What to buy? Sensitive topic

[WhatToBuyyy]

A close family member is currently in hospital. She has gliblastoma multiforme and won’t be allowed home until her blood levels improve.

I would love to make up a hamper for her to make her stay a little more comfortable but I really don’t know what to put in it. I am very conscious that she may not be with us at Christmas and don’t want it to look like I am giving her Christmas gifts “early” if that makes sense.

Please help me come up with some ideas, I gave her a hamper before her treatment started with chocolates, fruit teas, anti sickness sweets, cashmere socks, nice handcream, lip balm, toiletries, This Works pillow spray etc so I really am out of ideas 😞

Would books or magazines be suitable? Or a subscription to something like Audible?

Is she able to eat and such?

I think I would just write her a card with a letter in.

What a difficult situation :(

She does have an appetite when she’s awake so I thought maybe some nice snacks, although she has been impressed with the hospital meals!

Magazines are a good idea, thank you

Magazines, posh snacks, hand cream, lip balm as hospitals tend to be quite drying, some nice shower gel, sweets to suck on are the sort of things I would appreciate.

Buy wet wipes, lip salve, hand cream, small juice boxes, knickers, then look for holiday size makeup wipes, toothpaste, shower gels and soap. After that, nibbles and sucky sweets but not chocolates.

A lovely cosy blanket, magazines that are a bit more unusual than what's available in the hospital WH Smith's. Does she have good headphones? Is her charging cable long enough? And frequent short visits if at all possible.

Make sure that she is able to listen to music of her choice, or search a film if her choice - so if that's not a provision of the hospital and she doesn't have it on her phone - loan of an iPad with earphones ?

Magazines, nice juice, cordial. Have the things in the hamper you gave her been used ?

Flowers if you are allowed to take them in .

As someone who's spent a lot of time in hospital in the past and doesn't enjoy good health generally some things I've been bought that I genuinely loved- or bought myself and found were great.

A kindle with amazon vouchers for books - e-readers are much better than hard copies for anyone in the hospital with a condition that effects eyesight as this might do, as you can alter the size of the text.
Audible subscription - comfortable earphones.
Chilly's water bottle which keeps liquid cold (or hot) for far longer than anything the hospital have available.
Super soft dressing gown, slipper socks and blanket - you really crave that soft feeling, I find, when in a hospital bed.
Dry shampoo
A long USB charger so I could keep my phone and kindle recharged easily without too much getting up
Any longer lasting treats such as biscuits, a box of chocolates or boiled sweets, which are nice - I always most appreciate the plainer things that still felt a little bit of a treat - eg chocolate dipped ginger biscuits, something that isn't too rich when you feel nauseous.
If the hospital allows them brought it then a V pillow or back pillow or 'cuddle cushion'

Not an object but what did help a lot was just maintaining contact and normality of conversation, and offering to pop in at their home (if appropriate or there is not anyone else there) to make sure their house is kept clean, plants watered and so on. It's really reassuring.

How old is she? I'm 40 and recently spent 5 weeks in hospital. I appreciated snacks/fruit as they're limited with the hospital meals. I, like your family member was quite happy with 90% of the meals but was nice to have fruit/nuts etc. to snack on.
I watched a lot of tv on my phone so if you have an iPad or similar could you set that up and use hospital WiFi?
Wishing her a speedy recovery.

I was always freezing in hospital, those thin waffle blankets were never enough even when I asked for extra. If the hospital allows it, maybe you could get a couple of those lovely thick Sherpa fleece blankets. One to wash and one to use, offer to wash it for her regularly and then she gets the added bonus of guaranteed visits.

Will she be up to reading? I was ill for a while, though at home rather than in hospital. All I really wanted to do was listen to audiobooks, podcasts and radio programmes.

Would you be able to download something like that onto an old phone for her? That way she isn’t dependent on wifi. And make sure she has headphones, and charging cables. Or a battery pack?

A close family member had glioblastoma multiforme. For her, the side effects of the illness meant that she wasn’t able to enjoy anything like audio books, though we did have the radio on for her constantly in the hospital and the hospice as she had always loved music.
What she really enjoyed when in hospital was hand cream, and face cream, and a nice bodyas she wasn’t capable of showering (bed baths aren’t the same!).
My condolences- it’s an absolutely horrific disease.

@OilyTussle it really is, all cancers are bastards but there are no words to describe how evil this one is. I’m sorry you and your family have been affected too x