A young woman I know who is a fellow volunteer at my animal shelter was admitted to the hospital Christmas Eve with complications due to her lupus. Last night I had the gift shop send up a Christmas bouquet and a stuffed animal (a dog because we are both dog volunteers) so her room would at least be somewhat Christmassy. I spoke this evening with another fellow volunteer who had been to see her this afternoon who said things are pretty grim, but Emily is in good spirits. She is expected to be in the hospital at least a week.
Tomorrow after work is the soonest I can visit. After talking with the other volunteer, I am definitely going to pick up some magazines and a puzzle book or two as she said Emily was bored and had read everything she had. I am looking for other things to bring. Nice lotion (unscented) maybe? or lip balm? What else? She can’t have food or drink, so no candy. I am just feeling at a loss.
When I was in the hospital following my heart surgery, the one thing that kept away the boredom was a copy of Games Magazine. But not knowing your friend, I have no idea whether she’d appreciate it as much as I did.
When my spouse has been in the hospital he’s always wanted somewhat normal clothes - usually t-shirts, if that’s allowed. When I was in the hospital a decade ago he brought me a robe to wear. I found the comb supplied by the hospital useless and he also brought in a real hairbrush for me. I can’t stand having socks on my feet all the time, but the staff wouldn’t let me walk around barefoot so I got the OK for a cheap pair of flip-flops instead for when I got out of bed.
Might be a good idea to either check with the patient and/or nurses to make sure something is allowed - t-shirts would be an issue with someone with IV’s, for example. And I had to get my flip-flops approved. If a robe won’t work due to IV lines perhaps a shawl would work? Being in the hospital is miserable enough, being in a hospital and chilly is worse.
Of course, games and books and good choices (I was bored out of my mind when I started feeling better) but I wanted to throw in a few different type suggestions.
The hospital gives patients little “hygiene packs”. They usually have small packs of facial tissues, razor, shaving cream, etc in them. When you run out of tissues, they bring you another pack. It was only after I got out and the bill came that I found out my insurance didn’t cover them, because they are listed as “convenience items”. (BTW, I was charged $10 per pack).
So when I go visit friends in the hospital, I usually bring a big box of tissues, and other hygiene related items that are in those packs. I may spend a little over $10, but my pack will last the whole time and they aren’t hit with a surprise when the bill comes.
A lap desk would have been really nice the last time I was in the hospital for a few days. And an extension cord so I could run my laptop or charge my cell phone easily would be great too.
Reading material can be great, but some of the meds I was on made reading a bit difficult. Easier would have been audiobooks loaded onto an iPod or similar device. Even a radio with earbuds would have been a welcome relief.
And then any craft items that your friend could do while in bed might help keep her distracted. Crochet, cross stitch embroidery, knitting, or whatever.
Will they let her shower? If not, I’d suggest dry shampoo.
When I was in the hospital for several days three years ago, I couldn’t take a shower. Once I had recovered enough from the surgery to care about other stuff, what drove me nuts was how dirty my hair was. The nurses gave me some gel that was supposed to clean my hair, but it didn’t really work.
You are a good friend. I am going to second or third the coloring idea. When my mother-in-law was in the hospital we got her some. It really passes the time. Does she have access to a table? What about a jigsaw puzzle?
Thank you for all the suggestions. I just got home from visiting her. This visit I ended up getting the adult coloring book and some nice pencils, a couple of magazines and cute make-up bag that I put moisturizing facial wipes, lip balm, hand lotion and some very cute hair bands in for her.
Sadly, she is much sicker than I realized. Her kidneys are just not working right now and she was about 45 minutes into a 2½ hour dialysis treatments when I left. She was starting to fall asleep and I didn’t want her to try to stay awake for me. Her parents were both there. I had not met them before, and we couldn’t talk much as they are both soft-spoken and English is their second language, but they seemed very happy that I came by.