Help me plan for a long hospital stay

[LongHospitalStay]

My husband will be going into hospital on Monday and will likely be in for six months or more.

Please help me decide what’s good to pack.

He will be wearing day clothes for the first while - we’ve been told joggers and t shirts with easy access for monitors and IVs will be good.

He’s not a big reader, but doesn’t want to sit and watch tv all day.

help!!

Just pack for the first week ( presuming you’re visiting regularly ?) , storage is very limited and you’ll need to do his washing and bring it back .

Comfortable ear plugs and a decent eye mask are essential. Nice socks and sliders for pottering about as he'll need shoes for moving around but trying to put them on is a pain. Does he do any craft? Would he enjoy escape the room type books? Computer games? On that note, ear phones for his laptop and an extension cable.

Audiobooks? Bluetooth headphones and something to access the internet to watch what he is interested in?

how unwell/ immobile will he be?

jigsaw board and jigsaws?

puzzle book

lego kit

learn to knot or crochet?

I'm not sure you can plan. He won't have much storage space unless he's in a private room. Usually you only have the bed cabinet and over bed table which is fairly limiting.

The main thing is to remember devices, chargers and cables (label with his name and don't let anyone borrow them) . Take some noise cancelling headphones and a fleecy blanket. When packing toiletries, an electric razor and body wipes are good for when he can't mobilise. Don't forget something for his feet. A bag to put his dirty laundry in is useful as you'll be to-ing and fro-ing with that.

A lot will also depend on what he's in for and the ward type. If he's having major surgery, he won't feel like doing much for a while.

A kindle? They’re small, slim and backlit so can be read at night.

Join ‘Bookbub’ for suggestions of books he may enjoy (you put in preferences and suggests books). Authors such as Robert Harris, John Marr, Bill Bryson, James Patterson, David Baldacci te may enjoy.

(I know you said he’s not a reader but he may like this)

Duolingo - learn a foreign language

Scrabble or other games online

wishing his surgery every success, and also sending love to you also

A multiplug extension lead is really useful, so that he can charge phone, laptop etc at the same time without needing to block all of the plug sockets which they use for medical stuff.

Could he do audio books? You can download those from your local library for free.

He will have a private room, which is good.

I will be visiting regularly but not daily - the logistics are tricky. He’s in a hospital 90 minutes from me and I also have to fit in work, so I’ll probably visit three times a week.

Mobility wise he will be on a permanent IV from day one, but will be able to walk around a bit, and encouraged to do so.

I’m so much concerned at the moment about post op, as that’s a whole new world, but he will have an indefinite wait until he has a heart transplant, and that’s a pretty difficult wait.

A pillow, or at least your own pillowcase. Lots of ideas on this thread too https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5393731-items-to-prepare-for-long-term-hospital-stay?utmcampaign=thread&utmmedium=appshare
All the best to him, and to you too x

Six months is such a long time

I agree with a lot of the suggestions on here. Having a way of shutting out yhe noise should be helpful. My DM was in for just under a month in the Summer and almost every time I went into the ward the TV was blaring and nobody was watching it. I’d ask the patients who were awake if they wanted it on or off and each time they all asked for the tv to be turned off.

My list would probably be:

Some small snacks in case he’s hungry

Sliders

Warm socks

The laundry bag suggested above is a really good idea. It will stop his dirty clothes getting mixed up with the clean and help you with transportation too.

Eye drops and body lotion, Hospitals can be very drying.

An easy to use water bottle where the opening is covered to help with infection prevention.

A magazine in something he might be interested in.

A notebook and pen.

A photo of DC or DGC in a frame. We always take these in if a family member has a Hospital stay and it acts as conversation starter with the staff.

A box of tissues.

A bottle of his favourite squash.

Agree on the storage space. I once did 2 months and my family were refreshing clothes and supplies everyday. I had a private room but no storage so everything in separate bags.

remembers it likely to be quite a hot and dry environment. I really appreciated nice drinks and snacks. The food if NHS can be a bit odd and very carby so you can be hungry for protein and veg. I found breakfast was very small generally and dinner is early you might want to plan for that. I was pregnant tho!

I enjoyed an extra pillow, long charging cables, slippers and dressing gown. I had to go out of my room to the communal showers everyday so dressing gown and a bag to have fresh clothes in. Possibly extra towel although I found they were quite generous if I asked.

they days have a rhythm to them and I called it hospital time - 4 hourly obs, food deliveries *3 and generally a consultant round meant I was rarely alone for long and had zero ability to focus. I took a project in though though and even though I didnt actually do much on it.

Sending support and best wishes 💐
DH recently had a 6 week stay in hospital and had open heart surgery.

He used his kindle fire a lot doing different types of sudoku. He also read loads and did lots of crosswords. We used the hospital's WiFi to do Jay's Pub Quiz (on YouTube).

Hospital beds aren't very comfortable and DH developed a bed sore from sitting on his bed for so long, so a comfortable cushion for sitting on might be an idea. I would also take along nice things to eat as the hospital food he was given was dreadful. DH lost his appetite after his operation and it took several weeks to get it back. The meds he was on affected his taste buds as well.

I hope your DH doesn't have to wait too long for his operation and makes a good recovery. Six months in hospital is a long time. And please make time for yourself. I was lucky that I had support from several friends who kept inviting me over for meals.

The thing I couldn’t do with out was headphones on a soft band. It’s horrible if you can’t sleep and these really helped, popped them on and dozed off listening to a book or podcast.
https://amzn.eu/d/9pu1iyA

I agree with the ear plugs, one of my admissions was an emergency so I had nothing with me and I ended up with a woman singing hymns in the next bed.

Label everything, hospitals are easy picking for thieves.

Does he wear a watch? If so he needs to wear it 24/7, if it is a good / nice watch you might want to swap it for an Argos basic watch.

I always find hospitals too hot so I agree with getting some squash for a change to the hospital water. Face wipes can also help him keep 'fresh'.

On the reading, maybe a book you can dip in to rather than read from cover to cover. Or something like identifying birds.

On the subject of birds there is an app where you record birdsong and it identifies the birds for you.

Do you have Netflix? It might be worth getting it if you don't have it already.

Sign up the the OU or other learning site?

Will he be well enough to concentrate much? I do short free online courses on lily future learn website which add to my CV. Might be useful when he's home and well to have kept his CV updated in this time.

Can you give us a clue to how much mobility, mental energy etc he will have? Will he have treatments or is he being observed?

So much depends on how much time he will get to walk around/be in the garden etc. he might not want to watch mindless tv but could he catch up with great films, prestige series etc

books would be my saviour but maybe he’s enjoy a small art kit

dont forget toiletries - you do get weirdly smelly not moving much

I had a mattress topper and my own pillows. Hospital ones were plasticky and the covers slid off.

If he has a fridge (normally labelled not for food - just meds) I would have some bottles of water topped up with juice in there, just keep filling them and keeping them cool as they like you to drink plenty. Yoghurts, mini cheeses to have with crackers.

I kept a small kettle stashed in the cupboard so I could make my cuppa when I wanted.
Food was diabolical so keep a good stash of brekky bars, snacks, etc.

One thing I did with my DM’s clothes was to lay a day’s compete outfit out in the bed and then roll it up so that when she went for a shower, she could take one roll wirh her and know that she had everything that she needed.

For the first few weeks he should have decent enough mobility, but his concentration levels are shot.

My DF was like this for a while after an operation.

Normally he would read things like the New Scientist but I ended up buying him the Beano to flick through because although he had full cognition, his concentration just wasn’t there.

He does like chess - I’ve just ordered a folding chess set, so that he and visitors can play together, so that’s something.

ive also ordered a couple of packs of cards.

He will have an iPad with him, so he’s planning on watching tv shows with our adult kids via FaceTime so they can spend time together whenever they can’t be there

I don’t have any new suggestions, except maybe some loose change if they have a sales cart come by each day he could buy a paper or magazine, they sell semi ok snacks and maybe stamps and cards if he wanted to send one. But not all hospitals have this service.
I am wishing him well 🧸

You can do chess on Duolingo, which is great for practising and learning techniques