I remember really wanting a good night's sleep when I got home from the hospital. Between the pain and somebody coming into your room every 10 minutes to sweep the floor, empty the garbage, fill up the ice water, turn my leg circulation gadgets on or off, schedule meals, deliver meals, etc. -- and every task was a different person -- there was no way to rest in the hospital.

Maybe some nice healing relaxing aromatherapy product? I don't know what's out there.

For myself, I splurged on some Pimsleur Italian language tapes to get ready for an upcoming trip, and once I was able to get out of the house on my own, I went out for pedicures . . . because I couldn't comfortably reach my feet for about a year.

The best thing when I was still feeling fragile was actually getting out of the house. I was convalescing at my parents' place in Pgh, so when DH visited in between business trips we rented a wheelchair so we could go to baseball games, and another big highlight was when a friend visited for the day and we went to Primanti Brothers. Home can feel a bit confining when you're healing up, and it's nice to get out and do "normal" things.

Hope your friends starts to feel better soon!