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!!

He has a lockable cabinet

If he's planning on streaming TV, face time, online games etc the hospital WiFi might not be good/quick enough. My DH upped the data package on his mobile and used it as a hot-spot (although that would depend on how good his mobile signal is in the hospital). I think in some hospitals you can pay for better wifi so might be worth seeing which is better value.

He was also in a side-room on his own for months. He read Terry Waites book (about being a hostage) and found it really helpful/inspiring when he was feeling isolated.

All the best x

agree with nice smells - sadly my mental health provoked a mental health disorder which effects my skin so I cant even get the joy I used to form those anymore

HRTFT. I have a life limiting condition so can be a bit of a frequent flier at time. My asbsolute essentials are:
Phone with unlimited data
Chargers
Noise cancelling headphones
Ipad (with Netflix, Prime, Audible, Sky go and YouTube Premium) with lots of downloads, although the hospital I go to has a decent WiFi connection.
Moulded ear plugs
Weighted eye mask
Lip balm and nail brush (plus all the usual toiletries those two items I often forget)
Warm throw for the bed and own pillow
Lots of snacks and drinks.
I have a feeding line (I even bring my own mini drip stand, that's easy to move around with). I usually self-feed and self-medicate when I'm an inpatient so am allowed access to fridge space. I can drink so I take my Stanley cup enabling cold drinks.
Fan if it's hot.
In ICU I was only allowed my phone, no other personal possessions. I assume (I've been in ICU several times) this was because of infection risks. I've always been allowed everything in HDU and normal wards.

Long life snacks would be a priority for me, it’s not nice being dependent on other people to be able to eat.

A long cable for charging phone /tablet and a extention lead that you can plug in a few things.

Consider a subscription to Readly, lots of magazines to flick through.
I wish you both all the luck in the world

Essentials - nail clippers/files and lip balm, along with earplugs. A COVID mask doubles up brilliantly as a sleeping mask! Little boxes of juice, with straws attached are often easier to manage/more tempting than bottles/cups.

Wishing him all the best.

I was in hospital for 5 days recently. Ear plugs and an eye mask are essential, there's a green light that is really bright at night and it makes it hard to sleep. Sliders for the shower and something similar for walking around. Anything to do, puzzle books, tablet with internet access, a subscription to Netflix and Disney / Apple TV etc is a good shout, headphones if he would prefer to watch through those (I did especially at night even in a private room). Big cups that that keeps water cold / tea hot (SHO do good ones and not really expensive) for less trips to the canteen. Snacks if he can have them. Wishing you both the best!

If he's planning on streaming TV, face time, online games etc the hospital WiFi might not be good/quick enough. My DH upped the data package on his mobile and used it as a hot-spot (although that would depend on how good his mobile signal is in the hospital). I think in some hospitals you can pay for better wifi so might be worth seeing which is better value.

He was also in a side-room on his own for months. He read Terry Waites book (about being a hostage) and found it really helpful/inspiring when he was feeling isolated.

All the best x

I got a small Polarbox cooler and it was brilliant, kept food cold for two days minimum and was perfect for being able to store boxed salads, boiled eggs, fruit juice, yoghurt and fresh fruit. My DH would bring me in a bag of food and a bottle of frozen juice or water and the frozen juice/water would keep it cold for a good 48 hours easily. Then he would just bring me another with the next bag. Fitted great under the chair or bed and honestly it saved me from the terrible carb heavy hospital food. I also really appreciated my clean insulated travel mug and often went to the cafe to get a coffee/tea in it and it broke up the day and gave me a reason to move about and get some steps in.

#snoozeband, great for sleeping and listening to music or audiobooks if struggling to sleep.
#Foam earplugs
#Kobo e reader - can download library books, possible magazines and newspapers
#Mouth wash
#Waterbottle
#snacks like cereal bars

I’m really enjoying playing online Rummikub atm, would he be interested in that?

Oh was. Just about to comment that I started a previous thread which was incredibly helpful.

my favourite was bringing a clip to attach phone wires etc to bedsheets. Packing cubes helped me organise stuff. And CPD really helped pass the time. I also changed my phone data to unlimited so on the days it went patchy, I could use my phone or hotspot. Oh and your own water bottle!

Get him a couple of books of funny short stories or essays. I give copies of Robert Benchley, a humorist of a century ago. If he's a smart guy who likes to learn things, maybe something comparable to "Don't Know Much About History," by Kenneth Davis.

Also, consider getting him one or two magazine subscriptions, preferably weekly ones. I'm sure the hospital will route them to him, just as they would get-well cards. That will be a nice surprise for him when they suddenly appear out of nowhere.

https://dontknowmuch.com/

I’d suggest an insulated water bottle maybe with straw to keep water/squash cold.Staff can provide ice. Warm hospital water from a plastic glass isn’t very pleasant to drink.
And some travel sweets/mints

Edited for typo

In terms of boredom and that length of stay, I found once I’d been there for a few days and understood the general timings it was so helpful for my mind to have a sort of routine, but also to base it on the events rather than the time on the clock. E.g go for a walk around the corridor after the ward round, watch a film after lunch, stretches after dinner. It gave me something to do next, when everything feels a bit aimless

Take fresh fruit when you visit. It’s very scarce on hospital menus unfortunately.

I'd get him a snooze band or equivalent. Something soft he can listen to audio books on.

You can get a three month Audible trial for 99p. You get one credit a month but there are loads of free ones or podcasts. Choose something long for your credit - I recommend the Strike books for good value in this respect as they are long and well narrated.

Some sort of tablet you can download content from I player and Netflix. You may need to take it home to refresh the content on WiFi every few days.

If you get him a jigsaw I'd go for something small sized but a reasonable challenge so it fits on the tray table. Like this amzn.eu/d/2VvXxzj

For me the most essential things were ear plugs, eye mask, travel kettle (they only bring you hot drinks at mealtimes, I need them way more often) Netflix etc on your phone/tablet
Joggers and loose t shirts so tubes etc can be uncompromised, front button shirts/PJ tops

OP, is he going to Cambridge?

If so, I spent four months in there last year for the same reason.

Regardless of which hospital, what I’ll say is this:

Take the time to get to know other patients, I don’t know the setup at other hospitals but they often have facilities for this.

Exercise as much as possible. The physio’s call it prehab. The fitter you are pre transplant, the easier the recovery will be post transplant, assuming there are no complications.

It’s not possible to put a time on it. They say six months, and that will have been calculated based on stats and his matching criteria etc, but the truth is that once he’s on the active list a heart could come up at any time. And when it does, it’s not guaranteed that the surgery will go ahead.

But I know people who were in for six weeks before going down, having been prepared for a lengthy stay, and others who were there for months having been told they should get a heart soon.

I personally had two false alarms before my actual surgery, another friend had three, and another had six.

If it’s Cambridge I can hopefully offer much more support, but either way I’m happy to answer any questions. I’m almost 8 months post transplant now, am back at work full-time and have had very few post op complications.

To people advising lots of drinks etc he will likely be on a 1500ml fluid restriction and a fluid chart, so will have to monitor very carefully what he drinks.

And if he’s on dopamine or one of the other optimising drugs he won’t be allowed off the ward. Without a nurse present. And in some hospitals I believe they don’t even allow that.

You've had a lot of good recommendations on this thread. I think I would try and divvy them up into categories so you can work out what to prioritise. E.g.:

Clothing

• Comfy clothes - all labelled
• Method for separating clean from dirty
• Method for organising clean clothes without a wardrobe - a load of packing cubes maybe?

Personal

• Razor
• Named case for glasses
• possibly name the glasses
• named anything else he needs (hearing aids etc)
• named bag to store them all in

Storage

• a way of organising his bedside cabinet maybe?
• bags to enable him to organise anything like books - read/unread so he can give you read ones back again

Entertainment

• iPad
• consider Kindle if he has the brain power for it
• magazine subscription?
• puzzle books?
• big charging block (I have one from Anker) in case the plugs are inconveniently located
• checking out WiFi and 5G etc. lots of hospitals seem to be like faraday cages

Food and drink

• fruit
• does he want a chiller bag/box
• big insulated water bottle and/or coffee cup?
• is the tea/coffee drinkable or do you need to take in your own teabags? Especially if e.g. he's on decaf because of his heart

Sleep

• earplugs
• eye mask (you can get moulded ones that block out all light and don't press annoyingly on your face)
• music headband for sleep
• blanket (again, labelled)

I’ll add to this.

The hospital will have recommendations as per what to take/not to take.

If RPH hospital there is a decent-ish amount of storage, not a hideously huge amount, but the rooms are a decent size and all have their own bathrooms, so toiletries etc can be stored in there.

Again things like water bottles are a bit of a no-no as they’re a potential infection risk as there may not be adequate facilities to wash them out properly, especially if you’re drinking anything other than water out of them.

The tap water in hospitals often isn’t drinkable and they’ll bring water round for that reason which will be frequently replenished.

Remember the more you take the more you have to pack up when he goes down to surgery. He won’t be going back up to the same room, so they’ll come and tell him it’s time, they’ll take him down, and you’ll need to pack up everything and take it away with you because he’ll be going back to critical care after surgery.

My son was in hospital for 10 months in 2024-early 2025 including 7 weeks in intensive care. It was completely unplanned and we literally ended up at the hospital at 4am with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

Try not to plan too much, I know it is difficult but the world of intensive care and long hospital stays are so unpredictable and you might want to wait until you have a better idea about storage etc too.

My son was 8-9 at the time so I'm just including the things that might apply to an adult too.

extension cable (plugs always seemed to be in awkward locations)
ipad
warm blanket
mini fan
favourite snack stash (the hospital menu soon gets old when you've been in for months)
pillow
eye mask
ear plugs (he had noise cancelling head phones too)
huge water bottle
any other entertainment (my son eventually had his PS5 brought to him)