What I Prepared for Hospitalization and What Was Useful

If you are someone who is about to be hospitalized and happens to be reading this—this is a record of what I prepared for my hospitalization and what proved useful.

I wrote about the day of the surgery and how I spent my time in bed in my previous article. This time, I will talk about the preparations behind the scenes.

I have written about how to inform your company and handle work handovers in this article.

Follow the hospital's list faithfully for preparations

Once your hospitalization is scheduled, the hospital will give you a list of items to bring. I prepared everything faithfully according to this list. Since I didn't know the ropes, I thought the best thing to do was to trust the list first.

There was only one miscalculation. The hospital where I was admitted had a rental service for clothes and towels, which I signed up for during the admission process. As it turned out, body soap and shampoo were included as a bonus. Since I had already prepared and brought my own according to the list, it was a complete duplication.

The list I received from the hospital was correct. However, there are surprisingly many things that can be covered by rental services. If you check the details of the services during the admission process, you can reduce your luggage accordingly.

What I thought about most seriously was not the luggage

That said, you can get everything you need by following the list. What I thought about more seriously was how to spend my time in bed. I was told that my hospitalization would be at least two weeks, sovisualizing specifically how to spend that time was the most important preparation for me.

I wrote about how my plans to watch movies and read books turned out in the previous article. Here, I will continue talking about the things I prepared for that purpose.

I bought an iPad with my cancer insurance money

First, I took the plunge and bought an iPad, which I had been holding off on until then. The funding came from my cancer insurance. Of course, I considered saving the insurance money for future treatment. However,instead of worrying only about my illness, I decided to make effective use of the time I had been given.

Along with it, I also prepared a tablet arm to attach to the bed frame, and this was truly revolutionary—it was more comfortable than I had imagined. As I wrote in the previous article, it was very useful while in bed. I introduce this arm in a separate article.

I used different communication methods for different purposes

My plan to watch movies also required preparation for internet connectivity. Fortunately, the hospital where I was admitted had free Wi-Fi. However, I was a bit concerned about the security of sending all kinds of traffic over free Wi-Fi.

So, I also used a low-cost smartphone plan (povo) with a 0-yen base fee that I could pay for only for the necessary period.I used that for communications involving personal information, and used the free Wi-Fi for other things like watching videos, effectively separating the two.

The most useful thing was earplugs

If I had to pick one important item from my belongings, it would be earplugs.

My room was a four-person room. The probability of someone snoring in the middle of the night is reasonably high. I might be snoring too, so I can't really say anything about others. Besides, it's a physiological phenomenon, so I can't blame anyone for it.

So, earplugs. Bringing them was a great decision.Thanks to them, I was able to get a good night's sleep.

I gave up on a private room

Since the topic of rooms came up, I'll mention this too. I gave up on a private room because it was expensive. I could have paid for it with my cancer insurance, but I decided to save money for the future. Having said that, I couldn't bring myself to give up on my iPad.

Once I was admitted, the actual four-person room was different from what I had imagined. I was completely separated from my neighbors by curtains, and once I lay down in bed, it was almost like a private room. I had no trouble listening to music or watching videos as long as I used earphones. My honest feeling was that if I could get by cheaply like this, then it was fine.

I had visitors reduced

I intentionally had visitors reduced. For a while after the surgery, I had tubes coming out of my body, which made me look more critical than I actually was. I didn't want to worry people more than necessary by having them see me like that. I wrote about those feelings in a previous article, so I'll stick to the practical side here.

Actually, what supported that was the rental service I mentioned earlier. I didn't have to rely on my family to bring me fresh clothes. Thanks to that, telling them "You don't have to push yourself to come every day" became a realistic option rather than just a polite gesture. Daily phone calls and LINE messages were enough for communication.

To those who will be hospitalized soon

Looking back, the hospital's list had almost all the answers regarding what to pack. What I added were earplugs, an iPad, a stand, and—my plan for how to spend my time in bed.

For those about to be hospitalized, this might be a time when you have too much on your mind to think about that. Even so, if you have a little bit of breathing room, I think it's a good idea to imagine beforehand how you want to spend your time during your hospital stay.In my case, that was the best preparation I could have made.

I will write about life after being discharged in another article.

Thank you for reading this far.

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