Hi Andrea,
I was in the hospital for 23 days for my SCT, I live on my own and had a friend stay with me for my first week home. I was still pretty weak and the nausea was not good. I think it is important to have food there for you to eat, at least soup but I had no energy to cook anything .... even today at almost 3 years since I had my transplant, I am just eating for the first time today and it is almost 830pm. I had chemo yesterday and this is the first time today that I felt like eating. I think that everyone goes thru periods of time when the nausea is bad ... the amazing thing is that people comment all the time about how good I look. I ran into someone that did not know that I had MM and she asked why I was using a walker and was shocked when I told her. My best info for you would be to stock the house, fridge and freezer with food that your mom enjoys. Look for the small ice cube / ice cube trays. The ones that fit comfortably in your mouth. I was told that the way that you keep the infections down, especially the ones that start in the membranes of your mouth and go all the way through your digestive system to the rectal area, is to suck on ice cubes. It lowers the temp. of your mouth to a point that the infection does not start. I have had 2 different nurses tell me this directly along with a dr. ... the others just said suck on ice cubes it helps with no explanation. I had a little fridge in my room at the hospital so that I could keep the jellos, milk shakes and smoothies that I liked on hand so that I could get them myself.
My sister put up a Tinkerbell poster that said Believe with pictures of family posted on the board.
I am allergic to latex and it turned out that I was also allergic to the tapes and bandages that they used. I learned the hard way and lost a couple of layers of skin before we decided that barrier cream and paper tape worked best. However, I did get a blood infection, from the germs that went thru the gauze and was delerious for a weekend ... not a good thing, this was my worst ... at the best I was sitting there bored with my laptop, kindle, and blackberry all played out, I just wanted to go home. They are very careful about your blood levels and make sure that you reach a certain level before even considering letting the patient head home. You do look for things to do. I found reading harder on books, Dex, one of the drugs used quite commonly, does at times change your eye vision. When you are not on Dex, the vision does go back to what it was. However, it does change how you can read a book, I had a kindle that I was able to change the font. Also changed it on the laptop.
I know that your question dealt with the what happens when they go home but I felt it important to let you know about some of the things that she might want to be doing while in hospital that would carry on at home as well.
So, as far as having food set up, I would also have some kind of housekeeping set up ... the last thing you feel like doing is cleaning house ... lol and while you are resting up, you seem to notice the dust more. I know the one lady mentioned walking and cycling but that is not really the norm, it does take a little bit to get back to normal. I was out walking with my walker while still in the hospital and cont'd once I got home ... it gives me balance and stability as well as allowing me places to put my purchases while shopping. It also helped to strength the muscles that turned to mush with the melphalin that was administered just prior to SCT.
I hope that this helps a little, all the best to your mom ... if ever she needed you before, she will need you now ... even if you are just there. A Mother's love if you know what I mean, we just need to know that our kids care enough to be there when we need them.