What You Should Bring to a Hospital…
SAVE ME FOR LATER; A Listicle
Hi Readers, Welcome! If you’re new here, check out some other posts from my book-in-progress. The book also includes practical tips like the ones below. If you’ve got other suggestions, add them to the comments! I’d love to hear what helped you.
I started writing this book six months ago while on dialysis. It’s intended to be both memoir and a practical tool to help folks who might be going through something similar or those caregivers and family supporting someone with a challenging diagnosis. I hope to include excerpts here as I write. NOTE: This is not intended to replace actual medical guidance. Please consult your doctors on your individual challenges and situations.
What you should bring to a hospital…
Send this list to family and friends if you anticipate a hospital stay.
Phone charger with long long long cord. You just don’t know how far away those plugs are. Facetime/Video chat is your friend as well as the audio-to-text recording, so you don’t have to type when you are weak. You can also get a meditation app or a white noise app for rest and sleeping. Also podcasts and the streaming apps are great because basic cable gets… basic.
Tea bags. You can always get warm water in the hospital and a cozy tea from home always made me feel better. They often have a black and herbal tea already, but it’s nice to have your favorite.
Big headphones. Trust me when I say it’s hard to keep track of your things in a hospital. Especially when you can’t move, and your rooms change. Tiny earbuds are bound to get lost.
Moisturizer. They have petroleum jelly somewhat, but odds are your moisturizer from home is better.
A Brush (and some hair ties if you have long hair). They tend to only have plastic combs and trust me- your hair is not a priority to them. You might get a nurse or clinical partner who’s willing to shampoo but that is a luxury. If you have long hair, braids are your best friend.
A blanket from home. Hospital blankets are fine. But the aren’t comforting. Your extra blanket from home will make you feel better and connect you to home and be a pop of color in a drab hospital room.
A good pillow. Pillows are your best friends in the hospital and the hospital ones are subpar. We’ll discuss pillow architecture later.
Photos of yourself and loved ones from when you were well. It’s a nice thing to look at but it’s really for your doctors. Make sure they see them. It gives them an idea of what “well” looks like on you.
Hard Candy. While it’s helpful if you have a liquid restriction, be sure to share the candy with your nurses, doctors, clinical partners, and phlebotomists. Plus, they might check on you more because they also want candy.
Slippers. They have those socks, but slippers are so sweet to your feet.
Eye mask. Sometimes you get a break in the middle of the day and sleeping at night can be a challenge in a hospital. Bring a mask, you’ll use it.
A photo of your prescriptions and vitamins. A list works too.
If you’re going to the ER (and you’re not unconscious or bleeding profusely from your skull), grab a go-bag or backpack. Add snacks and water because you could be waiting a while. Include the long phone charger and a book. It’s usually a waiting game, even when you’re not in the waiting room. Note; eat the snacks in the waiting room if you have to wait through meal times, because once you’re in the back, you might have a food restriction. And ice chips make a lame dinner, trust me.
Check out the sister post: What NOT to bring to a hospital. xo
SUPER SPECIAL THANK YOU TO CHRIS TAICH AND BETSY LUPETIN, MY FIRST **PAID** SUBSCRIBERS. It means so much to me to have your encouragement. When the days get long, work is busy, and parenting gets hectic, it means a great deal that this effort, writing this book and doing this Substack, is supported by such an amazing community.
Gratefully yours,
TC