Hi Everyone, Just found these forums and I'm so happy I did! Reading through everyone's experiences has helped me tremendously. My surgery is Wednesday and I'm super nervous. I've never even been to the hospital for anything other than child birth, so I wasnt reallying knowing what to expect.

If all goes well, the Doctor said my hospital stay would be 3 days, 2 nights. So today I'm packing and I just wanted some opinions on what I should throw in my bag. What are some things that helped you or that you wished you would have had.

Thanks!

Items I was glad to have:

Chapstick

Slippers/flip flops

My own hand lotion

My kindle for something to read, although I was too sleepy most of the time

Something comfortable to wear home

Since you are going to be there 3 days, maybe bath/shower supplies if you are particular about what you use

Alot of people say dry mouth spray comes in handy. I plan to take my own pillow too. Those beds are uncomfortable enough, let alone a flat pillow. I will also be able to use it to hold against my stomach as support on the car ride home.

My surgery is Wednesday also. Haven't even thought of what to bring. I know they will supply me with toothbrush, toothpaste, moisturizer.

My suggestions lip balm, slip on shoes that are OK for walking the hallway, loose workout shorts to wear under your gown so there are no free shows, hairbrush.

I'm not bringing them with me. I'll have hub bring them when I get to a room. You'll just sleep, walk the hallway, and be annoyed by how often you are woken up by people in the middle of the night taking vitals.

I was really happy that I had the Gax X chewables. My surgeon said they wouldn't help but they worked wonders for me after surgery and still today 17 days post op. BTW Good Luck with your surgery.

Hello!

My experience may not be applicable as I am not in the US but here's what happened to me: I packed a hospital bag (change of clothes, toiletries, body wipes, phone + charger, breath spray, my journal + pen) but when I was admitted, I was not allowed to bring the bag with me so my friend had to bring that back with her.

When she brought it back to my ward that afternoon, I realized I didn't need most of the stuff I'd packed so I only took a few things and my friend ended up having to take the bag back with her again (God bless her!).

Here's what I ended up using during my hospital stay:

- Hair brush / comb (very important to make yourself feel good again)

- Small perfume oil roller (same as above - to make yourself feel good again, and in a safer format than a spray, what with oxygen tanks and everything)

- Lip balm - my lips were dry during my stay.

- Flushable feminine wipes (I like to feel clean down there, and can be used as body wipes in a crunch. It turned out my hospital also provides personal cleansing wipes, so I didn't need to bring one).

- Breath spray (I didn't feel the need to brush my teeth because I was only allowed plain water during my stay. Also, my hospital offers mouthwash in the morning).

- Phone + charger (very important for staying entertained)

- 1 set of clothing to change into on the day you're being discharged.

- Eye mask + ear plugs (the eye mask especially was very helpful as I am a light sleeper and very sensitive to light)

Hope this helps

ETA: I was given slippers by the hospital so I didn't bring any with me. I asked my friend to bring me shoes when she picked me up.

Edited August 20, 20187 yr by Littel_Urchin

11 minutes ago, Chrisb428 said:

Alot of people say dry mouth spray comes in handy. I plan to take my own pillow too. Those beds are uncomfortable enough, let alone a flat pillow. I will also be able to use it to hold against my stomach as support on the car ride home.

Yeah, bringing a pillow is a good idea although (in my case) it was only one night out of your life. My first night I stayed at the high dependency ward and the pillows were good. Then they transferred me to the general ward and they were the most pathetic, flat, foam pillows that offer no support at all.

The dry mouth spray was a life saver for me that first day.