Chris was just talking to our friend J. She lives out of town with her husband, but in three weeks she’ll be in Toronto for open heart surgery! She’s had some heart problems for a while and it’s time to get them fixed before her problem gets worse.
When we talked to J’s husband earlier in the week we invited him to stay with us while his wife is in the hospital. He hadn’t even thought of where he might stay or even how much parking would cost if he spent most of the day in the hospital at his wife’s bedside.
We aren’t sure how long our friend will be in the hospital, but we do know she’ll be sedated and intubated for a few days after the surgery so that she can recover from the surgery better, so I expect she’ll be in the hospital for one to two weeks or longer. Can you imagine how much it would cost her husband to stay in a hotel and to park his car at the hospital on and off for two weeks? Or to drive back and forth from where they live (two hours from Toronto)? Yeah, so he’ll save a LOT of money if he stays with us!
Anyway … I know what being in the hospital is like. It’s noisy, it’s boring and if you aren’t feeling well it’s even worse. It’s nice to have friends and relatives drop in, but that can make you even more tired. So I was trying to think of something that we could get our friend so that she could pass the time in the hospital.
I just visited Buy.com to check out their weekly sale page, but I didn’t find anything that might be appropriate for someone recovering from surgery in the hospital. Then I had a great idea. Why not get her a portable DVD player? I was looking at the Philips DCP750 and it looks like it has all the features she’d need.
Now I just have to secretly find out if she has a portable DVD player and if she’d be allowed to use it while she’s in the hospital. I’m pretty sure that once she’s out of Intensive Care she’d probably be allowed to use it. It would certainly be a great way to pass the time and both she and her husband could spend time watching movies on the DVD player.
Does that sound like a good gift for someone spending a couple of weeks in the hospital? Any other ideas?
My mom had heart surgery and she bought herself a little DVD player and she loved it! she used it for a long time during here recuperation. Maybe you can ask her if you can buy her a movie or two and if she says she doesn’t have a DVD player, you know it’s a perfect gift for her?
Sounds like a thoughtful gift. Go for it.
An Arkie’s Musings
If you do find out that she already has one, how about getting some DVDs? I really LOVE a good marathon when I’m sick, so find out what show or movies she loves and get her a season or series she doesn’t have. When I have the flu, nothing is more comforting than a good X-Files or Buffy marathon, so I pull out a season’s box and slip it right in the player!
Kat I’m glad to hear that your mother enjoyed using her DVD player during her recuperation. Sorry to hear that she had to have heart surgery though!
I still haven’t found out if my friend has a DVD player or not yet. I’d better do that soon! If she does, yes, getting some movies to play in it would be a good idea. I could also lend her some of our DVD movies too (we have lots!).
Richies – good to hear that it sounds like a good gift. I’ve had some surgeries that took a while to recover from, so that’s why I thought something like a DVD player might come in handy.