Shirts for the hospital

[CATDOG]

Just trying to organize and plan. Seems as though most didn't use what they took with them. I remember when my kids were born that I HATED the hospital gowns. They were too wide and always all bunched up and twisted. The snaps and ties were non-existent--hence the free shows in the hallway.
Since I work within lunchtime walking distance, and could potentially have multiple acquaintance-only visitors, I am planning to switch to over to capri-length sweats and tank-tops or tshirts as soon as possible.

Will I be able to manage with loose t-shirts and stretchy tanks? I figure it should be easy to slide an IV bag through a tank-top "sleeve". If they are loose enough to slide over my shoulders, will I be able to wiggle in the rest of the way? A relative who had surgery for an injury said her normally slightly loose button-down shirts were hard to get into by herself because she couldn't get the second arm behind her into the sleeve.

So what really works? Are there too many people poking and prodding the incision, pulling tubes, etc. that would make a non-buttoning shirt more nuisance than it is worth? Thanks for the info.

 

[kfay]

I personally was happy to just stay in the hospital gown, even though I took pj's to the hospital with me. One of the biggest advantage of the hospital gown is the pocket with a slit right below it for the heart monitor to go through and then the pocket will hold the monitor. Also, when you do get to shower and change, you don't have to lift your arms or anything else, just snap it in place. Honestly, the thought of casual acquaintances visiting me in the hospital would not be something I would be looking forward to. I felt like I had been hit by a bus and the thought of making small talk with people was not on my list of things I wanted to do. Others may have felt differently, but I would discourage people from coming if it were me.


Kim

 

[CATDOG]

Shirt question

Shirt question

I told one office roommate that she could come and act as the messenger so that would cut down on the traffic. I told my boss how my previous office had groups of unexpected people visit me when I had my son. I had complications that required drugs that made me swell up a lot. I was very uncomfortable and looked absolutely horrible after 2 days of pitocin.
I wish they had called first at least. The hospital front desk policy is all or none. I'm thinking of saying "none" and just keeping a cell phone near for the relatives.

So seriously, I want to be in comfy street clothes as soon as I have to ditch the catheter. I hear that it is uncomfortable to lift arms OVER head, but what about just TO shoulder level? Will all the other tubes and wires be leaky or goopy such that my clothes would get stained?

 

[Bina]

I refused visitors in general....Just had my hubby daily, my daughter twice, my friend's pastor, and my Dad to drive me home in
his Cadillac Small talk is terribly annoying and visitors just get in the way, this is a high maintenance recovery for some of us.

Regarding shirts, i stayed in hospital gown, sweated in it, bled on it from an IV, got meds and creams on it. YUK !!
Went home in sweats and a large T-shirt from Hubby.

 

[njean]

I would recommend button front or snap type shirts and getting them a size or two larger. Because of all the IV's, lead wires, monitors, and catheters, you'll have to wear "the gown" I'm afraid. But when you're more active you could do what I used to do..... put two gowns on, one with the opening to the back and another on top of that one with the opening to the front....that way there's no "peep" show from behind when you're walking the halls!

And as for visitors, that was one big advantage of having the surgery hundreds of miles from home....it was just me and my husband!

 

[Debbrn]

I wore a couple old long sleeve pull-overs that I could pull up the sleeves easily and sweat pants. I had no problem at all. Make sure you do not bring anything that you will mind if it gets lost or gets blood on it. My old chest tube sites started bleeding and I got it on my shirt. Hydrogen peroxide did get all the blood out though. Don't bring any tight clothes in case you retain fluid. I couldn't wear jeans for a week after discharge. Also if you have to buy any tops that you will want to wear outside then buy some that are high neck because they told me not to expose my scar to the sun for a year.

Debbie

 

[SusQ]

Hubby wanted his loose basketball style shorts as soon as he got to the step down unit and they were ideal. But the gown stayed. Like someone else stated, it has a pocket for the monitor and accommodates all the tubes and wires better than a tshirt. Small talk is tiring, I can't imagine wanting acquaintances to stop by. Even now, hubby saves his attention for us and has used his computer and phone very little....10 days out now.

 

[Mom2izzy]

I was not in any mood to care what I was wearing or who saw what. I also didn't like having any visitors...even family...as soon as they came in I was ready for them to leave. I did have some loose fitting shorts that I wore under my gown as soon as I could. Because it was better than two gowns or nurses hanging on me to keep from embarrassing the old man next door..I had sweats and pajamas with button up tops with pockets, but never wore them because 1) I was too hot and 2) I just couldn't make myself care. By the time I even thought about wanting out of the gown, it was time to go home.

 

[selma]

I wore 2 hospital gowns at all times and went home in loose, cotton clothes. The level of personal dignity one enjoys during a hospital stay is pretty much zero.
If you're anything like me, your body temp soars and plummets. Like mom2izzy, I just didn't care.

 

[CATDOG]

For the first few walks, are you dragging a urine catheter too? Are there still other "drain lines" attached too?
I"m assuming there will be an IV on a pole or something, and some kind of heart monitor. How big is that? You say it fits in a gown pocket? I don't remember the gowns having any pockets.

 

[karla]

The cardiac floors generally have gowns with pockets to accomodate the monitor. The first few walks you will likely have all sorts of things attached to you (urine bag, chest tube drainage container, heart monitor, IV's) but you will have an entourage of people holding them for you so you don't have to worry about them. The nurses, aides, etc do this a lot and really know how to handle those things for you.
Re: clothing: I used the hospital gowns (one tied in back, the other like a robe) as long as i had the chest tubes and pacer wires in. I added hospital pants after the urinary catheter came out. The last 2 days I was there, I used loose, button down PJs I took along. But like others said, I really didn't care too much - I just wanted to be comfy.

 

[kfay]

I opted to keep my catheter for 5 days post op because I still had my chest tubes in at that point and the thought of trying to get all 3 of those big boxes along with the IV's to the bathroom everytime I needed to go while on Lasix was more than I wanted to deal with. The heart monitor is the smallest thing you'll have to deal with, but it is attached to your chest and the wires are only so long, so that's why that pocket on the gown is so great. I really don't think you are going to feel like spending a lot of time worrying what you have on or what you look like. The hospital gown is easy and it won't matter when it gets spilled on or bled on. At the most, I might take some bottoms of some type to slip on under it after you have your catheter removed.

 

[Mom2izzy]

Everything came with me for the first few days...they just loaded the bags, boxes, monitors etc. in a wheelchair that I. Of hang on to if I got dizzy.

 

[Scott]

I brought a pair of sweat shorts, a pair of sweat pants and a pair of running, light weight pants. I would get really cold at night and put the long sweats on and then put the shorts on in the day. I also had a zip up heavy weight hoodie that I would put on over the gown. I would sleep in the hoodie, pulling the hood over my eyes because the nurses would come in every hour to check the equipment and turn the light on.

 

[hetmarie]

I brought lounge pants to put on as soon as the cath was out. I kept the hospital gown on for the entire time because it was easy access for them to check everything, had the pocket for the heart monitor and frankly was too out of it to care. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had put a bra on after the surgery, which helped with modesty and I brought a long robe from home to hang over my shoulders for my walks. I did not have visitors other than close friends and family. I had a couple coworkers who wanted to come visit but the day they were supposed to come I was in so much pain my mom called and asked them not to and they completely understood. You are there to recover from a major surgery. It's not something you want acquaintances and co-workers to bear witness to. At least that's how I felt about it.

 

[Lynlw]

Justin has had a few heart surgeries and for HIM, he much prefers to have on his own clothes, pretty much as soon as he is out of bed in CICU. What works best for him is button down loose shirts, that way all the wires and tubes easily go out the spaces between the buttons. he wears sweat or lounge pants, or shorts (but hospitals tend to be pretty cold in the summer) that have pockets and if he didnt put the telemetry monitor in his shirt pockts he either put them in his pants pockets, Or we also have taken a fanny pack his past few heart surgeries, (actually since his one as a toddler when fanny packs were new lol) that worked great for the monitors and didnt bother him at all around his waist.
he also liked moccisons or ugg type indoor/outside slippers that he could just slip his feet in to walk the halls and wore them home

ps sometimes when he still had all the IVs the nurse would unhook them for a sec to make it easier to get his arms in the sleeves then just hooked everything back up

 

[SusQ]

Hubby's catheter was out the morning after surgery just before they moved him from the CTICU. Also, two of his 4 chest tubes were gone and the remaining two had soft bulbs connected to the ends so he was free to move about fairly easily. They got him out of bed and in a chair before transferring, but no walks were taken until he was at the step down unit. However, he was moved there less than 20 hours after waking up from the anesthesia. He did lug around an iv pole the first day for iv antibiotics and his oxygen bottle. He opted to stay on oxygen a little longer because he was having trouble breathing deep and his oxygen levels were right on the border...89-91 without the cannula, 96-98 with.

 

[Bryan B]

I wore the hospital gown with a pair of pajama bottoms to cover my bottom. The pajama bottoms had snaps at the waist so I could run the foley cath tubing through the "fly". Besides the foley cath everything else "attached" to me was above the waist and the gown was much easier to deal with. I do think the last day or two I might have worn a t-shirt once everything was removed from me. It does feel good to get back into your own clothes, but the first 2-3 days I did not care one bit what I looked like and didn't care what others thought I looked like. No one is going to win a beauty contest the first week after OHS. :biggrin2:

 

[piglet]

I liked mens short sleeved button front shirts, they were oversized for me , had big wide sleeves and a nice big pocket for the moniter. You can find some quite nice ones, even pink! for pants I preferred yoga pants, easy to get on, off and sleep in.

 

[Boston Tiger]

I stayed in my hospital gown until the fourth day, when the catheter and two of the IVs were pulled. I found that I my sense of modesty disappeared the first day in the ICU, since the staff seemed to be pulling up the gown all the time to check one thing or another. I never would have thought I'd walk up and down the halls in the ward in those backless gowns, but everybody there seemed to be doing that. One day, my wife draped a gown over my back to make a "robe", and tied it nicely. Unfortunately, she left for the evening while I was still wearing it, and I definitely felt that when I moved from the chair where I had spent the day over to the bed. Things were being pulled that did not want to be pulled, stretched or tested in any way!