My Top Ten Favorite Ways to Kill Time in the Hospital

After reading Sydna's great guest post on Sunday, I decided to put together a hospital themed list. My list is all about how I find myself killing time while I'm in the hospital. Now, keep in mind, I've averaged about 90 days a year hospitalized over the last handful of years. Killing time is essential. Otherwise, there is no doubt that I would go stir crazy. Luckily, I've never really minded being in "The Hole" because I know it's what I need to stay on top of my game.

10. Taking Naps - I never, let me stress, NEVER take naps. If I am caught napping, that means that I'm either REALLY sick or I didn't sleep the night before. It's nice to take some little cat naps while in the hospital. Sometimes it's also necessary, cause as all of you CFers know, consistent sleeping patterns in The Hole are nearly impossible. Towards the end of my stay, I'm usually up until 3 in the morning.

9. Blogging - Not that I don't do a lot of blogging when I'm not in The Hole, but in the hospital I usually do video blogs. Those are fun cause I can get more of my thoughts out and I can make you stare at this dreadful mug for five minutes :) If you've been following this blog for awhile you also know that I like to film things like IV placements, discharging of a PICC line and PFTs.

8. Visiting My Old Peds Floor - I absolutely LOVE my old ped nurses. Seriously. Every. Single. One. (Did I do that right? I always think it looks so cool :) ) They are always smiling and make me feel like a million bucks every time I see them. One thing about going to the hospital as much as I have during the course of my life is it has created a big time family environment for me. I know most nurses and RTs personally and they know most of my family as well.

7. Organizing My iTunes - I never like doing this while I'm doing it, but man does it feel good when I'm done. I'm pretty sure that I am at least borderline OCD when it comes to, well, pretty much everything. All of my songs need to have the correct genres, correct album covers, all information filled out and there can be no repeats. I've literally spent hour upon hour organizing all of my stupid songs.

6. Walking the Grounds - It's fun to walk around the grounds of the hospital and try to spot things that have changed since the last time I was there. It's pretty easy to do because they are ALWAYS working on the campus. I go to a teaching hospital that is attached to a University. They are always expanding by adding new buildings or renovating old ones.

5. Hidden Object Games - Mandi and I usually spend hours playing hidden object games that we find online. In fact, we use a site called www.hidden-object-games.com. If you've never played them, you'll either really enjoy them or you'll throw your computer out of the window.

4. Listening to John Jay and Rich - This is probably Mandi's favorite part of me being in the hospital. Usually on Saturday and Sunday mornings we grab some Dunkin Donuts, curl up together on a chair and listen to podcasts from JJ&R. You can find them at www.johnjayandrich.com and I HIGHLY recommend listening to "War of the Roses" and "Second Date Update" podcasts. I guarantee you'll be laughing.

3. "Terrorizing" Student Nurses - Maybe I chose to harsh of a word, but I couldn't think of what else to call it. Whether it's making up symptoms or tapping on my chest to create an irregular heart beat, I'm always messing with them. Here's my favorite thing to do though: There are these antennas in each room that will send out data to the nurses station if you're hooked up to a certain heart monitor. These antennas have four arms and look like a mini ceiling fan. Often, on their way out of the room, I'll ask them to turn my "fan"on. I'm not kidding 10 out of 10 times, they'll keep flipping the light switch off and on wondering why the fan won't start to spin. I've even had some say they'll call maintenance to get it fixed. Love it!

2. TV series on DVD - My cousins (I have about 100 of them) will often bring me TV series they like on DVD. While in The Hole, I've managed to watch every season of the Office, LOST, 24, Freeks and Geeks and King of Queens. I'd much prefer that than watching live TV because after getting DVR I am now a commercial snob and refuse to watch them anymore. If you have any "must see TV" for me, let me know and maybe I can add it to my list for the next stay.

1. Playing Video/Board Games - I'm a competitor. I don't care what it is. If I'm doing it, I want to win. If it's not a competition, most likely I'll turn it into one. This goes for board games too...especially if it's my little brothers or Mandi. We like to play Sequence, Skip-bo, Scrabble, Boggle etc. The only time I play video games is when I'm in the hospital but it definitely takes me back to my younger years when my buddies would come by and we'd play until the sun came up. Again, if you have any suggestions on new games, I'd love to hear them.

Well, that just about does it. What about you guys? What do you do to kill the time while you're in The Hole? Feel more than welcome to leave some comments today and give me and others some more ideas. You can also contact me if you'd like to form your own Top Ten list and post it on this blog.