When you’re in the hospital, sure, everyone is focused on the science and the medicine and blah blah blah. We all know that’s important. But to keep your focus and make sure you don’t go nuts during your hospital stay, I’ve come up with a list of tips to make your time there a little more bearable.
If you read my previous post “Maintaining a Survivor State of Mind” you’ll recognize three of the ten tips, but they were far too important to leave off of this list. After all, maintaining a Survivor State of Mind was an integral part of getting through my two cancer fights!
And if you haven’t read that one, feel free to go check it out here.
Without further ado, here are my top ten tips for staying sane during a long duration hospital stay!
Tip #1: Get out of the “patient” mindset
This is by far my favorite tip, and the one that I credit the most for kicking cancer’s butt twice in my life. Of course you are a patient receiving medical attention. I get it. But I am talking about the mentality that comes with it. If you see yourself as a fighter, you’ll fight. If you see yourself as a tired, sick patient, then you’ll be a tired, sick patient. Make sense?
Crack some cancer jokes to make the nurses laugh, walk some laps, watch your favorite TV show (mine was Buffy the Vampire Slayer), sit up and read a book; do anything and everything to focus your mindset on something that will get you out of the patient mindset! See yourself as the warrior that you are, know you’re going to kick cancer’s butt, and act like it! – that’s what the Survivor State of Mind is all about!
Tip #2: Have a sense of humor
Laughter is the best medicine! I know it’s cheesy, but seriously, who doesn’t love a good laugh? I remember when I was in transplant, I had to go “number 2” in the little plastic hats (which look like UFOs) that go under the toilet seat so that the nurses could… you know… whisk my poop off to be tested. I was getting so frustrated about losing my privacy. But instead of letting that get to me, I started calling them my “Poo-F-O’s” instead of UFOs. The nurses loved it, and it cracked my family up. From that point on, whenever I’d go to the bathroom, I would laugh instead of getting annoyed because I was sitting on my Poo-F-O.
Tip #3: Lean on family, friends, and the hospital staff
Of course not everything about transplant can be funny. Part of the Survivor State of Mind is knowing that, even though you know you’ll kick cancer’s butt, it is okay to show your emotions. This is where family, friends, and even the nurses and doctors can make a world of difference. Having someone to just vent to is such an incredible outlet and can really help to get unwanted feelings off your chest. When my dad (who was with me during the entirety of the hospital stay during my transplant) asked how I was doing, it was often hard for me to be completely honest with him, but when I was I felt much better afterwards.
Tip #4: Set goals
This is a big one. This goes right along with getting out of the patient mindset. Whenever I was in the hospital, one of the biggest things that I could do for myself was to set attainable goals for each day. This could be something as simple as finishing the water bottle next to your bed. Or writing in your journal for 15 minutes.
For me, during transplant, it was walking laps around the transplant unit. During chemo stays it might have been just getting up and sitting upright in a chair. In fact, setting goals can be used for more than just hospital stays – it is a great way to keep yourself motivated through the entirety of your treatment as well.
When I was first diagnosed, I was in so much pain and bedridden for so long that I had trouble walking afterwards. I practically had to re-teach my muscles to be able to walk again. A goal I personally had for myself was to be able to walk from the parking garage all the way up to the hospital clinic without needing a wheelchair. It took me a few visits, but after a while I was even taking the stairs!
Tip #5: Find an online game that you enjoy
For me, I loved to play World of Warcraft on my computer and several different Xbox games. It is great because, with the amount of online players today, you don’t even need to know anyone that plays the game to be able to have fun. You can make friends in the game! The first time I had cancer, I played World of Warcraft a lot. Arguably too much, but it kept me sane. I made friends on the game, and they almost became like a second family to me. We would schedule certain times to play together and talk through a headset, which is perfect when you are in a chemo-bubble from the outside world, and it gave me things to look forward to every day!
Tip #6: Listen to audiobooks
I don’t know about you, but chemo used to give me what I’d refer to as “chemo brain.” Half the time, I didn’t have the mental stamina to think – let alone read a book (although if you do, props to you!). My brain just wasn’t interested in focusing that much most of the time. Audiobooks can be a great mental escape!
Tip #7: Do nothing sometimes
Staring at the wall happened to be one of my favorite bone marrow transplant pastimes. I know it sounds funny, but sometimes when I didn’t feel like doing anything, I would just stare at the wall. This is something that no one can understand unless they’ve gone through or are going through something like this. It’s not sad, it doesn’t mean anything is wrong, it just means that was all I felt up for doing at that time, and that’s ok. I would just sit and stare and maybe think about being somewhere else; I put a lot of hours into staring at my transplant walls.
Tip #8: Have a voice and speak up for what you need
I wasn’t always the best at this one. Often, I had a hard time speaking up and saying what I really needed because I felt like I was a burden for everyone around me – my family, friends, nurses, and doctors. I thought that asking for favors made me even more of a hassle for them. But looking back, I wish I had realized that the whole reason those people are there is to help you! I’ll tell you one thing, they aren’t sticking around for the hospital food. They are there because they want to help. So tell whoever is around what you need! Maybe you need help carting your IV pole around for a walk, maybe you want something to eat, or maybe you just want to be alone for a few minutes! No matter what it is, don’t feel bad asking for it.
Tip #9: Find little things to look forward to each day
When you’re confined to one room, or one hospital wing or wherever you’re stuck, it is huge to have something to look forward to. It could be a family member stopping by, or a TV show coming on, or even my next blog post (just kidding – sort of!). During transplant for me it was my wife (my girlfriend at the time), stopping by after her classes every day, or knowing my sister was making the drive into the city to see me. During my first bout with cancer, it was watching Family Guy with my dad. Having little things to look forward to makes the days go by much faster, and it can really be anything!
Tip #10: Plan a trip
Obviously you’re stuck in a hospital room and can’t go on a trip. But that doesn’t mean you can’t dream of planning one! During my transplant, I had a nurse that loved Hawaii. She would tell me stories about it and I would just love hearing about all of the beaches, the vibes, and the food. So I searched the internet, saw all of these beautiful photos, found the hotels I would want to stay at, looked at the sights I’d want to see, and I even looked up the Hawaiian Airlines credit card. Of course I didn’t purchase any plane tickets…yet…but it passed a ton of time! And then guess where my wife and I went for our honeymoon 3 years later? You guessed it, Hawaii!
So there you have it. Ten tips for making it through your next hospital stay.
I really hope that some of these tips can resonate with you guys and help you through some of your stays. As always, please feel free to reach out to me on my contact page if you have any questions, tips of your own, topics you would like to see covered, or just feel like chatting to someone that’s been through it. I am always here for you.
-Alex
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Featured photo is one of my own!