Hi, I have missed this group dearly over the last 2 months! I’m trying to catch up on all the great posts I have missed.
I thought I would share a few ways I was able to save some money while my 10yr old son was in the hospital for 52days. I did get a few days warning that he would be going in for 2 weeks so that the doctors could adjust his feeds & medications, unfortunately things didn’t go as hopped & we ended up being there for 7.5weeks! Because I had some warning this was going to happen, I was able to make some freezer meals for my husband & son that would be staying home & coming for visits to the hospital. I was able to make a couple of lasagnas, cooked up taco meat, had portioned out pork chops & veggies for meals. I made cookies & banana bread and froze them in portions too. I had portioned out yogurt & other snacks. My hubby only need to purchase some fresh veggies & fruit. I stayed at the hospital & had access to a fridge & microwave so my husband was able to bring me 2days worth of meals & snacks at a time. This was great as I wasn’t temped to get expensive food at the cafeteria or 3 coffee shops that are at the hospital. I brought tea bags from home & had access to hot water to make tea.
The coffee shops at the hospital are Starbucks, Tim Horton’s & an independent. I was able to redeem some points for gift cards for Starbucks & Tim’s to have treats when my younger son came to visit.
Parking is $14.50/day at the hospital. I asked the social worker if there were any discounts for long stays & she was kind enough to give us one month of free parking & then another 7 individual days, so we only paid for 2 days of parking (unfortunately, there is only 1 road within a mile of the hospital that has free parking for a limited time frame)
I had access to laundry at the hospital & just had to bring my own detergent, I save samples that I receive, so was able to use those.
Because my husband was driving even more than usual between, home, school, work & hospital, I was able to redeem points for gas gift cards & discount cards (normally I save these for our summer vacations)
While at the hospital, I found a 30minute study that both my kids qualified for, so they each made a quick $10 one afternoon.
For entertainment, I brought colouring, activity sheets, rubics cube & a couple travel games from home.
We are all home now & together again which is great. My son is doing very well & bounced back quickly. Now I’m applying for grants to help cover ongoing medical costs.
I’m in Canada, so my son’s medical expenses were all covered while he was in the hospital. Now that he is out of the hospital, a portion of his medicine is covered by my husband’s work healthcare plan, but formula & feeding supplies are not.
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