What To Get a Chronically Ill Person for Christmas? The Ultimate Guide
Festivus approaches, along with a slew of well-intentioned cookies you can’t eat. (Gah.)
For those of you who are too tired to make a gift list, and your loved ones who asked for one, here. Merry Christmas!
(I don’t know how to do affiliate links, but I do have a tip jar! If this list helped you find the perfect thing, please consider throwing down a few bucks.)
In this post, I’m only going to share things I personally own—things that were gifted to me. If you can find a smaller business/craftsperson who makes something similar, please support them.
I’m a fan of useful gifts—things you’ll use every week, if not every day. Things that are functional help boost MY function.
Gifts Chronically Ill People Need Year-Round (But Christmas Is As Good An Excuse as Any)
HEAT. Because sick bodies have better things to do than maintain a constant temperature (apparently). And when everything hurts, heat can help make it better.
Some winners I personally own and use on the daily:
Does anything get colder faster than feet? (Yes. My butt.) These have a microwaveable flax layer on the top of the feet, so I can pry myself away from my space heater.
Full disclosure: when I first got these, I couldn’t stand the herbal smell. Also, they seemed a little damp when I nuked them? Both these items resolved—the smell got a bit toastier (and now I love it) and the dampness melted into just a touch of moist heat, which penetrates more deeply.
This is at the top of my list for a reason—every feeb should be issued a pair of these with diagnosis.
2. Microwaveable Neck Warmer
My friend Nicole brought this blue fuzzy delight over along with the rest of the pain care aisle when I had “surprise jaw surgery.” It smells exactly like the Warmies slippers, which was weird at first, but it mellows out. Even un-nuked, just the pressure is calming.
3. An Enormous Fuzzy Heating Pad
You’ll know if someone owns one—they’ll be permanently attached to it. I drape mine over the back of my office chair or sit on it during the day. I put in under my shoulders when I do meditation or rest time. I wrap it around my aching guts and freezing rump when I’m going to sleep. According to some older reviews, a few have caught on fire, but given that none of them are recent, they’re few and far between, and mine so far has not combusted, I’m not worried. (And I worry a lot.) Also, I have renter’s insurance.
Outside Help
Not having to do laundry or run to the store is one of the biggest gifts you can give or get. If you can’t be there in person to make a meal, do a Costco run, or whip through a load of laundry, hire someone who can.
This is just a local outfit, but giving them a shout since they’re the thing that helps me most, period. They can air-dry and handle Thinx and deal with picky laundry asks. There’s probably something like this in your town. If you don’t see one, check with laundromats and ask about a delivery/pick up service. Reliable laundry help gave me so much more bandwidth for other things. (ps. Locals please drop my name to Monica! I get a small discount if you sign up—which is NOT why I’m recommending this, but it helps me!)
Instacart delivers to internal apartment doors, hotel rooms, and sometimes even hospital rooms (in addition to houses, of course.) You can ask them to just drop it somewhere for you so you don’t even have to interact with anyone. My link above will get you $10 off the first order (and me too! Please use it!). With a year subscription ($99) you’ll save a bundle in delivery and service charges. But for a one-time thing, you can just send someone the gift of whatever groceries you want—really helpful with food allergies.
I use Instacart every week at home, mostly because they carry up the heavy stuff for me. Even if I can stop by the store for a few specialty items, it’s better to leave the bulk of the schlepping to someone else.
I also love it for medical travel. Usually by the time I get there I’m too fried to make decisions or shop, so having the list loaded and ready to go by the time I land ensures I’ll have safe food soon.
Yes, Amazon is evil, but with Prime, it’s also accessible. Need some mechanical pencils? For free, they’ll be there in two days. The Prime return policy is huge—practically an in-home shopping service. I don’t have the fortitude to walk around a department store, but I can order a few things, try them on, and send most of it back. It also comes with free TV shows and music, sickie musts.
Little Life Hacks
#Accidentallyaccessible
Simple Human Step Can (and the refill bags! Get the bags! Seriously!)
Bending over and down can hurt when you’re sick, and I didn’t realize how much until I got this and didn’t have to. I already use my feet to open and close lower drawers. The bags are designed to fit the can EXACTLY—I don’t have to struggle to get them on or off or deal with them sagging down. I have a little guy cuz it’s just me here, but choose your size.
Also, the lid gives you a little leeway if you can’t take the trash out every day, protecting it from flies and stankiness.
Remote Set Up
Our doctors, friends, and family members are far away (across town is often plenty far.) I kitted out my whole desktop and my Zooms are so much more helpful now.
I can sit with feet elevated, so I use a desktop monitor on a laptop stand. Some of us are bed bound and this wouldn’t be feasible.
This was an early-pandemic gift from my friend Andrew—I’ve gotten so much mileage out of it. It doesn’t have full functionality on a Mac, but so what? It makes me crisper and clearer, and shows me at a better angle than my laptop would.
My doctors and my Dad have hearing aids. When I realized they were spending too much of the call struggling to hear my little baby gerbil voice, I upgraded to this. I haven’t had a “huh?” since.
Ring light and phone stand
I haven’t found these yet, but plan to—taking suggestions and updating this space soon!
Creature Comforts
Earbuds
MyNoise Subscription
Health and Beauty
