What is the in-hospital experience like?

[BriDawn 79]

I'm hoping to get rid of some of my fears of hospitals here. The thought of being alone (or with another patient) in a room all night for two nights is terrifying. I know nurses come in and out but it's still quite empty during the nights. All I picture is horror movies in my mind!

Are we drugged enough that we don't notice the time too much? Or will it feel like a normal day? Just spent in a strange bed and quite bored?

Would like to hear some people's hospital experiences!

[No game 14,436]

The hospital stay for me was like a vacation, private room...quite! Did I mention I have children?

But really they keep a good eye on you and you will be busy with healing and getting well enough to go home.

[Ballermom 803]

Look at it like a Medical Spa Day!

I agree that for the most part it was a vacation for me with my DH right by my side. With my pain pump medication I was at the beach. Lol

But truly having 5 kids it was somewhat a retreat for me.

[nsquared 232]

I had a private room, nurses in to visit at least every hour. Frankly, I was only there for one night and all I wanted to do was sleep. It was a very nice place but I was too sleepy to care.

[magpie30 187]

It isn't bad at all! The nurses do come in about every hour, or more if you need them, and all you are going to want to do is sleep. But they will be in making sure you get up and walk, and you get to take a shower ( so nice!). It isn't scary at all, it's not super quiet, even in the middle of the night. Just try to relax and enjoy being taken care of. If you are still super anxious about it when there, let them know, maybe they can give you something to help you sleep, or to relax a bit. Best of luck!

[Ellemental 1]

I had a terrific night nurse, very kind and very reassuring and comforting. The level of noise from other patients was my only issue, but closing the door and putting earplugs in solved most of that problem. They will bring you anything you need, my nurse tucked me all around with pillows to make a nice 'nest' for me when i told her thats how I sleep at home. I just kept dozing off, not a deep sleep because they do check on you hourly and I don't sleep well in strange places. Just push the pain button and you will doze off. There's nothing you can do if you share a room, but you can schedule your surgery on a less busy day and have a better chance of being eye only one in the room, I had my surgery on a Monday.

[butterfly_gal 151]

My hospital stay was good too. The nurses were great. I had a two bed room, but lucked out and didn't have a roommate both nights. My night nurse actually had gastric bypass 2 years prior so she was very reassuring when I had concerns.

[Andi 78]

My hospital only has private rooms. I had nurses in/out every couple hours between checking vitals, testing blood sugar, doing blood thinner shots & general checking in. It felt like whenever I got a little bit of sleep in that someone was there to see me, but it wasn't bad. I never felt like it was super quiet, or too noisy.

[makemyownluck 785]

I'm wondering if I should bring my cell phone? I would love to play my games or catch up on celebrity gossip and these boards, but from what it sounds like, I'll be too drugged up and sleepy to do any of that... should I bring it? or my ipod?

[No game 14,436]

I'm wondering if I should bring my cell phone? I would love to play my games or catch up on celebrity gossip and these boards' date=' but from what it sounds like, I'll be too drugged up and sleepy to do any of that... should I bring it? or my ipod?[/quote']

I brought a phone, android tablet, and other time filler type things but did not use any of it...

Nor did I ever turn on the tv. I was dealing with the aftermath of major surgery (pain,wtf did I do,walking,sleeping)

I would say just the smart phone so you can text and check the forum if you so please.

[butterfly_gal 151]

I was surfing on my phone all the time. The hospital had comp wifi. Watched tv alot too. Didn't sleep well. Walked alot. The nurses kept saying I was doing very good. I lucked out and had no nausea and not much pain. On check out day I was up and dressed to leave by 7 am lol

[Yaya 81]

I was surfing on my phone all the time. The hospital had comp wifi. Watched tv alot too. Didn't sleep well. Walked alot. The nurses kept saying I was doing very good. I lucked out and had no nausea and not much pain. On check out day I was up and dressed to leave by 7 am lol

Darn, that's what I was going to say! Pretty much word for word! LOL!

[CarrieP 50]

Yea you definitely don't get good sleep till you get home. My stay was ok. Bed was uncomfortable my neighbors husband stayed with her 24-7 so it was kinda crowded. And they kept bringing in Chinese food and Taco Bell. So I was pretty much starving the whole time :-/

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[iggychic 1,405]

I've spent over two years worth of nights in hospital with my son when he was a baby so I'm kind of an expert LOL It's not scary. Big hospitals and small, there are people there constantly...too constantly if you ask me If you are worried about the boogie man, rest assured you have a bell to push and the nurses will make sure it's close to your hand so that in an emergency you can get them quickly (you can also hit the boogie man with it...it's on a bit of a club normally) .

I prefer a tablet to a phone myself. I was in for a month following my surgery and the pain meds caused my eyes to ummm hell I don't know but I couldn't stand reading the tiny text on my phone. I actually had to set my ipad settings up for old folks eyes to even see that LOL I would take something like that...you might not use it but if you want it and can't sleep etc, it's nice to have.

Roommates...e gads the stories I could tell. They're a pain in the arse typically...honestly I think once we had an easy one, the rest were horrible, but for only one or two nights it won't be too much of an issue. Most of our hospital stays we were too sick to be put with other people (how do you feel thankful for that lol) so I enjoyed a lot of private rooms. This last stay for me was private and I am glad. Given the nature of the issues we deal with after surgery (diarrhea, blah blah) it's nice to have private space.

If it's only one night I wouldn't bring much, but a couple of things I never go without are a pillow of my own (use a colored pillow case so it does not accidentally get mixed with theirs) and an extension cord. Plugs are always in difficult places and you won't feel like getting out of bed and crawling under it to get to the plug I also bring some sort of face cleaning wipe. For me it helps with the grungy feel you get after surgery. Oh and a cup! I hate plastic, that said, given this surgery you probably won't need it.

They're not scary places, just dirty You'll be fine if you disinfect heh heh

[Ellemental 1]

I brought books and magazines, didn't look at any of them except to flip through one while I was trying to sip some liquids. I didn't trust my phone there while I was on pain meds, although I woke up the second anybody walked in the room so I could have. I really wanted my lavender Water spray, hospital smell is not great! They gave me a package of aloe wipes, which was nice, but some lotion would have been nice, a little aromatherapy would have helped!