Hi Mary, How long will your husband actually be in the hospital after transplant? I had transplant at Mayo-Rochester. BMT patients are Out-patients so my confinement in the hospital room was minimal.
However, while I was in my local hospital for 5 weeks the first time being treated for AML, I kept busy with my iPad, watching movies, binged series, reading, writing, listening to music. Pretty mindless activities because my concentration was lacking. My husband brought my small watercolor kit & paper so that kept me busy making little entries for a journal or painting cards. Recovery at Mayo after the BMT (in my hotel suite) was similar. (At Mayo we’re outpatients and recover in off-site lodging)

The first few weeks after BMT are tiresome. Your husband won’t have a lot of energy and fatigue may be his friend for a while. So he may not be up for much. For amusement while being confined, little things like puzzles, adult coloring books, Zen-doodle, jig-saw puzzles, crossword/sudoku, take an iPad, laptop or tablet, (Don’t forget a small extension cord for the hospital room)
For you as the caregiver, do you have any small craft/art hobbies that you can bring with you in kit form? For my return to the hospital for chemo every 28 days, I was admitted for a week. So while home on break, I’d package up little kits of whatever I wanted to work on while confined with small sewing projects, art work, etc.

During transplant when we were away from home for 4 months, my husband kept busy daily walking the trail system in Rochester, discovering cultural centers and museums. He did all the cooking. so he’d have snacks ready for me when I felt like eating. He’d set up a small office furnished with his laptop, stamps, envelopes, paper, scissors, tape, etc., in one of the bedrooms where he could keep up with bill paying and correspondence. He’d grocery shop, do the laundry…wow, I had it made. LOL. Anyway, for him as the caregiver he said he was never bored. And oddly, once I got past the critical first couple of weeks, the rest was just an adventure for both of us.

One little thought…were you thinking of spending all day in the hospital with your husband? My husband wanted to do that initially too. He felt that he needed to be there for some reason. We’d been married 45 years at that time and he NEVER felt the need to sit with me 24/7 during any of those 45 years…maybe the beginning when we were just starting out together. But that was hormone driven. 😅. Now at 65, it was so sweet of him to want to keep me company but I quite honestly I just really wanted to be alone most of the time so that I could sleep!!!
Pulling on white gloves of diplomacy, befitting a government negotiator so as not to hurt his feelings, we came to a peace accord with abbreviated visitations. It was better for both of us! Just a thought…
How’s your packing coming along? Did you find a caregiver for your dog? That must be pretty heart wrenching for you!