I have had so many people write to me and ask "what can I do?" "what do you need?" Well, after some light reading last night I have some ideas. I read her bone marrow booklet from start to finish last night and one of the major topics that keep repeating is that when people offer to help, let them. This is hard for me. I never know what to tell people After reading the booklet last night, I can tell that I will REALLY need some help. Here are things in no specific order that will help. The clothing items will really help both of us as everything needs to be freshly laundered and taken to hospital in sealed bags. If she doesn't have more than a few of these items, I will be doing laundry constantly. Alex has to change to freshly laundered clothing at least once a day, sometimes more.
* Alex needs twin size sheets for her hospital bed. She loves flannel. They need to be for a thick mattress. These are strictly for her comfort. Also pillow cases. And nothing really has to match. Just something besides the nasty hospital stuff would be greatly appreciated. Her bedding needs to be changed once a day minimum. This is only to make her feel more at home. Something the booklet recommends. The hospital has plenty of these supplies but they aren't comfortable at all.
* new games... yatzee, scrabble, whatever... Things we have at home we cannot use, so? These will also be donated to the cancer floor once Alex is released to come home.
* Alex loves the socks at Bath and Body works that are that chenille fabric with the little nubbins on the bottom :o)
* Barnes and Noble gift cards so that she can buy books for her electric reader. She cannot bring her old books from home into the isolation room.
* Starbucks cards. She adores coffee and there is a Starbucks in the University Hospital that is connected to the Children's hospital.
* Corner Bakery gift cards - It's about the only place close to the hospital. Also appreciated are: Cafe Rio, California Pizza Kitchen, Z-Tejas, P.F. Changs, The Cheesecake Factory, Einsteins Bagels, Chilis, Olive Garden. We will not be able to spend much time at home for 6+ weeks once the transplant begins. We have at least 8 weeks left leading up to the transplant. Any food that I do not have to make at home will make things SO much easier that you have no idea!
* Leggings/sweats in XS and short length from A&E. Any color... http://www.ae.com/aerie/browse/product.jsp?catId=cat520029&productId=0494_2421
* These leggings from the GAP she LOVES! Size S http://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=5953&vid=1&pid=763799
* chlorox wipes in the containers
* Baby wipes... all the chemicals give her sores almost like diaper rash. It's awful... and she needs the baby wipes for moisturizing during bathroom time. She is not partial to any kind.
* Dove - plain white body wash. She can no longer use bar soap.
* She loves the body creams at Bath and Body works. Her skin is so dry from all the chemicals that the body creams are about the only thing she likes. During the holidays her favorite scent is Vanilla Bean Noel. Other times it varies. I know she would get a lot of use out of Bath and Body work gift cards.
* Individual things of Nutella, peanut butter, and jams and jellies. She can no longer access a bottle of condiments. They have to be single servings. So, yummy jams and jellies would be great. The hospital only has the strawberry and grape type. She loves Nutella and they do not have this at the hospital. I know that I have seen these Nutella servings at the World Market/Cost Plus.
* Soft toothbrushes... These will need to be changed often as she will develop horrible mouth sores that are a big source of infection. She will need to clean her mouth often. She is so saddened that she will not be able to bring her electric tooth brush.
* Individual packages of Swedish Fish - she loves these. We can no longer get them in the large bag at the hospital.
* She loves Jone's Ju Ju Berry soda in a bottle
* X-Large zip lock bags... in the 2 gallon or greater size. These will be used to bring smaller items to the hospital. Things like a change of clothes, underwear, or other things that have been cleaned and can be brought in. I know they sell a 2.5 gallon size that would work excellent.
* iTunes gift cards so that she can buy movies or CDs right from her laptop. She won't be able to bring the discs in from Netflix while in isolation.
* One new DVD set that she is hoping to watch in isolation is the entire series of the Sopranos. So... a gift card to a place like Amazon or something like that where she can maybe put the money together and get this series. It's expensive so?
Things she cannot have as gifts:
No stuffed animals unless they can be washed and dried on HIGH heat for at least 15 minutes. She is not a stuffed animal lover, so this is no biggie :o)
No flowers or plants... Not even silk or dried ones. Strange but those are my instructions.
No balloons
Nothing that isn't prepackaged and sealed unless it can be easily sterilized.
No food can be sent to her, like the cookie bouquets. (She can't even have deli meats for the entire transplant process and then for 100+ days after completion.) I have to make any meats she has at home or they have to be prepackaged meats. YUCK!
I will try to update this list as she asks for anything special or we get more instructions. These things will help SO much. There are many different price ranges of supplies on here. Please know that ANY of these things will help us in ways that are hard to understand. Even to save me a trip of going to the store to get more ziplock bags is something that I am so grateful for. All of these things are to try and keep as many infections out of our lives and to help Alex make it through this procedure.
You can bring supplies or send them to our house at:
1727 East Ramona Ave.
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Or, if you live in Davis or Weber counties you can drop them at my mom's house at:
1889 North Alder
Layton, Utah 84041
Thanks to everyone!!!!
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