most thoughtful thing received after surgery?

Flowers were my favorite.

When I had my mastectomy I was pretty closed-mouth about it, telling very few people.  My daughter had a new boyfriend and she had to tell him becauses she was coming in from college and he was helping with her transportation.  One week after the surgery she was coming home and kept saying don't worry about dinner that she had a surprise.... Well her boyfriend's mother sent over a complete turkey dinner, with stuffing potatoes veggies etc.  I hadn''t even met her.  I was moved to tears and I will never forget it

Michele

One of my girlfriends, going thru bc 10 years ago, received a huge box with snacks, chips and drinks in it- she had school aged children at the time.  She or her dh made the sandwiches, and the kids picked from the box for the rest of their school lunch- I thought that was such a neat idea.

In among the box of things I received from the American Cancer Society was a bracelet. An "id" type that said "Hope starts here". Maybe some of you got the same? It had rubber sides with a silver clasp? Anyway, I took to wearing it on the side where they took lymph nodes as a way of reminding myself in my drug induced haze upon return from the hospital. Even after becoming clear headed, I found it meaningful and liked wearing it. Obviously, it was not an expensive peice of jewelery and after awhile the rubber broke. I was bummed but what could I do? I put it in my jewelery box and forgot about it. Until Christmas morning when my DSO handed me my gift. He had the "Hope starts here" tag put onto a beautiful 14K white gold bracelet chain!  I cried just a little Ranks #1 in the most thoughful gift I've received EVER.

Ellen

I have two thoughtful gifts.  My co-workers pitched in and bought a service called "Dinners Served" - which is 24 meals for 4 person servings.  All you do is thaw during the day - then cook or bake, all ingredients included.   The other gift was a gift basket of useful items for recovery at home.  It contained 4-6 magazines, a couple inspirational/comical books on BC survivorship,  a couple movies, crossword puzzle books, slippers, jammies, chapstick and chocolate!

My sister and her family gave me a similar gift--this was a "Chemo survival kit" (my sister is also a bc survivor). It was all packd in a pretty tote for me to use to take my supplies to the chemo treatments (iPod, book, water, etc.) and included a soft fleecy robe, non-sweet smelling lotion/shower gel (no alcohol on the lotions! she remembered!), a hat, and chocoalte. The last is sort of a family joke--I have four sisters (no brothers) and we all love chocolate. One of my other sisters vetoed the chocolate fountain her wedding caterer suggested, because "all of my sisters would be face down in it all night!" Anyway, my other sister had been able to eat chocolate all the way through chemo, no matter what else she couldn't get down, chocolate was OK... So she sent me a supply in case I was the same way. And I was!

I got a lot of dinners delivered which were wonderful.  The most memorable thing was a bouquet of pink rose buds each with a pink ribbon attached.  From one of my alway-over-the-top friends.

A nurse from the breast cancer center at the hospital gave me 2 cami's with pockets for the drains.  Those cami's got alot of use!!  Oh, they also gave me a small pillow to put over my chest while riding in the car.  I would just strap the seatbelt over it.  It was very much needed and appreciated!

My husband bought me a couple of scrub tops (they snapped up the front) that worked very well over my cami's with the bulky drains.  I even continued to wear the tops for awhile after the drains were removed.

My Mom would wash my hair!  Yeah!

I know, I put about 3 things on here, but all of these were my top favorites!

The best thing I got was one of those "grabbers" or "pickeruppers"!  Since I couldn't bend down to pick things up, this thing with a squeezable handle could get things that ended up on the floor.  I never realized how much stuff gets dropped in a day!  It was my lifesaver ---- especially when I dropped the toilet paper!

Cora

I also have several things. The cancer nurse also gave me 2 camisoles with pockets to wear while I had drains, I since have passed them on to other women who needed them. I also got 2 soft small pillows to put in my armpits to comfort the area of SNB. 

My mother came over every day after my surgery to make sure that I had a hot meal and clean house and a way to get to my doctor's appointments. She also arranged for me to go to her beautician (we go to church together) and get my hair washed, she gave me a spaghetti and salad dinner to eat the next day.

My sister came by and took me to her house several evenings for supper and some outside my house time.

My neighbors came over to make sure that my basset hound had outside time every day.

My personal netflix, My brothers gave me a list of all their DVD's and I would call them with my request and they would bring them to me at Church. They kept me in DVD's for 4 weeks.

Sheila

One of my girlfriends gave brought something over the day before every chemo session. Dinner, necklace with a diamond ribbon, shamrock pant, and #4 a CASE of Shiraz...my favorite wine. From others I  received flowers. BC bracelet and from fellow survivor I met on these threads a beautiful pink BC key chain. So those are ALL my favorites. Thanks for starting this...it's fun to look back at the good things that happened.

artsee

Oh, an unlimited subscription to Netflix!!  I watched movies I've always wanted to watch and didn't care whether or not anyone else in my family would want to watch it. 

my friend made me  'Happy Box' so everytime I got anxious or sad I would go to the box and inside she had wrapped up loads of treats and positive sayings, this really helped, needless to say I got through the box in a few days but it did help to take my mind off things. 

Without a doubt!  A mastectomy camisole, had pockets for my drains.  Lived in it for a while. My wonderful husband would come home after working a long day and do dishes.  If I even tried to help he would shoo me out of the kitchen.  Sister came over daily to help and shuttled me back and forth to all the appointments including my radiation trips, 5 days a week for 6 weeks.  Not to mention friends and their visits and help.  They all rock!

mradf Good thing your PS said to your husband ("Some day soon she will wake up and this will not be the first thing she thinks about.")  'Cause there are many days you feel that your job is cancer patient and your world revolves around it!

Love this thread!