3 Ways to Amuse Yourself in the Hospital

Well, unfortunately I had a spontaneous pneumothorax occur this weekend, which in basic terms meant I popped one of my lungs and it put air in the rest of my chest.  The result is that I had to spend several days hooked up to a chest tube and unable to move without a lot of pain (and a bit of help!)

Luckily, there are many ways that you can amuse yourself in these situations.  

Sorry, I unfortunately do not have my camera in the room out of respect of my roommate's privacy, so I hope that my illustrations will help.

Step 1: If you can, go for a walk!

No one likes blood clots, and if you're stuck in a hospital bed, chances are you've probably got a little risk for one.  Sure, they can give you meds to prevent it, but nothing helps as much as getting up and walking, even just for two to three minutes.

Hooked up to machines and tubes?  Often times, your nurse can help you make them portable by getting a roller cart for an IV or other medical device.  I was surprised when they were encouraging me to walk with my chest tube, but it felt SO GOOD afterwards, and definitely helped break the monotony.

Comments

[AtomRat]

I was admitted to emergency at the hospital a few days back myself, as it's a re-occuring situation these days, I too have found ways to amuse myself at the hospital, heres my boredom tips:

Ask for medical supplies that are common that you can use at home ie; red dots, plastic syringes, masks etc. If they are friendly enough they will.

Play with life instruments - I had a rather amusing time with my blood pressure and oxygen monitor that they clip onto your finger. Look at the monitor screen and point the finger clip towards different sources of light and magnets for interesting effects on your screen. ( They dont like you doing this one really )

Score the scrubs or hospital clothing you are given to wear by saying you have already put them into a washing basket. Save them for an awesome costume night

If visiting the hospital on a high floor many times a day, use the elevator engineer trick to get to your floor instantly without stopping on any other floors - do this by pressing your floor button and also holding the 'door close' button. You should head straight to your floor.

These are all done sensibly, and when the times are extremely boring. Don't do anything like this if emergencies are being called over the loud speaker..

[doodlecraft]

Oh my goodness, that sounds dreadful! Glad that you could think of fun things to do, should the need arise again! :) Way to look on the bright side!
I hate hospital stays...I always make it quite clear that the minute that I can be discharged, I want to be! Hope you fully recovered soon! :)

[mh76dk]

I hope you feel better and get over it quickly (having had that happen to my lungs 3 times (first my left lung, then 1.5 months later the right lung, then 3 months later my left again - after which they put a small clip on my left lung) I feel your pain, but luckilly it is mostly just waiting it out after they recreate the vacum. and this is about 10 years ago now, nothing since :-)

Really had nothing else to say than that - perhaps add that if you are lucky enough to have a remote-controlled bed, there is a lot of fun to bed had there too - just be sure not to run out of batteries at the wrong time ;-)