What freaks you out?

Ok I have mentioned this before, but this situation is the grossest thing I have come across. Had a pt hooked to NG suction, she had unhooked herself for whatever reason and I assisted her back to her bed and told her not to do this herself, apparantly she had been unhooked for 15-20 minutes. Well she had been there for a while and she knew how to hook it back up herself, she took the plug from the tubing and a long bile green string of mucus trailed so she just put the open end of the NG in her mouth and SUCKED!!! watching in awe as the green tube went clear again I thought I would lose it. I couldnt help myself I yelled at her and told her that was nasty, dont ever do that again. This is of course the same pt who was so foggy on dilaudid that she kept putting her bloody menstrual pad on her abdominal incision (dont know if she thought it was an ABD or what? To no surprise she got a serious wound infection and had to be opened back up. Did I mention I was pregnant in the few months time we had this patient. The plastic surgeon grabbed me one day to assist in her room so I went in and he debrided her wound at the bedside, I held the biohazard bag as he put the nastiest smelling peice of black/green flesh in, the weight of the hunk of meat alone got to me not to mention the smell. He left, I tied the bag in a knot at the top not knowing what in the hell to do with it and mistakenly felt the warmth through the bag and my gloves...I almost lost it. I ran to the soiled utility room threw it in the biohazard bag and told the doc if he needed it for patho or otherwise he would have to fetch it himself! Just think all this was only one pt on our surgical floor, and I thought surgical floor would be a "clean" place to work

Obvious deformity. Nuff said.

Live creeping, crawling maggots in a wound...gets me every time!

vablueyes...
Yep on the maggots, and since I was the new kid on the block in 1980, I got picked to take care of them. I was given a can of ether (!!!!!) and I had to go "anesthetize" the little buggers and pick them off with pickups. I survived that, but my least attractive moment is when someone is vomiting. I can't even help my own kids..I have to hold the bucket for them and turn my head. My cat threw up once on my bedspread, I couldn't stand to clean it up, I threw it away!!!. Thanks for the laughs everyone. TrustinhartRN

Anything to do with eyes freaks me out.

J tubes that have leaked into surrounding tissues.

AMPUTATION AMPUTATION AMPUTATION! I've had nightmares since i was a little girl about legs being blown off. It's my biggest (only really) personal fear. Even amputaions from WWII that are healed just gross me out. Arms don't bother me quite as much but legs YUCK! Something that I am not afraid of but just makes my skin crawl is maggots. (I'm convulsing just thinking about them.)

Listening to a limb being amputated is awwfffuuullllllll! A close second would be emptying a colostomy bag.

In terms of operating rooms to be in, EENT and OMF---count me out. Neuro, I'm okay with, oddly enough, but anything having to do with the face gives me the willies. Give me ex fixes, open long bones fxs, cranis, GI bleeds, hearts (I *love* hearts) , traches ... but eyes, ears, nose, and mouth will always freak me out. Nasal packing, epistaxis, facial fx, corneal stuff, even cataracts---I just can't stand it!

Let's not forget the lovely sound of the mallet hitting the end of the Gillies in ENT. CRUNCH!