Great start to married life. New wife in hospital.

Edwardia

Tropez your wife must be feeling so frustrated ! You're so nice coming on here asking for help. :T

Hope she/assistant put the accident in the Accident Book at work !!

I Googled and found the Bra Angel (needs use of one hand) http://www.nrs-uk.co.uk/bra-angel-dressing-aid.html and a back pillow http://www.nrs-uk.co.uk/nursing-pillow.html.

When my husband had arthroscopic knee surgery I was luck and got him a leg pillow and back pillow from Lidl. I used a cardboard box to make an arch over his leg to keep the bedding off it.

Amazon has several styles of one handed trays and I'd suggest looking for one with a non-slip base. Melamine is the worst stuff for sliding.

My mother had surgery on her feet and she got a wheelchair loan from the Red Cross via the hospital. The chair folded up to go in the car and it meant that my father could take her to the supermarket, historic houses etc. She was quite worried about being gawked at but people were soo nice, opening doors, letting us jump queues in Pizza Hut etc and it got her out of the house.

Don't know how long your wife will have a cast on but maybe a bird feeder that sticks to the nearest window so she can watch.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meripac-Window-Feeder/dp/B0012UO76A

Dogproof bedding so your wife can snuggle with them ?
http://www.orvis.co.uk/store/product.aspx?pf_id=8P61

Cast scratcher http://www.castscratcher.com/

meritaten

also get her one of those 'grabber' sticks! soooo handy when your stuff falls on the floor, or you want to reach to pull your socks up! (literally, your feet can get so cold when you are immobile you need warm socks!)

DigForVictory

Tropez!
Just realised where I thought you sounded familiar from - figuring out what kids are into these days. Very well done that man & a sterling example of what judicious research can do.
What a fiendish start to married life! Still, you have us all cheering you both on, and advising you.

Books:
Fantasy - Terry Pratchett
David Eddings
Anne McCaffrey
Game of Thrones (The TV Series are sticking close to the books, but there are still two books unwritten - go for it! Noone said *You* had to stop at what's been screened...)

Phillip Pullman & Harry Potter - "childrens stories" with a hefty adult following as they're good reads.

Lee Child - Jack Reacher is actually good fun & there's plenty...

Stieg Larsson Dragon Tattoo triliogy - ripping yarns & she may enjoy the film

Classic/vintage british crime - Agatha Christie,
Dorothy L Sayers
Ngaio Marsh
Josephine Tey
Margery Allingham

then
bust arm & wrist - bra straps will cause harsh language. In so far as you can help unobtrusively or sort her a bra she can sleep in so she doesn't have to wrestle sprung elastic before she can "dress".

Talc for down itchy casts. Plain, not scented. A wooden ruler with the ends sanded down so no splinters or scrapes (on a cord for retrieval)

Phone - if you haven't got an answerphone, beg or borrow one. That way you don't have to try to get to the landline phone but can cope with calls at your time or your terms. Mobile - well, I'd hide the blighter, & find it for an hour each afternoon...

Footwear - rejig fasteners of trusted footwear with hair elastics &/or rubbber bands

Games: online scrabble (keep her off candy crush saga & the gambling websites!)

Bathing - Red Cross will sort you a seat/bench/aids for washing - in so far as you can, mix cosseting & soapy giggles with independent scrubbing. (NHS does sleeves for plastercasts.) Bath brush on a long handle on a tether so the thing can't escape good, as is soap on a rope, likewise tethered.

Learn to wash & tend her hair exactly as she tells you. Feeling clean & groomed is ridiculously good for morale.

Skincare - get creams to her specification for hands & face. When she hurls them at you, you know she's getting better.

Get her to plan a really stomping holiday? Which countries, which cities, which hotels, which museums, theatres, etc. You may not be able to afford it this year (or next), but it'll keep her alert & interested & when you do go, she'll still have the hours of anticipation and planning to enjoy. It's something to daydream about of scheme towards as you do the dratted physio exercises.

Crutches - get cycling gloves - padded palms, cutoff fingers. Possibly get her to pick them on ebay so she can choose price & colour? They'll help with the handles. If she doesn't like them, she can send them back. (yeay! Internet shopping!)

Your local library can & will lend you audiobooks (small fee per week - absolutely worth it for not having to turn pages) & DVDs - so enlist the librarians help! They'll know that if A was loved & B less so then C & D are good picks & E & F can be left on the shelf.
Cheaper than audible, but do look at the site to pick possibles...

Shopping - do as much as you can online.

Stir Crazy (soon!) - most big malls rent motability scooters - you pay a once off fee as she'll have to do a sort of driving test but then she's clear to collect & roll. Red Cross will rent you a wheelchair - be very picky about it being comfortable & you being able to assemble & disassemble it. (Charity shop assorted blankets, & duvets but hire raincovers.)

Just rolling around the supermarket (at odd hours if she wants as few gawkers as possible) can help the Going-Slightly-MAD feeling.

Buy a RADAR key on Amazon - she's currently disabled & thus easy access to a loo with all the mobility fittings is a potential source of relief.

Sort a babysitter - someone she can tolerate for a few hours while you go swimming, have a tango lesson, eat a restaurant meal with friends & then pick up the groceries. All the stuff she can't do right now, but that are good for you to do, so keep right on doing them! Family are cheap but may not be tactful. A hired babysitter may be tactful & adequately competent but may not be cheap. You will need time of for you, so figure how to achieve this!

If you can afford to keep a few rooms at T shirt & socks temperature, so much the better. If not, thicker track trous of a size that may seem big on you but slide on & off easily & thick hiking socks to keep the waist down warm & an assortment of rugby shirts (long sleeves, big!) for the top half.

Does she like flowers? Will dogs permit a windowsill garden? Are you taking phone snaps of dogs & taking them in? The little things are loved too...


All the very best & we hope to hear she's home & mending soon. (This includes throwing things. And if *you* need to vent, we're here!)

Savvy_Sue

Tropez wrote: »

Yeah, when I was a kid I severely injured my leg to the point I couldn't leave my bedroom once they managed to get me up there after an hour on the stairs.

Anyway, they gave me a bell. I found it humiliating and undignified, and I wouldn't put someone else through that. It's dehumanising in my opinion as you instantly go from being a human being to being a burden.

I know you said you'd got a cordless phone: does it have two (or more) handsets? Ours has a kind of 'ping' facility which meant I could talk to someone without them having to come to me, it was useful if I just wanted to know who was around. I still find it quite useful as DH can't hear if I bawl up or downstairs.

Tropez wrote: »

I appreciate I am going to have to help her with things that will not exactly fill her full of good feeling but if I can lessen low moods that come with being restricted and dependent on others for someone who is usually highly independent then that will at least be something.

I guess it's different being newly married, but actually I found it quite nice to have DH's help with showering and dressing, we probably spent more time together then than since ... I don't know when (apart from holidays). And although sex was the very last thing on my mind, I was quite happy to cuddle and stroke him a bit while he got me dry and dressed.

Tropez

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And although sex was the very last thing on my mind, I was quite happy to cuddle and stroke him a bit while he got me dry and dressed.

:rotfl: Oh dear me, I thank you!

I've had a crap day and I'm sure you didn't mean that quite how I read it but that was a great pick me up.

mumps

Tropez wrote: »

:rotfl: Oh dear me, I thank you!

I've had a crap day and I'm sure you didn't mean that quite how I read it but that was a great pick me up.

Sorry you had a crap day, I hope your wife is doing OK. Is she coming home tomorrow?

I just thought of something I liked, someone bought it for me when I was laid up. Pillow Mist from Body Shop. You spray it on your pillow, it smells nice and is relaxing and helps you sleep. I always keep a bottle in now in case I can't sleep or if I am ill and spend a bit more time in bed.

Look after yourself, it is a shock to your system as well as hers.

Tropez

Anyway, now I've collected myself....

Yeah, it's not been a great day overall. Wife isn't doing too badly, all things considered, which is good but everything else today.... yeesh...

A bird crapped on my windscreen. Tesco attempted to deliver my grocery order an hour early, when I wasn't in the house. Useful service there. Numpties at work have proven themselves unable to do simple maths so we apparently invoiced a client for £180 (it should have been £22,000) and to top it off the motor on my garage door decided it couldn't be bothered anymore. Nice.

And yeah, why does everyone do their shopping on a Friday night? Tesco customer service were as useful as decaffeinated coffee so I had to brave actually going to the store - it's like a scene out of 28 Days Later...

Anyhoo, never mind, eh? On the positive side, I did locate a bottle of Jack Daniels that I didn't know I had!

She should be home tomorrow providing the consultant agrees so I think I have everything set up for her. I had a meeting with the home care specialist person who made a few suggestions, many similar to the ones here. I wasn't quite sure what to make of her comments about abstaining from sex for several weeks - do I look like someone who is going to try and jump the bones of someone with broken bones? I dunno, maybe I do. I remember when I was working in the US I got on a bus and sat next to a woman in her mid-50s (at a guess) and she didn't really hide the fact that she had a can of mace and a firearm in her handbag.

Moving on...

I have acquired relatively easy to manage with one hand food, and a wide selection of snacks and fruit that she can also eat with one hand. Red grapes, apples, peaches - no bananas and oranges, of course. I've also taken the liberty of slicing the cheese as she does like to nibble cheese with cream crackers. I've moved that little fridge I spoke of into the living room and I'm pleased to note it doesn't make much of a noticeable noise!

I picked up a few DVDs of films I know she likes or has been wanting to see.

I popped into the chemist and they had a selection of support pillows and things so I picked up a bunch of them. We'll have to see how useful they prove to be.

Bra angel, eh? Interesting...

I'll have a look if I can find a grabber and a cast scratcher. I remember when I've casts on the itching drove me nuts. The body has some really stupid ways of letting you know it is healing.

DigForVictory - that's quite the list! She tends to sleep in some sort of sports bra type thing (it looks like one to me anyway - I'm not really up on types of bras) because apparently she likes the support at night. I wonder whether those might be easy enough for her to put on or use at night?

We do have an answerphone. I don't think she will let me hide her phone.

I'm going to be honest, I don't really even get how to thread normal laces on footwear.

She does have quite a lot of creams and whatnot in the bathroom.

Planning a holiday might be a good idea.

I'll have a look at gloves for her, or get her to have a look.

I don't know where our local library is so I'll have to check that.

I can see about taking her out but she is the type of person who won't leave the car without her makeup on so I'm not entirely sure whether she'd go out for a while yet.

It's a shame it isn't summer because the bedroom door opens to the outside but I've sorted some flowers and things to make the room look pleasant.

Yeah, we have a base station and then four cordless handsets for the phone. I have no idea if it pings or anything. I'll check.

mumps

Tropez wrote: »

She should be home tomorrow providing the consultant agrees so I think I have everything set up for her. I had a meeting with the home care specialist person who made a few suggestions, many similar to the ones here. I wasn't quite sure what to make of her comments about abstaining from sex for several weeks - do I look like someone who is going to try and jump the bones of someone with broken bones? I dunno, maybe I do. I remember when I was working in the US I got on a bus and sat next to a woman in her mid-50s (at a guess) and she didn't really hide the fact that she had a can of mace and a firearm in her handbag.

I used to work with a guy who had a serious car accident. He was in a full body cast for months and it caused great hilarity when we discovered his wife was pregnant by the time the cast came off. All he would say was, "Where there's a will there's a way." :rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

So glad I made you laugh, anyway, with my innocent comment!

The backbrush thing: my MIL found me a long handled scrubby thing, as in the bit you brush with is that plaited netting stuff. Absolutely marvellous, you can reach all over your back, and down to your feet.

Although you can get bristly feet which you stand on in the shower which are supposed to get your feet clean. That probably makes no sense, but ...

Ah, FEET! I graciously did NOT ask DH to cut my toenails but found a chiropodist to do it for me. He did not extend the same courtesy to me when he b*ggered his shoulder, and I think I had to do them twice. You need to soak them first if you're kind enough to do this. Also if she needs her fingernails doing, you soak them too, and if you're not confident then get a girly friend in to do them. That's what I did.

DigForVictory

How are you both doing?!
JD open? Emptied?