Healing a Heart After Open Heart

Hello! How thoughtful of you to prepare a care package for this family! I do have some ideas as I have a bit of experience in this area. I started an organization several years ago that makes blankets for situations like these. (Cancer patients, abused children, victims of natural disaster, nursing home residents, sick children and to auction or raffle at benefits, etc.) I actually have several blankets for children at my home waiting to be taken to the city for abused/neglected children. I would be happy to give you one to give to this child. They're the tied fleece blankets. Do you know if he has a favorite team or cartoon, etc? Also, some other ideas would be little snacks or change for vending machines. They usually get a lot of use during hospital stays. Books (for baby and parents), magazines, crossword puzzles, etc. I don't know how close you are to the family or how far away from them you live, but usually offering to do everyday things can be a great help as well. (grocery shopping, going to the postoffice, cleaning up the house, getting the mail, etc.) Anyways, hopefully that will be of some assistance. Again, bless you for caring for those around you.

L. S.

While at the hospital having a bag with little things like a pad of paper, pen or pencil, a purse size package of kleenex and a note letting them know you are thinking and praying for them would be nice and useful at the same time. When my husband was ill a friend brought one to me and it turned out to be very helpful. She had also put in a package of mascara and a twenty dollar bill for the cafeteria.

Hope this helps.

C.

I had a friend with a newborn in the hospital for over a month. I sent some hand held games like Tetris, Yahtzee, and the like that they could play in spare moments. I also brought them some magazines and books that had little snibbit stories that could easily be put down and picked back up. For their daughter, I bought some music to play in the room and stuffed animals that helped hold up some of the wiring and tubing from the machines. I know they really appreciated the gift cards from others for dinner and lots of prayer. A great site for them to update family and friends is caringbridge.com (maybe .org). They said that was helpfull too.

Maybe put a teddy bear, some coloring books and crayons,cars and educational videos of his favorite characters, a nice soft blanket, some cards from friends and family or just cute pictures that someone colored. I pray that he gets better and his recovery is fast.

When my daughther was young she was in and out of childrens's hospitals in both Chicago and Cincinatti. I know some of the things we took along were games that we could both play, tapes of soothing music (they helped us both destress), favorite magazines or books are always welcome, a journal might be nice-sometimes it helps parents to write down their thoughts and feelings. You might also want to ask the family if there is anything you can do for them while they're away such as mowing the lawn, picking up their mail, etc. This will allow them to not have to worry about these things while they're gone. I hope this helps.

J. Nilsen
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Maybe a gift certificate to an in-home cleaning service (Merry Maids) or even someone stopping by to clean their house so they can take care of themselves and the little boy and not have to worry about the little things for a few weeks. Another thing would be to make a mental note and when you or someone else goes to Target or Wal-Mart for toiletries or other odds and ends, call them to see if they have a need for anything. Just the extra hands around to handle the day to days would be a blessing for me.

We had a similar situation at my work. One of my coworkers 17 year old daughter was diagnosed with ALS Leukemia in December of '06. We knew they'd be spending a lot of their time at Children's so we took up a collection at work and purchased a VISA card with that much credit on it from the bank. That way they could use it wherever they needed to. I know restaurants around the hospital are few and far between. If you buy gift cards from certain places then they're limited, but a VISA card is good wherever.

As for the little boy, I don't know how extensive the surgery is going to be (any is too much) but I know with bypass surgerys they have them sitting up pretty quick so maybe some books, a magnetic Doodle board, small things he could play with on his lap.

I think its really great that your trying to do this. I'm sure whatever you come up with will be greatly appreciated.

Hi L.,

When my son was 8 weeks old he had surgery to repair his cleft lip. He was only in the hospital overnight and was pretty much "back to normal" in about a week, minus the stitches of course... We really appreciated simple well wishes. We had so much happening and so many emotions churning that we appreciated everyone keeping a "not too distant" distance and just letting us know they were there for us.
Meals of course are always appreciated in situations like these and I certainly think if th eparents are staying for an extended period in the hospital with the baby that they would appreciate soem things to make their stay most comfortable and it sounds like you are on teh right track. You may even want to consider gift cards to the shops, etc. in and around the hospital.

First of all, that is extremely thoughtful of you. I would try to include items in the basket that the child can do - quiet activities that don't require a lot of running around, but don't frustrate him. IE: coloring books (Color Wonder items are fantastic), craft projects, toy cars, DVDs, puzzles. Also, I'm sure the family would appreciate dinner gift cards, or meals that can be cooked quickly with little/no prep time. Also, a nice little card expressing your care and prayers, and include your phone number in case they need anything. You might also offer to babysit while they go to dinner, or the store, or just take a nap. Best of luck, I will keep this family in my prayers.
J.

A friend of mine went through something similar a couple of years ago. Here are the things that she appreciated the most-offering to help out at her house-lawn mowing, making sure a few groceries were in the fridge, gas cards-it's expensive to drive to children's all the time, dinner gift certificates for deliverable food, home made meals dropped off at the hospital, showing up at the hospital to sit with the little boy while mom goes to take a shower or a quick nap, (if it's an extended hospital stay, offering to stay with the little boy while mom and dad go out for dinner one night and take a break from the hospital), picking up her mail at home and dropping it off with her. The most important thing was to not call her hall the time-she has her hands full. Just let her know you'll be there to listen or be a shoulder to cry on when she needs it. My friend said that good friends, who did all the "behind the scenes work" were a god-send during this time. Most hospitals provide a place to set up a website-ie caringbridge.com, so she can update information on-line and everyone can just check there, so she's not getting bombarded by calls/e-mails. You could make sure you're other collegues are aware of this website.