The Smell of Death!? - Page 2

i've often thought i smelled like death after work. a tip that my mom bestowed upon me was to shower with lemon juice (including your hair--thats where alot of the smell stick), rinse, then shower normally. it kills the death smell, i swear...

another poster said neti pot, which is also an awesome suggestion! i have one! it was worth the $15!

I don't know about the smell of death, but working as a CNA in a few LTC facilities, I've had to take two showers a day. One before I got to work, and one after I got home. What may be strengthening the 'smell' is the fact that most nursing homes keep the rooms heated to a certain level to avoid the thin-blooded residents from freezing to death. Even on days when it was 80 degrees outside, the residents would still want the heat in their room.

working inpt hospice, every.single.day. my husband would complain about me smelling of death.

for a long time, i thought it was his psychological reaction to me literally working around dying/death all day long, but even my kids would complain.

i wash my clothes separately, and shower/scrub from head to toe.
and i too use lemon juice as a final rinse.
but if i neglect to only shower, w/o washing my hair, then my family still complains.

i figure all those organisms we work around, would take its toll on us.
afterall, if we can become colonized with many of these germs, why wouldn't they emit any odors?

scrub it all away.
and i bleach my work clothes as well.

leslie

I haven't noticed a smell of death -very little experience so far with the dying and dead - but I have come home with the odor of illness and antibiotic-altered excreta in my excreta without being ill myself. It would last for a couple days after taking care of a patient with a characteristic odor. Very strange, I have no explanation.

Sorry for asking such a dumb question, but do you ever find that there are situations where the patient would opt for a DNR (probably because they are tired and ready to leave this life...) and yet the family refuses to make them a DNR?

Which brings up another question...are the wishes of the family given more weight than that of the ACTUAL PATIENT? (Sorry, don't mean to yell, put there for emphasis...)

I know in the case of my grandmother, she opted for a DNR and she is currently in the nursing home...I'm not sure how much longer she has to go, so I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Joey