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.
A GoFund me page!
If that’s something you want to do and/or help manage for them, make sure to set it up in the one of their name(s) for tax purposes.
Both he and I are well off financially, so no need for a GoFundMe.
As someone mentioned, an Alexa speaker. You mentioned a young kid and Amazon Kids has some great audio games you can play. I’ve had a blast either playing along with my kiddo or just watching him. Plus you can connect them for use as an intercom.
Occasional outings and a change of scenery might be appreciated as time goes on.
I’ve broken a lot of bones.
Get him stuff that helps the family so he doesn’t feel useless and guilty. That’s number 1. It’s awful to feel like a burden to everyone, and that doesn’t go away no matter what is said to you.
Second, stretch bands to put around limbs and pull. It feels amazing. You don’t realise how little you move and how little muscle you use while subconsciously “nursing” a broken bone.
Something insanely complex that involves both arms to use or solve. It’s just funny as shit. But also, I swear I recover faster.
Just no train blueprints for Mr Glass over here
Haha. I think my bone density is fine, I just ask a lot more of them than normal…
Bones: “This could break us.”
Brain: “Yeah, “could” but won’t. I got you.”
collective being does a thing that will be amazing or moronic depending on outcome in the next few seconds
what do you do that demands so much from your bones, just out of interest?
Various “extreme” sports
Firstly, my sympathies for your friend’s horrible situation
Secondly, don’t let him near anyone’s mother.
Rubik’s cube
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.
Libro.fm for stuff not at the library
Audiobookbay + bugmenot
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.
Chessboard, bro can play a tournament by calling his move and having his opponent move his piece. Queen to e7, checkmate, and his opponent has no choice but to move his piece!
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.
Anything that makes him want to masturbate. Oh, wait… you were trying to cheer him up.
Ngl I was considering a suction cup fleshlight as a gag gift but his wife would kill me
wait they make those?? I bet the suction cups don’t hold up. do you have a link, I think I’ll need to test this for myself, for science.
Uhhhh
A caring mother…?
Very caring indeed
IYKYK
every fucking thread
We had an opportunity to be different, but it’s not Reddit, it’s us.
I let us all down :(
You just jumped in front of the bullet. We were all thinking it. Or… at least I was. I was busy when I saw this question pop up or it would be my name up there under the spotlight of shame.
All of us.
I wouldn’t be shocked if this question was placed specifically as bait. It which case, the internet is unexpectedly restrained today, not immediately taking it.
You can take the redditor out of Reddit, but you can’t take the Reddit out of the redditor
Ya’ll got perma band, too? Damn bro
Mankind knew they could not change society, so instead of reflecting on themselves, they blamed the Beasts
You can, but it might take more than a year.
As soon as I read the title to this, I thought “here we go again”, but I’m amazed there are actual helpful comments and only one reference to the arms broken/mom bit
Supremely refreshing
I don’t know why, but this moment of self realization is the best thing in this thread.
It’s like a gingerbread man in the gingerbread house comic moment
Good thing I read this before I deleted my original comment.
Why would you do that? Ride or die: the fuck with what others think.
I generally agree with that sentiment but there are the occasional times where upon reflection my own view has changed.
Sometimes the warts on our own faces disgust us the most.
My friend’s wife just broke her arm, so I sent her this: A Farewell to Arms: The Hemingway Library Edition
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.
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.
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.
reacher grabber thingy
The ladies diggem
What this?
This comment had me in the first half, ngl