Ideas for convalescing husband please

belfastgirl23

Take your point about tv watching but have you thought about DVD box sets? Particularly if they are drama based they can be quite addictive. Has he watched all of the recent american classics - eg west wing, six feet under, sopranos, deadwood, the shield etc? They can be hired from eg lovefilm one disc at a time...

Mrs_P_Pincher

If he takes up family history now you could lose him for good! One of my neighbours decided some years ago to try and find out more about a plaque in our local park. Three books later his children are growing up and he's almost forgotten what his wife looks like! On the other hand getting OH to recall what he knows is a useful exercise and if it's recorded now he or someone else can always come back to it later. I am finally dealing this week with the contents of some letters I received in 1987!

Our local authority do lap walking round the park for cardiac rehibilitation, with tea in the cafe afterwards. A good way for you both to get some exercise and to meet new people in your area.

Also round here there are lots of organisations that meet locally. Your library should have a list.

My OH had a stroke last year so I know what convalescence can be like. Hope all goes well for you.

Mrs P P

belfastgirl23

Oh the other thing is aqua fitness stuff which would keep him active but not put a strain on him - eg swimming, aqua jogging etc?

u01jet4

how about learn an instrument like guitar? or a language? maybe there is a community centre nearby which would teach classes or he could teach himself at home

Savvy_Sue

Bird-watching! From the window at home, with a book of GARDEN birds from the library. More on walks. May be a local ornithological society he could join.

I'm no twitcher, but tonight I spent a few minutes standing under a tree on my way home, desperately trying to spot whatever was singing so loudly! It was a TINY little thing, completely unexpected from the volume. I was about to see if I could record it on my phone to play it back to a friend when it flew away ...

Reggie_Rebel

If he has any interest in military history then he might like the Total war series of PC games. Rome and Medieval II can be picked up for about a tenner

Spirit_2

I had cardiac surgery 5 years ago - I was relatively young and it was quite a surprise. It coincided with aperiod whenMr spirit was not working due to redundancy and was job hunting - so we did not have 'spare money'. This is what we did in my 3 months off work:

Walked - gradually got up to 3 miles - 1 hour a day - driving out and doing a
circular walk around local villages and places of interest - outdoor museums, the beach, bird sanctuaries, national trust, alongside rivers and canals (no hills :j )

Joined a rehab exercise class

Went to London and visited national gallery and tate


Best of all - Invited friends to lunch about once a week - HM pizza and a simple pudding (basically same meal every week with different friends and family!) an

amazing number of friends were around for odd days and a number travelled miles to visit.


It was very humbling to experience and we thanked our lucky stars and the good staff of the NHS that we had this opportunity.

My advice - don't just "fill the time" enjoy yourselves.

Just writing this has reminded me how lucky I am. Thanks for the " wake up call ".

Good Luck
Spirit

Savvy_Sue

Spirit wrote: »

My advice - don't just "fill the time" enjoy yourselves.

Actually, that's very good advice. I've been trying to think back to convalescing after brain surgery, and the time whizzed by! I didn't then take up any new interests, but I did walk more (had to, couldn't drive!) although not as much as I'd intended. Friends lent me books they thought I'd enjoy, and DVDs, but I didn't spend much time watching during the day and I was usually wiped out in the evenings.

There was MSE of course ...

margaretclare

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Bird-watching! From the window at home, with a book of GARDEN birds from the library. More on walks. May be a local ornithological society he could join.

I'm no twitcher, but tonight I spent a few minutes standing under a tree on my way home, desperately trying to spot whatever was singing so loudly! It was a TINY little thing, completely unexpected from the volume. I was about to see if I could record it on my phone to play it back to a friend when it flew away ...

Try the RSPB. https://www.rspb.org.uk

Actually it's not a daft idea. I used to visit a lady who was wheelchair-bound in a tower block. She used to spend all day watching birds from her balcony, and her husband had rigged up bird feeders, water-baths etc to encourage them.

Tiny little bird with a loud song - likeliest candidate is the wren. One of our smallest resident birds with the loudest of songs. Other than that, robins sing a lot at this time of year.

Savvy_Sue

margaretclare wrote: »

Try the RSPB. www.rspb.org.uk

Actually it's not a daft idea. I used to visit a lady who was wheelchair-bound in a tower block. She used to spend all day watching birds from her balcony, and her husband had rigged up bird feeders, water-baths etc to encourage them.

Tiny little bird with a loud song - likeliest candidate is the wren. One of our smallest resident birds with the loudest of songs. Other than that, robins sing a lot at this time of year.

Size wise it could have been a wren, except that there seemed to be a few of them around, and I've usually seen them low down and hopping around: this particular one was way up high and flew off. Saw a wren today at head height, flew off low.

On my walk today we saw (and heard) a robin at the top of a tree, it was something other than that as the song was different. We saw some of what it might have been today but too high up to identify markings!

From the RSPB bird identifier thing, it might have been a warbler, unless it's too early for one of them. No time to work through all the other options, especially as the light was just starting to go and it was impossible to see any colours or markings!

Their Bird Identifier is great though: I shall remember that one!