My husband was in patient. He liked comfy clothes and things easy to get in and out of. He rode an exercise bike when one was available. His appetite was really poor. Bring things for healthy snacks, boost, cheese, fresh fruit. All the best to you. My husband thinks it was well worth it. It will be seven years in a few months.

Living – Storage was tight, so we bought a couple of cheap shelf units and even snagged several heavy-duty cardboard boxes (the kind that Costco keeps the vegetables in) so we had places to stash our clothes, suitcases, pills, sanitizing wipes, paper towels, etc. Having a neat, organized space made it easier to tolerate being away from home for so long.

Garage – You don’t need a car (FHCC has shuttles running between the Clinic, the patient apartments, Safeway, UW Med, and some other places that I forget – it was kind of like a mini-bus system), but it sure was convenient to have one; no rushing and waiting for the shuttles. It also helped reduce cabin fever, by cruising for supplies while sitting in an air conditioned metal box.

THE BIGGEST THING TO HAVE -- A loving, smart, dedicated care giver!

I could go on and on, but I think this is enough for now. BTW, my overall experience at FHCC was outstanding. LMK if any ??’s.

Kitchen – Besides getting nausea (pay attention to your anti-nausea meds!), your taste buds will go wonky (water tasted like metal to me and made me barf). Don’t buy big quantities of your favorite snacks (a mistake I made) because they may make you nauseous. Get small quantities of different foods, snacks, and drinks. Then test things out to see what stays in you.

Get a couple of empty squirt bottles (Home Depot). You can then mix-up Clorox & water for sanitizing everything in the kitchen (I forget the formula FHCC recommended). Shoot down the toilet and shower, too. Your shoes, too.

It was much easier to just select a few generic pots/pans/utensils/knives/bowls/dishes (out of the stuff PGH supplied) to use for every meal as it made sanitizing/cleaning simple. Think of it as camping (in an apartment building) for several months.

Bacteria growing on towels are a risk, therefore, we wound up using a lot of paper towels. Dish scrubbers were cloroxed then dunked in boiling water.

My caregiver (God bless her) required a lot of coffee to keep me out of trouble, so we got a single cup Keurig coffee maker. Great for late night temperature monitoring.

Living –

Bathroom – It’s all about cleanliness. Otherwise, you risk infection which can become deadly (worst case, of course, but a week or more in ICU fighting off an infection is no fun either).

You’ll need a lot of toilet paper. Costco has big packages of it.

I don’t think the building management team condones what follows (and I did not ask them about it), but a friend of mine (AML survivor) advised I get a bidet-style toilet seat (Amazon, “aftermarket” type). I ordered one and carefully installed it (I renovate homes and have tools). It was wonderful. For abrasion prevention and infection control down under, it can’t be beat (short of showering after every trip to the john).

The shower head is stationary with a huge 1-micron, pressure-killing filter on it. The weak pressure was irritating enough, but the stationary head was a huge pain. Trying to get a good shower while keeping the hickman dry was a contortionist’s nightmare. So after having to get my dressings re-done too many times, I swapped the thing out for a regular, hand-held shower head. Yup, I took the risk of some rare infectious agent showing up in the city water, but I weighed the risk of that vs. messing up the plastic tubes STUCK INTO MY HEART, and decided I’ll risk a sudden failure of the Seattle municipal water system versus something going wrong with my hickman.

Kitchen –

(Sorry, seems my post a day or so ago was too long and got bounced. Here it is again in pieces:)
Here’s a list of the stuff I (over time) found useful during my stay at Pete Gross House (Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle) for tandem autologous SCT. FHCC staff strongly emphasized the need to avoid infections, which drove many of my supply choices:

Clothing – Loose fitting clothes (preferably long sleeved as sun exposure may become an issue). You will have “emergency situations” requiring quick strip-down at the toilet (to be blunt about it). Stretch-waist jogging sweats worked great for me. Long sleeved, button/zip tops worked great for easy access to ports/hickmans/etc, and were convenient during exams (there will be lots of exams). Slip-off shoes/sandals (I grew to appreciate the humble Croc) were useful to avoid tracking god-knows-what into the apartment (the streets of Seattle can be pretty gross). One side note: make a mental note of where all the restrooms are in the clinic and plan your daily (exercise) walks around that.

Bedroom – Bedding depends on the time of year. AC unit in my unit was “ok” -- a single, on-floor model in the living room. It was ok during hot days if I slept in from of it. Heater worked nicely when needed. Otherwise, temps at the apartment were comfortable. Some days I had a hard time crawling in/out of bed, so the lounge chair in the living room was very nice. I also brought a folding gravity chair (Amazon) to bundle-up and sleep on in the bedroom (easily folded and leaned up out of the way for more space). An extra blanket or two for use on the couch or lounge chair was nice.

Bathroom –