My bestie broke both of his arms and wrists two days ago. He’s in his 20s, a gamer, has a pregnant wife and a young kid. Any ideas for gifts I can get to cheer him up? He’ll have no use of his arms for 3 months.
Already got a bidet for him and hooked it up. Looking into accessible gaming controllers, but he said that the pain is so bad rn that even alternative controllers are probably a no go.
You don’t give your friend a thing, you give his poor wife something. A bidet goes so long and pregnancy itself is hard.
Seriously: Offer her to do some chores like shopping, gift them some take-away gift cards,etc. The situation will put a serious strain on their relationship,
A beer helmet!
God no, not while your body is healing that kind of stuff.
You don’t need to put actual beer in it.
Lmao that would be a grade A prank. Show up to your follow up with Apple juice in it. Tell them you drove there. And rave about the kind stranger who refilled it for you.
My friend’s wife just broke her arm, so I sent her this: A Farewell to Arms: The Hemingway Library Edition
For gaming, I highly recommend a trackball mouse since it requires so little movement, and depending on the model the buttons don’t require a lot of force to be pressed.
A quick google shows me that these work even on an xbox.
I would suggest a fingertip trackball, and one with the largest ball diameter you can find. The larger the ball the more accurate and less movement needed.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Kensington-FusionTM-Wireless-Trackball-K72363WW/dp/B08D356XB6/
^ This is my daily driver, but it is better suited to someone with small hands.
https://www.amazon.com.au/KENSINGTON-K72359WW-Kensington-Wireless-Trackball/dp/B00009KH63/
^ This is the easiest to use, most comfortable for almost anyone with larger bands, and requires little force to click.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Kensington-Orbit-Trackball-Scroll-K75327WW/dp/B07YVMXLQC/
^ This is another smaller contender that may be easier on his hand, as it is more rounded. Some people need flat, some need round.
Put a washcloth under the left side of whichever one he chooses so he can adjust the tilt so his wrist won’t hurt.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Elgato-Stream-Deck-Pedal-footswitches/dp/B09PRMCTGB/
^ Something like this would be good for the first little while, he can drive with the trackball and use his feet to click. There are lots of these at different price points.
For comfort, things to ease the itch and miserableness of the casts that will come. It keeps you up at night.
https://www.amazon.com.au/CastCooler-Immediate-breathable-orthopaedic-manufacturer/dp/B003XNNCV0/
^ Very cool product I wish was around when I had a cast. Seems well reviewed.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Scratcher-Cleaner-Sanitizer-Cleansing-Included/dp/B092472C4Y/
^ These to scratch itches down the cast. He should put nothing else down the cast, and don’t put it so far down that you lose it. The skin under the cast will become very thin and fragile, anything put down it with a sharp edge could scratch and the warm moist environment could breed infection.
Regarding toilet time, if the bidet you got does not have a dryer function he may need to dry his booty when he’s done. Many homes that have bidets everyone has their own little towel they use. He could move a stool or something in the bathroom and put a specified towel over it to sit on to dry himself.
My condolences to your friend, really glad he has a friend to help him.
Gimble vice and a fleshlight?
Some sort of food eating helper? Also help them every now and then physically. Not like that. Help them pick up, clean, get groceries for them, etc.
Ooh! A Walmart+ membership for grocery delivery?
Cleaning service, any house services really, freezer meals, or other little to no prep foods, offer to play with their kid from time to time, help them relieve stress by unburdening them (by taking on chores), instead of providing an escape (video games)
Every hobby can be considered an escape. But that doesn’t make it bad. Even dads and husbands need “me time” for themselves. So don’t tax his gag so hard-core cruster.
LMAO, I know it’s auto correct typos, but:
So don’t tax his gag so hard-core cruster.
Is excellent gibberish.
I get this, I’m a dad, and I know that me time is wonderful, but I also know that if the house is in rough shape because I can’t do anything even if I wanted, that me time becomes an escape instead of a wind down, and the stress returns the moment the screen is off. Help with the house makes it so the relief lasts longer.
I hadn’t even considered cleaning services or meal kits. Those are a fantastic idea! I’ll reach out to his wife and get her input.
I’m constantly overwhelmed with no broken arms, and just 1 day a week for someone to come in and “reset the mess” is incredible. You should probably talk with his wife and have the “this person is giving you time to do things that prioritize your family” talk, because some people can feel cleaning service is admitting failure in keeping up their home. (Also her talking with the kid about not treating this as an excuse to be messy isn’t bad either)
That’s a bit of a biased opinion on video games, huh? Maybe some, but certainly not every game and definitely not every gamer is about escapism. Some people destress and chill out with games because they have other responsibilities like kids, work, etc…
I’m in complete agreement, but with two broken arms, they aren’t going to be helping much with house chores (depending on how much mobility they actually have), and having those things done will actually allow for downtime.
Game thought: DDR?
Game thought: DDR?
I feel like there’s a good chance you’d lose your balance with both arms in casts. Maybe not though. It’s a good suggestion!
help them relieve stress by unburdening them…
Uhhhh what are you suggesting here exactly?
Sending his mom over
So depending on how much hand dexterity he has left with the broken wrists I suggest a back scratcher and one of those reacher grabber arms.
This comment had me in the first half, ngl
reacher grabber thingy
The ladies diggem
What this?
I’d say audio books, but you can get them the Libby app and a library card and they’ll have tens of thousands available for free.
Audiobookbay + bugmenot
Libro.fm for stuff not at the library
The catch with Libby is that usually all the good books have hold times. This isn’t an issue when you’ve been using Libby for awhile, you put a bunch of books on hold and you reach a point where you always have something available. But it can take weeks/months as a new user to get to that point where you are constantly having waitlisted books coming available.
Can I ask how that happened?
I think what he and his family needs is help with chores, How well you can help with that depends on how far away you are.
He locked himself out of his house and crawled up on his roof to try to get in a window, but all of the windows were locked. He tried to get back down and the ladder toppled. He fell 12 ft and had curled into a ball to protect his head and torso, but his arms were shattered. He’s lucky he got away without a concussion or broken ribs.
Thanks to stories like this - If I lock myself out of the house, I’m going to break a window before I climb onto the roof!
Oh suggest this is a good time to get some walks in. It’ll at least be some exercise, we’re all short on steps, some fresh air and sun. Just a couple 10 minute walks a day is easy. After meals is supposed to be a good time to help insulin response.
Then you should absolutely add one of those rock hide-a-key things to your list just for a laugh.
Lmao that’s perfect
Or, if you’re feeling a bit spendy, a keypad lock (find out if they use Schlage or Kwikset or some other key brand to match their existing keys). One of the best ways to prevent being locked out of the house.
Yale makes a nicer keypad deadboot
Oh no.
The bidet was a very solid choice. As generally privacy oriented as I am, I have no alternative. What about an Alexa + Audible?
In all seriousness, if you want to be helpful the best thing you can do is spend some time with him in person. He can tell you what he needs, and you can show him you care. If I got seriously crippled like this I probably would start thinking that none of my friends will make time for me because I have become a burden. Prove that nasty self-talk wrong!
Sadly I’m 3 timezones away.
Gag gift. Since he broke both arms, and wrists, he hopefully can still hold something lightweight.
Love this idea and absolutely adding this to the list
Tape it to his cast.
