't anticipated was how much better the experience could be and the importance of something as seemingly simple as staying warm.

Shortly after intake, a nurse at Osler offered Virgil something he hadn't encountered during his first procedure: a 3M™ Bair Hugger™ Warming Gown. He remembered clearly what that earlier surgery had felt like without one.

"Having remembered that feeling of shivering and cold you typically get in the hospital from my first surgery," he says, "I was really excited to try it out. And it was a great experience right from the get-go."

More than a warm blanket

Our Bair Hugger warming gown looks simple enough. The patient wears the gown and when connected by the hose to a Bair Hugger warming unit, warm air gently circulates through small openings in the fabric. Yet what it does, clinically and emotionally, goes far deeper than comfort.

Osler’s Chief of Anesthesia and Co-Medical Director Dr. Liza Chelico has watched this play out over a career that spans more than 15 years. She understands, at a physiological level, why keeping a patient warm matters.

"All of the enzymes in the body are designed to work at optimal body temperature,” she explains. “And here we have patients undergoing surgery in rooms which are not really made to support normothermia."

The problem compounds quickly under anesthesia. As Dr. Chelico puts it: "Administering anesthesia often results in vasodilation. And when our vessels vasodilate, by nature, they will lose heat." Add in cold operating rooms and the reality of opened body cavities, and the body's ability to regulate temperature is seriously compromised.

The Chief and Co-Medical Director of Surgery at Osler, Dr. Roberta Minna, is equally direct about the consequences. "Having a cold patient really affects how they recover," she says. "They bleed more, they get higher infections, their vital signs are unstable, they need a different amount of medications."

Helping to prevent that cascade of complications is precisely why Osler uses our Bair Hugger temperature management solutions throughout every stage of the surgical journey — before the operating room, inside it and after.

"We're actually using the Solventum Bair Hugger products throughout the whole perioperative journey," Dr. Chelico confirms. "Some patients have warming gowns that they wear before coming to the operating room...then when we bring them into the operating room, we hook them up again ...and then postoperatively, we also use the same technology."

What Virgil felt

For Virgil, the clinical mechanics were secondary. What he noticed was simpler, and more immediate.

But it wasn't just physical. Virgil describes a kind of emotional shift that accompanied the warmth. During his first surgery, without the gown, "the cold then kind of led to increased anxiety and stress." This time, with the Bair Hugger warming gown, "it just kind of calmed everything down. It made everything comfortable, feel normal and just relaxed."

He also appreciated something that might seem small but made a genuine difference: control. A handheld device let him adjust the temperature himself.

"It did offer a sense of, 'I can control this and I can make it comfortable for myself,'" he said.

The nurse also introduced a temperature sensor placed on his forehead — a non-invasive monitor that allowed staff to measure and report his core temperature from the nursing station. No extra checks, no interruptions, just continuous, quietly attentive care.

A system built around recovery

Behind every product is a protocol. At Osler, that protocol is Enhanced Recovery After Surgery. Osler’s Director of Surgery and Ambulatory Care, Alean Jackman, oversees its implementation across the three sites’ operating rooms.

"Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols are really important in surgery because it is a standardized set of practice guidelines," she says. "They make sure that we are delivering consistent care along the continuum of the surgical journey."

Normothermia sits at the heart of that continuum. Keeping patients at a healthy core temperature before, during and after surgery isn't just a comfort measure. It can directly affect infection rates, length of stay and recovery time. Osler’s Vice President of Clinical Services Fred Go puts it plainly: "Investing in best practices like patient warming is important as it improves patient outcomes... it reduces surgical complication by lowering surgical site infection."

The hospital, which performs roughly 80,000 surgical procedures a year across its sites, has built its reputation on exactly this kind of evidence-based, people-centered care. Most recently, it received accreditation with Exemplary Standing from Accreditation Canada, the highest designation a Canadian hospital can achieve..

Coming full circle

After surgery, Virgil remembers waking up still wrapped in the gown's warmth. "Coming out of surgery, you tend to be a little bit groggy," he says.

His recovery has tracked ahead of schedule. The care he received at Osler continues through follow-up visits with his surgeon and physical therapy sessions. And the goal he has fixed in his mind is clear.

"Looking forward to just being able to play tennis with my kids again and hopefully beat my kids because they seem to be getting better and better," he said with a smile