[wishiwereanurse]

I've gotten to page 35, 36 or 37 reading this post, then I came across the word 'lice' and that reminds me of this one story a nurse told me when I was still a student...it was her neighbor I think, or something like that...I dont remember well anymore 'cuz it was long time ago...

There was this poor little kid that had a bump on her head, and the parents thought maybe the kid just bumped her head somewhere, but after a while it started bulging more, so they get the kid to the hospital. I guess what happened was they lanced the bump and found out that there was a ball of lice inside the boil...uggghhh nasty!

Then the nurse asked me which I'd rather: have lice covering each strand of my hair, or have a whole colony of them balled up in a bump on the scalp! uggghhh!!!

I can stand all the blood, poop, earwax, slime, etc..but maggots, lice, etc just makes me squirm...

[3dogs1cat]

Originally Posted by KaraLea

My latest would be the woman who came into Med/Surg with UNTREATED Breast CA. She had been sent home the day before because there was no longer anything we could do for her and she wanted to die at home. Well, it must have been a long drive to get home because she stayed that night in a hotel where she fell and landed on the floor chest first. The CA had eaten to the outside and there were a bunch of "blisters" on the breast which burst when she fell. There were huge open, draining wounds to the breast now which we had to "dress" with chux pads...These were the only things that would fit. Just layered chux ans towels over the breast. We had to keep her in a Resp isolation room because of the stench alone and you could still smell the rotting flesh in the hallway everytime the door was opened. By the time I came on, she had become unconcious without obvious signs of pain, though we did have Roxinol ordered for her. This poor woman died later that same day and I called my doctor for a mammogram the next day. It really scared me. This CA had been caught early enough, but she had refused treatment.

As a nursing student I saw this type of breast ca. Except the lady had an e.coli infection in it. I check my breast every month and when I recently had a lump INSISTED that my gyn refer me for at least an ultrasound even though he thought it was no big deal. It was nothing but I definitely did not want to go through what this patient went through if it could be helped.

My patient's family brought in all kinds of smelly room freshner things..it just can't cover up that smell.

[Franemtnurse]

I agree that untreated breast cancer is a horrific site to see and even very bad to smell. It smells just like rotting or decomposing flesh. I too have seen it. But I have never ever seen or heard of head lice balling up in a lump inside the scalp. That's a very new one on me. Yuck.

[wishiwereanurse]

Originally Posted by Franemtnurse

I agree that untreated breast cancer is a horrific site to see and even very bad to smell. It smells just like rotting or decomposing flesh. I too have seen it. But I have never ever seen or heard of head lice balling up in a lump inside the scalp. That's a very new one on me. Yuck.

yep, this happened in a third world country where I was schooled though... had seen lots of people with lots of lice... sometimes I even borrow the kids playing at the street and offer to brush their hair with those fine-toothed combs, a sheet of copy paper can be filled up in less than ten strokes...its gross! The people couldnt afford Nix so I guess they just try to live with the lice.

Oh there was also this one time, when I had rotation in an ER, they brought in a woman with ascaris worms coming out of her nose and throat, she died after a few days...uuuggghhh!!! That one gave me nightmares!

[Diahni]

Good one Viva! Did you ever take a career aptitude test? They never seem to test for one's ability to deal with this kind of thing. But when you start nursing school, boy, it becomes very apparent very quickly.
Diahni

[Diahni]

Originally Posted by wishiwereanurse

yep, this happened in a third world country where I was schooled though... had seen lots of people with lots of lice... sometimes I even borrow the kids playing at the street and offer to brush their hair with those fine-toothed combs, a sheet of copy paper can be filled up in less than ten strokes...its gross! The people couldnt afford Nix so I guess they just try to live with the lice.

Oh there was also this one time, when I had rotation in an ER, they brought in a woman with ascaris worms coming out of her nose and throat, she died after a few days...uuuggghhh!!! That one gave me nightmares!

Somewhat off topic, but important: Do you need Nix or other pesticides to control lice? Obviously these products aren't available in some countries. I have heard of dangerous stuff to use, like kerosene, but aren't there less toxic things to use? Poverty often includes a lack of access to info. Anybody know?
Diahni

[mindyg22]

Originally Posted by Franemtnurse

caught a ninety yo in bed with the van driver once. They weren't losing any time either. She had a smile on her face, but he got fired.

EWE!

[Diahni]

Originally Posted by mindyg22

EWE!

Maybe they should have given him a different job?

[BigPapa60]

Two unforgettable requests. Let me set this scene correctly. I'm a 290 pound big burly guy with some redneck personality features, but I'm not a bit homophobic, I think. I had a large male quadraplegic patient one evening that was delightful, articulate, and very knowledgeable of his condition and care requirements. He also had the ususal bowel obsession that occurs when you have nothing else to worry about. He was anxiously concerned about getting his Ducolax suppository to initiate his "bowel cleansing", and I should have been also. I rolled him on his side, inserted the suppository and told him I would check back later. He instructed me that later I would need to "dig" (pronounced d-i-j) him to complete the cleansing. I just smiled and said "no problem, I'll take care of things". As promised I returned for the clean-up to find he had given birth to a noxious five pound German chocolate cake batter, (you know...sticky, nutty, pasty). After many successful and strenuous efforts to make sure all the creases and folds were clean, he put the icing on the cake. "OK, I'M READY FOR YOU TO 'DIG' ME NOW". I was perplexed. How could there be more? So I regloved, applied the K-Y to my finger only to hear two phrases I never want to hear a man say to me again...ever. "NOW JUST STICK IT IN AS FAR AS YOU CAN... THEN WIGGLE IT AROUND AND MAKE BIG CIRCLES." I nearly lost it. As I scraped the rectal vault for the third time the patient calmly asked "DID YOU GET OUT ALL THE MUCOUS?" (You know, the cake icing stuff) To which I politely replied "You're clean as a whistle, inside and out, see ya."
[And to think, I chose this profession.]

[ssouthernyankee]

Originally Posted by Diahni

Somewhat off topic, but important: Do you need Nix or other pesticides to control lice? Obviously these products aren't available in some countries. I have heard of dangerous stuff to use, like kerosene, but aren't there less toxic things to use? Poverty often includes a lack of access to info. Anybody know?
Diahni

Diahni, I use to work @ a school that a very high % of students were poverty stricken we use to send home bottles of shampoo with green tree tea oil mixed in. It worked well at preventing reinfestation, most kids we treated at school when lice was discovered and we used a little stronger mixture of the tea oil/ shampoo and it too worked well.