What to take to a Hospital waiting room…

So I was thinking, perhaps my hospital experiences might help some of you out there. Now, you’re stressed as your baby or spouse or somebody else you love has to go in for surgery. You’ve done the research, this needs to happen, you’re out of options. You can barely even think about the procedure, much less think about beyond that.

But, no matter what, you’ll be sitting in a smallish room with lots of other people, waiting for a lot of hours. There’s often an attendant that will take your name so they can contact you to give you updates of your patient or reach you when the doctors want to meet with you, and sometimes coffee, but that’s all.

Here’s my thing-  I don’t leave the waiting room. I know it’s superstitious, but I feel as long as I’m there, nothing’s going to go wrong. Stupid, right? We both know it, but so far it’s working for me. So I pack for the duration. You might choose to go for walks, check out the gift shop, snack in the cafeteria, visit the chapel. For me, I stay put. Either way, if you go or you stay, there are some things that will make that wait a little more bearable:

drinks & snacks, snacks & more snacks- and don’t forget the chocolate! Mostly I bring healthy- yogurt, fruit, vegetables, nuts, but seriously, sometimes you just need Cheetos & M&Ms.

magazines- People, Rolling Stone, or any other short reads for those times you can’t concentrate

$$$- just in case

music & headphones- sometimes the other people in the waiting room, nice as they might be, drive you nuts

something to do- knitting, letter writing, computer, movies, anything that keeps you busy

a good book- when you need to visit a different world. I always bring one, but can rarely concentrate on it.

address book- so you can call everybody else & tell them how it’s going

don’t forget your phone! Pretty obvious, but it happens…

I also throw in a couple of overnight essentials: contact case, toothbrush & paste, glasses, deodorant, for those unexpected overnights.

Is it harder to wait for a patient or be a patient? They get a long nap & drugs. You get to wait and wait and wait…