Ideas for a long hospital admission

[longadmission]

I am about to be admitted to hospital for a few weeks, not sure on the exact length of time yet. I have a few puzzle books, and have loaded up my kindle. There's decent wifi so can watch netflix/disney/prime. Can anyone recommend anything to keep me occupied, preferably things I can order form amazon for family to bring in. Always open to more puzzle book or programme/movie recommendations. I'm normally very active so this will be a nightmare for me!

There is so much stuff on BBC Sounds, between that and Audible I never need to read again! Although I do

Pillow and pilllwcase!!! Significantly changes how you feel I found. Best of luck x

Diamond art kits. I like the coasters and key rings. They are a little more manageable than the big pictures and you have something to use after.

Adult sticker books! They are so much fun and less messy than colouring. There's loads to choose from. I got my friend a music one for her long stay and another friend one that was a mindfulness one.

Audio books are a great thing for when you can't sleep. Download your favourite one as a comfort.

Vaseline for your lips and some nice handcream. Give yourself a little hand massage.

Cross stitch? Or you could teach yourself to crochet from YouTube?

Hope you’re better soon @longadmission

Get noise cancelling headphones. DC was recently in for a couple of weeks and the number of alarms that went unanswered and machines such as drips that beeped incessantly was really stressful to listen to. Between the alarms etc. and other patients talking loudly on their phones on speaker or with groups of visitors, I couldn’t wait to get out of there each day.

A basket, not too big nor too small, so you chuck in your book, pen, packet of sweets, and basically clear the deck for your meals or drag it onto your lap to retrieve things.

there are some super fun embroidery kits on Etsy, you’d just need a small pair of scissors to cut the threads. Def Audible, YouTube to learn things like embroidery stitches or crochet etc.

Will you be able to safely move bits of your body? If you are an active person and are allowed to move your arms, then maybe some tension bands for arm exercises ditto legs

some of those physical logic puzzles, so moving bits to unlock the parts

sign up for youtube tv and netflix and watch other people being active????

anything you can think of that will protect your sleep.. hospital is the 7th level of hell as regards being supportive of good sleep quality and quantity

Audio books are fantastic, especially with noise cancelling headphones. I used them for falling asleep to. Also good for pretending you can't hear your bed neighbours if you're anti social 😳.

Do you do any crafts? Knitting, cross stitch etc?

A bit luxurious but I bought 2 large thermos mugs, kept one at home and DH brought ice in it for me as I hate drinking warm water. The ice kept really well and we swapped the thermos mugs over the next day.

A good quality pair of ear plugs and a sleep eye masks

There's loads of noises in a ward - snoring, coughing, doors opening/closing, cleaners
Lights - lights over people beds on , 6am light up on wards !

If you're into podcasts, I recommend snoozeband headphones. They're headphones on a soft flat band that are comfy when lying down. My husband got me some for Christmas and they're the best gift I've ever received.

Not an activity as such (or at all), but invest in a couple of pairs of ear plugs if you're going to be on a bay. It will help you sleep.

I echo noise cancelling headphones. I suggest downloading a white noise app onto your phone, they have lot of options to choose from, babbling brooks to forest sounds. Very good for masking hospital noises.

Noise reducing headphones, long phone cord, audible sub, sauces etc to put on food, protein drinks if you can tolerate them

I have had a couple of admissions that were over a week, and after the first time I purchased 2 extra long charger cables and a double socketed plug for them. Also a small fan with usb plug, I find hospitals too hot!
another thing, the jugs of water are always Luke warm! So I would ask for the icy cold water from the water fountain, and once was mobile would go get it myself!
oh and if you have the misfortune to have to take the dissolvable potassium tablets! Melt them in squash or fresh orange juice, and just neck it like a shot 🤣🫣
you can also get really fun adult colouring books which can fill time xx
best wishes x

Assuming you'll have a laptop with you, you could join ancestry.com and build a family tree. Even more fun if you've taken a DNA test, but you may not have time to do this before your hospital stay.

English paper piecing! A patchwork technique I always have on hand! I do hexagons and eventually I will have a quilt top

I’ve just been in for a week (medical, thankfully no long term complications)

Things I was very glad I had (some by accident as I took my handbag): Vaseline for dry lips after oxygen. Chewing gum from when I couldn’t get up to clean my teeth. My own pillow (some beds had none).
light snacks - ritz crackers and sweets in my case.
if you are not a big water drinker take a bottle of squash
book and reading glasses.
tissues
phone charger and maybe a spare

things I wish I’d had - or managed to get brought in:
dry shampoo - couldn’t have a shower for various reasons including trying to navigate 02 cylinder and cannula.
eye mask - there were 6 ceiling lights and only 4 got turned off at night.
light dressing gown and pj bottoms even if (like a pp) you only usually wear a nightie.

you may already know this but I found out that in our hospital the tea trolley also has biscuits and cakes in manageable little packets. This might be useful to know or yours may be different - the busy staff didn’t always offer. Also at ours some staff are better than others at explaining the menu ordering. I found out for example I could order crackers and cheese as an extra pudding and save it for supper. It’s a long time between 5pm dinner and 7am breakfast! Also if you order yogurt or ice cream as a pudding they may have fresh fruit you can ask for along with it.

I was wondering if you were maybe in for a big op, as the self administered fentanyl certainly helped me pass the time! 😁 But I see that's not the case.

You definitely need good earplugs. The ones you want are called laser lite, they're pink and yellow. You don't hear a thing. One of the nurses apologised to me one morning for the confused old lady shouting all night. I hadn't heard it at all.

This quiz, questions just need matching with answers https://www.hammondpropertyservices.com/files/ww/The%20Literary%20Characters%20Quiz%202024.pdf , Answers available soon
and if you can do basic knit/purl knitting, try googling Izzy dolls, often knitted for charities.

Shamelessly PMK for great ideas for when the long imagined downtime becomes possible.

Subscribe to Duolingo and start learning a language?
Hope your spell in hospital helps you 😊

Apologies if someone has already suggested it, but diamond art is fairly slow and time consuming but very satisfying.

OP 'Pretty much in to put on weight as I've not been able to keep weight on so much mentally...' wow....well done you for just saying it, what a heavy load. So you clearly need to be busy/focused...lots of fab advice on here...adult colouring books/puzzles...podcasts etc., or just maybe....trying to look at yourself and love you for you?? Sorry sounds deep but hopefully may help...so sorry if I waaaayyy off xx

I’d take a water bottle with you. I was in hospital recently and the glasses in the water dispenser must have only been about 100ml. I was up and down like a yo-yo to top up.

I echo a PP who said it’s really dry in there - lip balm, hand cream and a decent body moisturiser will make you feel much better.

Two player games like Top Trumps are good for when you have visitors.

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Adjustable Tablet stand for watching programmes on your iPad.