[SandyW]

I would suggest taking your own pillow, not only for the flight but for the hospital.

I was at St Elisabeth in Straubing and they did give me ice chips after a little tiff . They said ice chips were dirty and they were not a hotel. I believe the chips come from the cafeteria, used in drinks. They have them so if you want them, be firm.

I would suggest that you have your friend stay overnight, at least for the first night you're out of intensive care, longer if they are willing. It's not very expensive. Once you leave intensive care you are not connected to a monitor for BP, heart rate, etc., and the nurses expect your family to take care of you in most cases. I had an unfortunate incident of being over medicated. If my husband had not noticed my irregular breathing and blue extremeties, I would have drifted off to heaven - hopefully! No major problem with this for me at least, the pink bubblegum clouds on the ceiling were neat - wasn't happy about them making me sit up and answer questions , couldn't see the clouds.

If you are taking a laptop, you can sign up with Skype (can do this before you leave, may need PayPal?) which will allow you to call home for about a penny a minute AND if you know how to use the video part, you can see the person your calling and they can see you. I prepaid $10 and still had around $3 left when I got home. It was funny, people didn't want to talk long cause they thought it was costing a lot of $$'s, but for under $1 you can talk for a whole hour!!!! Mark gave me this little tip, thanks, it was so easy!

Can't think of anything else right now. May God bless you and all those who will be taking care of you, especially Dr. B.

Sandy