Question:
I'm thinking I will probably be pretty bored in the hospital...
Can anyone help me with ideas of what to do so I can think about this some more? I know some ideas are CDs, magazines, books, books on tapes. I'm a fairly-"crafty" person, but of course don't want to lug a big project in there. I can crochet, but I usually give up about the time I have a 2 inch wide neck scarf. I guess I can bring cards. I'm having my surgery (lap) a week from Monday and won't get to go home until Thursday afternoon - I can only stand so much TV. Any more ideas? — bethybb (posted on July 18, 2003)
July 18, 2003
You will not get bored I assure you. You need to get extra sleep. You
will be walking the halls a lot. You will be visiting with other bypass
patients. I do suggest keeping a diary and writing your thoughts down
while you are there. Take some paper and write those letters you have been
putting off. Good Luck
— MARSHA D.
July 18, 2003
I also had Lap. I slept alot, I brought stuff to do, but just slept. The
first 3 days at home I slept also. I tried to get some hand sewing in, but
my attention span wasn't too good. My mom (an RN) said that is a side
effect of anesthesia for some people.
— M B.
July 18, 2003
Trust me you will not be bored. All you will want to do is sleep. I took
magazines, book etc. and never took them out of the bag. Between the nurses
and dr's doing what they need to do I couldn't wait to get home just to
sleep in peace. You will be so sleepy.
— Regina J.
July 18, 2003
I had lap RNY and was in on Tuesday, out on Thursday. The only thing I
took with me was a Reader's Digest and I barely looked at that.
Personally, I would discourage you from taking anything valuable, such as a
CD or tape player, to the hospital. Sometimes things have a way of
disappearing. If you want to take a crafty thing, take something small to
work on. (Maybe a little counted cross stitch or something like that). As
a nurse, I can tell you that having a lot of "stuff" around made
it more difficult for me to work around a patient. I can tell you that I
was pretty much "get up and go" and didn't spend very much time
in bed, but the pain medication did make me somewhat drowsy the first day,
and I talked to other patients and staff on the floor while I was out
walking around in the halls. Watched some TV, but daytime TV really sucks,
even when you are on drugs. If you are bored and restless - you probably
need to go home!
— koogy
July 18, 2003
LOL, I take it that this is your first major surgery. Hon, I tell ya! you
will not have any interest in any of it. You can take it if you like, but
trust me you will not use them. No, I didn't bother in taking anything for
pleasure, cause I had operations before. and I knew that it was going to be
somewhat hard and painful. You will mostly be sleeping, cause of all the
drugs they used on you. I do wish I had a desk size fan. But what ever you
do don't take a truck load. LOL Just kidding. I know you won't.
— Naes Wls J.
July 18, 2003
The others are right, you won't need all that stuff, as you'll be spending
alot of time sleeping. I brought a magazine with me and barely read 1/4 of
it-did watch some TV but mostly slept or walked or had visitors. The
personal fan is the best thing I brought with me, that and chapstick for
the lips.
— Cindy R.
July 18, 2003
When you're bored, walk, walk, walk and then walk some more. Gets you
started in fine form and passes the time pretty well.
— Cathy S.
July 18, 2003
I thought I would be bored too, and I took sooooo much stuff to the
hospital with me. Didn't touch anything. What a waste. My mom had to
carry it all back out to the car when we were leaving. I would say maybe
1 magazine is going to be enough for the whole stay. I didn't read a
single magazine or book, listen to any CD's or even watch 5 minutes of
television. If I was awake, I was walking or peeing, otherwise, I was
sleeping. Good Luck to you.
— Janet S.
July 18, 2003
Sleep, Walk, Sleep, Walk, Walk, Sleep...you won't be bored. In fact you'll
probably be begging them to let you sleep.
— D L.
July 18, 2003
I packed lots of things to do and never did them. The first day is your
surgery so you'll be pretty sleepy. The second day you'll be in some
discomfort and have visitors but still be sleepy. By day 3 you should be
fine and ready to go home. You might have the time to do stuff on Thursday
but you'll probably just be biding your time til you go home. Good luck
and God Bless!
— Kimberly L.
July 18, 2003
Honey, you are not even going to want anything to do! LOL!! The best thing
I can suggest is a tiny radio with clip-on ear phones. It was a God send
for my hubby who had a roomy who snored LOUD! LOL!! Anything else is too
hard to concentrate on when you have that much morophine inyour
systemn!LOL!
— Sharon m. B.
July 18, 2003
Sweetie, I promise you, you'll be too busy hitting the nurse call button
for morphine to even care about anything to do. You won't be bored.
Between getting yourself up (which takes a good 15 minutes to do because of
the bed and the soreness) and walking down the hall, trotting (yeah right)
to the bathroom with the runs from the medicine they give you for the leak
test, you won't have time to be bored. By the time you get back into bed,
you'll want morphine and a nap... lol. Those that come to stay with you
might appreciate something to do while you sleep, so bring some magazines
or electronic hand held games for them. Take care and God bless!
— Happy I.
July 18, 2003
The only thing I used was my CD player. Believe me, you're going to sleep
and sleep and sleep.
— susanje
July 21, 2003
Well, I did a beautiful cross stitch - while my husband was having and
recovering from surgery!! I took knitting and magazines with me for mine
and never touched them. The first two days you are out of it by the third
day you are bored but you have the attention span of a gnat and staying in
one position doesn't work well. Good luck.
— Sunny S.
July 24, 2003
I barely even had my tv on ... 85% of the time I was sleeping
— Karyn B
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