Hospital stays, my daughter has spent more time than we'd like in hospitals. She's stayed for simple procedures that just required an overnight stay and she has also spent long visits in ICU. The longest was almost 10 weeks.
Most of her hospitalizations haven't been near our home. The children's hospitals she has been in are well over an hour away.
There are so many things you don't think of when you're away from home for an extended period of time. Thankfully my sister lives close and has always been our gal to go to in these times. She has done everything from clean out our fridge to bury our cat that died while we were gone. She's probably even laundered my dirty undies and brought me extras while we were gone.
Grace was usually in good spirits when she was hospitalized. I can only think of a couple of days that she didn't want visitors. Both times were because of unbelievable pain.
It's not easy to ask people not to come on those days, but during rough times the patients feelings are more important than the visitors. On that note I must say that I am so thankful for the visits we had. My mom didn't drive long distances and we have a couple friends that worked a trip to visit into their weekly plans and would bring my mom and sister to visit. Grace was always so excited to see them.
If you have someone to visit in a hospital far from their home I would like to make a suggestion. Find out what they want from home, especially if there is a child involved, Grace has a doll that went through every hospitalization with her, some days she just wanted a certain type of candy. It's not easy to be a parent far from home either, I remember one year we had to have someone bring us our tax things so I could finish our taxes while we were there. Some days you have no idea what you want because you really can't think. Just a homemade sandwich can be a comfort. Mostly it's just a hug or phone call that helps.
Most of her hospitalizations haven't been near our home. The children's hospitals she has been in are well over an hour away.
There are so many things you don't think of when you're away from home for an extended period of time. Thankfully my sister lives close and has always been our gal to go to in these times. She has done everything from clean out our fridge to bury our cat that died while we were gone. She's probably even laundered my dirty undies and brought me extras while we were gone.
Grace was usually in good spirits when she was hospitalized. I can only think of a couple of days that she didn't want visitors. Both times were because of unbelievable pain.
It's not easy to ask people not to come on those days, but during rough times the patients feelings are more important than the visitors. On that note I must say that I am so thankful for the visits we had. My mom didn't drive long distances and we have a couple friends that worked a trip to visit into their weekly plans and would bring my mom and sister to visit. Grace was always so excited to see them.
If you have someone to visit in a hospital far from their home I would like to make a suggestion. Find out what they want from home, especially if there is a child involved, Grace has a doll that went through every hospitalization with her, some days she just wanted a certain type of candy. It's not easy to be a parent far from home either, I remember one year we had to have someone bring us our tax things so I could finish our taxes while we were there. Some days you have no idea what you want because you really can't think. Just a homemade sandwich can be a comfort. Mostly it's just a hug or phone call that helps.
Thanks for posting this. One doesn't really stop to think of what someone else may want or need regardless of whether that person is in the hospital or not. You are lucky to have such a wonderful support system behind you. Your daughter is lucky to have you and them.
ReplyDeletewow such an eye opener you just don't think of all that, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comments :)
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