Regrettably, I can speak with some authority here - having 'done' nearly 6 weeks of the same treatment in 2010. I had surgery on my neck as a result of spinal cord damage and was unexpectedly immediately consigned to bed after the difficult surgery in a specialist spinal injuries unit. For a while I had no use of arms or legs. Hopefully Chris has the use of his arms - as kindly nurses move your 'stuff' about (radio, iPod, books etc.), or move the table, maybe only an inch or two - but it's now frustratingly just out of reach. That needs a call to the nurses and they can take a while if they are busy. Or, you've dropped the call button - or simply can't find it as it's out of your field of vision and you can't move.
For me it wasn't the books, radio, etc., or the lack of mobility, it was the sheer boredom and frustration, incarceration, and the need to depend on others for everything, feeding, washing, shaving, and - you get the idea. Plus worrying about whether or not you were going to get sufficient use of your body back to return to 'normal' life. This can be (and for me has been) life-changing. Lying in bed wrecks your body, and the normal body functions go haywire
Fortunately for me, I have most of my mobility back, sufficient hand control to be able to fly my 'planes (badly...) and it's easier to ride a bike than walk.
I found Radio 4Extra whilst consigned to immobility, and that was (and is) a big help. Digital radio allowed me to listen to cricket during the long night hours (you tend to nap in the daytime so can be wakeful at night) as England were touring Oz at the time. So if he hasn't got one, I'd recommend a digital radio, and a Tablet. Some hospitals have wireless internet for the patients and you can surf from your bed. I've just spent (another...) 3 weeks in hospital and had with me my wife's wireless Samsung device, and that was really helpful - news, papers, watching the Lions tour and cricket etc. (via Sky Go).
So, I would say, yes radio (especially a digital radio), iPod etc., but in particular Chris may value some psychological support. This length of time immobile is tough, and all you can do is lie there and think, what if..... The hospitals know this and can be pretty good at keeping spirits up, but he will value visits, and being taken little things - chocolate, small luxuries maybe such as new smellies, maybe a shaving brush and proper soap if he wet shaves - the male nurses will wet shave him if he can't move sufficiently to do it for himself. It's the stupid, banal, everyday little things that brighten up a long day, immobile in a hospital bed. Once you've been 'serviced' in the morning, by about 10am, it's then a very long day ahead - so anything different to break up the boredom is valuable to the patient. I valued my own favourite marmalade from home, and honey for the hospital muesli - Chris will love anything like that brought in to 'personalise' his experience in a hospital bed, being fed school dinners 3 times a day.
Chris will also soon find that his muscle bulk drops away - and frighteningly quickly. I lost 12kg in 6 weeks - despite three good meals a day, some of them more than even my unhealthy appetite could eat. So it wasn't lack of food, it was the lack of muscle use and using muscles to defy gravity just by standing up and walking. That becomes a problem when he eventually gets out of bed. It's even very painful just to hold your head up because your neck muscles have wasted. It will be a wheelchair for a while as muscles build back up, and then weeks of physio (much of which he can do himself and so may need help in motivation - some goal-setting by cycling friends maybe?) and being taught to walk again, and simple things like showing the hospital physios that he's strong enough to get up off the floor in case he falls once discharged, or get up the stairs to the loo. So, it's not just 8 weeks, it's many weeks or months of rehabilitation. That's really frustrating when all you want to do is get out on the bike in the fresh air - not have to plan ahead for a half hour trip next day to the local shop to buy Cycling Plus.....
I was lucky, and I'm sure Chris will be too. But I was lucky because I was in a specialist spinal injuries hospital where the staff look after patients like this all the time. It's not the mundane healthcare, it's the mental support that you need when consigned to bed for a long time, and dealing with the longer term collateral damage and rehab. Chris will have to be mentally very strong (cyclists are anyway....) and his support group will need to push him once he's up off his back to get his body to work again.
So, I wish him all the best, he will get better, and my advice is simply to treat the experience to come as pushing on to a new personal best. It will work out - and it'll work out easier if friends and relatives understand just how tough this process is going to be for him.
Sorry if this has been a bit of a long post - but a short OP belies the long adventure that Chris has to come.
Andy
