What should we do to help?

Hi and sorry to hear about your Mother in Laws diagnosis. A tablet may be good but some hospital wards don’t have internet access but it would be good for books and ai had a subscription to Audiobooks.

I was in hospital for a total of 120 nights (with NHL) over two years and it was the simple things that helped. Good quality silicon ear plugs and a blindfold as their is no such thing as silence and darkness in a hospital at night.

Some pictures of family, a phone call everyday, cards.... these all help.

Hospital wards can be on the cold side due to air conditioning so I always had a fleece at hand to throw over my shoulders as it’s hard to put on and off something warm due to IV lines. Books to read, a few bags of boiled sweets as this helps the metallic taste during chemo. 

She will be well looked after but yes it’s hard that during these times you can’t be with her.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply with such detail. That's incredibly helpful! I can tell that my husband just wants to hug and look after his mum but they're both so stoic that we need to show emotions through practical support! I'm hoping that whatever we can do may help them both. Thank you once again! 

Does she have grandchildren?

When I was having my 2 Stem Cell Transplants we were living in Glasgow for 4 weeks then 7 weeks and out granddaughters were not allowed into the unit to see me so I was sent new photos and video messages everyday - it helped a lot. During my first Stem Cell our second granddaughter was born but as I basically did not have an immune system I did not get to see her until she was 6 months old.

You will find ways to navigate this I am sure  and as we move out of winter the COVID R number and roll out of vaccinations will help open the ability to travel.

Yes, she does. Because we are so far away, I've always been concerned that they wouldn't feel as much a part of our son's life so I've always bombarded the poor woman with photos! At least it won't look strange for me to continue! She also has an older grandchild much more locally who I think she's hoping to see in person between chemo sessions.

It must have been very hard on you to not hold her for those days but so rewarding when you did! Thank you again for your helpfulness. I appreciate the advice navigating through this. 

Hi just wanted to adda few ideas. I had AML and these are the things I found useful for my hospital stays. Lightweight shawl, short and long sleeves PJs( with good port access at chest or arm), music on phone, sweets/ pot custard/ energy drinks, slippers, pillow-mist, mini cross stitch kits, colour pencils and page, sketchbook. I took books too but unfortunately my chemo brain was quite bad so I could not read. A lot of time was spent being very tired/ rough but also extremely bored when awake.

Thank you so much for adding these ideas! Hospitals are such a horrible place at the best of times for boredom but it must be so much worse if you can't do the things you usually enjoy to alleviate it.

Thanks once again! I'm building up a lovely list of ideas for her