[CrunchRN]

OMG - these stories are amazingly horrible.

I have been following this thread since it's inception, and I cannot stop no matter how horrifiying.

My hat's off to all you "real" nurses. I just don't think I could have done these things with these people. Y'all are just amazing and wonderful and I admire you to no end.

:y eah:

[becembrie]

EEEEEWWH! I can't seem to close my mouth. Each story I read seems more disturbing than the last. I'm glad I work in Peds. Can't really think of anything that compares.

[ohlpn]

I think I've posted this one before, but here goes! I was a fairly new nurse in a nursing home & we had a bedridden patient with an enormous abcess on his back...it actually looked like an infected zit.

All shifts were dressing & cleansing this wound, he was on ATB's as well. I had to change the dressing & cleanse it one day & the (male) aide I had asked to assist me in holding this fellow on his side told me "I can take care of this problem, RIGHT NOW!!!"

Ronnie proceded to apply pressure around the abcess & popped that sucker right open! It shot across the bed & landed on the wall behind me....it looked like someone had thrown a raw egg against the wall! I was horrified!

It took a couple days to quit draining & heal up, but it did in less than a week. After many weeks of "treating" this nasty thing, an aide (& not a really good one for that matter) remedied the problem in a day!

[mom4josh]

Originally Posted by ohlpn

I think I've posted this one before, but here goes! I was a fairly new nurse in a nursing home & we had a bedridden patient with an enormous abcess on his back...it actually looked like an infected zit.

All shifts were dressing & cleansing this wound, he was on ATB's as well. I had to change the dressing & cleanse it one day & the (male) aide I had asked to assist me in holding this fellow on his side told me "I can take care of this problem, RIGHT NOW!!!"

Ronnie proceded to apply pressure around the abcess & popped that sucker right open! It shot across the bed & landed on the wall behind me....it looked like someone had thrown a raw egg against the wall! I was horrified!

It took a couple days to quit draining & heal up, but it did in less than a week. After many weeks of "treating" this nasty thing, an aide (& not a really good one for that matter) remedied the problem in a day!

I love stories like this... wish I could have been the one doing the popping. I don't get near enough of that in my job.

In fact, we have a lady now who had a huge blackhead in her groin which I had my eye on the other night. I didn't pop it because I didn't want her to bleed all over or have a huge hole in her groin (plus she wasn't even my patient). Well, last night another nurse (in whom I confided my love of popping such things) told me, "I just got this humungous blackhead out of this lady's groin!"

I was mad at her all night for stealing my fun!

[becembrie]

I didn't know you could get blackheads down there!!

[Daywalker]

You can get blackheads just about anywhere....trust me.

[sparketteinok]

Originally Posted by dukeRN

My first few months in a burn center we had a twenty something man admitted with TENS (nasty condition where the epidermis sloughs off and the mucous membranes, including the mouth, inner eye lids,and lungs slough off, and bleed and bleed and bleed) who had a history of IVDA, HIV, hepatitis, syphillis and herpes, not to mention a real joyful personality(one the rare times a patient on our floor was not intubated). Pts with TENS with ocular involvement often need to have their eyes "swept" with cotton swabs as often as hourly to perserve their sight: not exactly a comfortable sensation. Anyway, this gentlemen was so enthusiastic about his care regimen that he would spit blood AT you: purposely trying to hit you. Luckily he didn't succeed at hitting me, but a few of the staff did get "up close and personal" with his blood and body fluids (even with a full gown, mask, hat gettup, it still is gross to be spit at, especially blood). Yikes. Then there was the time that a 60% burn victim who hadn't pooped in days had a code brown blow out that literally was dripping off of the bed and puddling on the floor almost immediately after his two hour bath and dressing change. Never mind the insanity, that unit was a blast to work on excellent people made it tolerable, and every shift was "a party in blue pajamas"!

Hats off to those of you who work in the burn units....that must truly be a living hell for anyone with any sense of compassion....I applaud you all.....

[alcrab01]

When I worked as a pharmacy tech at Walgreen's, and old woman called and asked to speak to the pharmacist one day. I could tell by his reactions that this was a very interesting phone call. This is the story he told after the call ended.

Old Lady (OL): My pills aren't working. I keep passing them in the toilet.

Pharmacist (Ph): Those are extended release tablets. The medication is released from tiny holes in the pill casing. Sometimes the casings don't fully dissolve, so it's normal to pass them in your bowel movement.

OL: Oh. So I shouldn't wash them off and take them again?

Ph: (Gagging) No, no! Don't do that! You might want to go to the emergency room!

[nursebabygirl 08]

Originally Posted by mom4josh

I love stories like this... wish I could have been the one doing the popping. I don't get near enough of that in my job.

In fact, we have a lady now who had a huge blackhead in her groin which I had my eye on the other night. I didn't pop it because I didn't want her to bleed all over or have a huge hole in her groin (plus she wasn't even my patient). Well, last night another nurse (in whom I confided my love of popping such things) told me, "I just got this humungous blackhead out of this lady's groin!"

I was mad at her all night for stealing my fun!

And i thought that i was the only one who liked popping blackheads!!!

[BSNGUY]

When I was working med/surg I had a coworker who had a patient with an NG tube. The cannister got full and she went to change it. If you don't push down and secure the top, it can be loose. Um, anyway, as she was carrying it down the hall to dispose of it, the lid came off and the ummm, contents, splashed up and into her face and a big plop fell on her shoes. Needless to say, she went home ill.

When I worked in a psych unit we had a pt who was mentally retarded who had a pica infliction (eating non-food objects). It was my turn to shower him and as he was in the shower, I noticed him chewing something. I asked him to spit it out.. umm, out came a very large turd. He spit it out just so, and it landed on the wall of the shower and slowly came down, resting on the drain. His teeth were brown. This I noticed because he had a large smile going on. Now I feel sick. Off to another thread....