I'll tl;dr as much as possible. My grandpa's been in the hospital for 8 days now, and is expected to stay at least another 4. This is pretty rough given we were hoping he'd be out after 4 days to begin with. He's a usually pretty happy fellow (and has been thus far), still making jokes* and telling stories and stuff. His pneumonia has been getting better up until a couple of days ago, but it seems to be that he's feeling worse in the mornings now. He's also starting to get visibly tired of being stuck in the hospital, which is a big deal for him (he's pretty stoic). My family and I have been visiting daily; I've been clocking about 5 hours a day on average, and between the 3 of us we usually cover all of the visiting hours. We've been bringing him stuff to munch on, his laptop, etc. but I'm running out of ideas on how we can keep his spirits up. I guess that just being there is a good thing, but we're running out of steam too and I'm worried it might be starting to show, which would be counterproductive to lifting his spirits... He's been more or less confined to his bed for the whole time, but briefly in a wheelchair. We're gonna see if we can get him outside for a bit but I don't think it'll happen. He's also really worried for the potential to need surgery (puncturing his lung to drain fluid? I'd be freaked out too) Any ideas would be really appreciated. I don't like feeling like I'm in a position where I'm unable to do anything. :icon_sad:
Going outside would be a great idea. When i feeling unwell almost everybody will say want to go outside in the fresh hair. It`s a nice day lol. You don`t feel like it. But once you are outside and see the sky and hear the birds it does relax you and you think of nice thoughts. You could bring a joke book. A whoopie cushion when you about to sit down. lol. Just you being there makes him happy i`m sure. I wish you and your dad well. Take care.
Have you got a MP3 player that you could put your Grandpa's favorite type of music on for him, Music can lift peoples spirits, when my Dad was in hospital I took in a pack of playing cards, the older ones like playing cards & showing us younger ones how to actually play, does he read, taking in his favorite author in book form or a Kindle, you could ask him to tell you some stories of when he was young, the oldies love to talk about when they were younger & the olden days, they also love it when the younger generation show a interest, I hope he gets well soon (*hug*)
Does he play chess or checkers? Could you and/or other family members bring in these or other board games that you could play with him, either 1-1 or in a group? Could you bring in some DVDs and play them on a laptop or portable player? He could watch or family could watch with him. Could do similar with music he likes. Does he like crosswords, sudoku, or other puzzles? What about bringing in small to medium jigsaw puzzles that could fit on the bed table? Just some thoughts, Todd
