What Is Your Most Gross, Yucky, Disgusting Nursing Horror Story?

[yazisizit]

I was working a night shift on a tele floor as a new Nurse.

We had this one poor old lady who was confused and was restrained as usual for her safety. She was our designated resident nightmare geri from hell, so she was placed near the Nurse's station.

So we are chilling out at the Nurse's station, chatting and trying to get through another night...

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see our lady in question standing in the dimly lit doorway of her room!

I instantly leap out and run to her. As I approach her, she appears to be falling towards me, so I meet her in a bear hug...my arms around her waste, and her arms around my shoulders.

As I catch the lady, I notice a very strong smell of feces, and I feel something warm on my hands, arms and shoulders...

My fellow heroes come in behind me, and as the lights are turned on, my worst fears are instantly realized.

Yes, I caught the poor old lady with a good old bear hung football catch, but I was also covered in the lady's feces.

As I look at her, she has feces smeared all over her arms and hands... (and even her face!)

And of course, now so did I!

[kc2004]

about 10 years ago when I was doing my clinicals in OR,

we had a man come in from a rural area with an inguinal

hernia. I had to assist so I walk into the OR and here is this man

with a scrotal sac the size of a basketball. All of his intestines

were inside his scrotum. We had to open up his abdomen and

pull the intestines out of the hernia to put them back. This took

about 2hrs, then we had to do the actual hernia repair!

I was wondering the whole time about how this man

got his pants over his nuts. Or did he come to the hospital

in one of those mumu dresses like Mrs.Roper from Three's

Company used to wear?

[mackrn]

The first time I took care of a frequent flyer that came in with maggots on his leg it took 2 hours to clean the wound. The second and third time it took 45 minutes using a little bottle of ethyl chloride (a freezing solution) that made cleaning them off easy. The last time he came in used a CO2 fire extinguisher and it was finshed in 5 minutes and he never came back.

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

The first time I took care of a frequent flyer that came in with maggots on his leg it took 2 hours to clean the wound. The second and third time it took 45 minutes using a little bottle of ethyl chloride (a freezing solution) that made cleaning them off easy. The last time he came in used a CO2 fire extinguisher and it was finshed in 5 minutes and he never came back.

A CO 2 one I hope

[mackrn]

A CO 2 one I hope

Yes, as stated in my post a CO2 one.

[happthearts]

I forgot I have one to add Had a PT sweet little lady had ate a great dinner .I had worked a double that night and I always helped the aides doing rounds when I could to catch them Up .We walked into to this room and There was blood all over the drapes ,the Pt the blankets all over the floor , with a big chunk of tissue on the floor It looked like a carton of liver you buy in the store in size.They smell was un-real. Looked just like a murder sene We cleaned her up best shampoo her hair change all the linen and bedding

We then removed all the drapes Then we got the bio hazard thing to pick up the liver/blood looking thing which preceded to slide all over the floor. I had never seen any thing like this before and haven't since . Finally got it up with a plastic bag.

This was truly the worst I have ever seen .What made matters worst is the family had to see the Pt in the hall ,as the room was too bad to be seen . Hope none of you ever have to go through this. They told me it was some kind of bleed.Possible GI maybe. Would have loved to know what this was .

[nu one]

We were the coming in as night shift when the outgoing charge nurse told me to help her with a patient who just came in, a dnr and who as soon as he was transferred in bed expired. He had a throat and lung cancer, with a trach stoma. Were cleaning him up and I noticed this spring-like bloody material on his chest. It looked like the man coughed out his trachea on his last few efforts to breathe!!! :barf01:

[Kitkat23]

:uhoh21: My story isn't gross, but it was freaky. As a student aide at the clinical site, I was put in charge of feeding this elderly gentleman with Alzheimer's at dinnertime. He was in his late stage, had a feeding tube, and refused to eat his meals. (that's why he had a G-tube.) Anyway, the charge nurse and my instructor told me to try to get the man to eat his dinner, so I did. I would put bites of food in his mouth and he would spit it right out. He kept calling me by his dead's wife name, Molly and was saying that I was a good cook and made the best french fries and burgers. (He was having lasagna and carrots.)

I didn't correct him, but I was playing along with him by saying, "I'm sure your wife was a great cook. She'd want you to eat all your dinner and get your strength. Have another bite." I tried coaxing and encouraging him several times like the nurse told me, but it was no use. He kept spitting out his food; but managed to sip his tea three times. He kept playing footsie with me under the table and saying, "You're beautiful, Molly." I was freaked out, but felt sorry for the poor man who lost his wife.

Finally, he told me to take the tray away from him, so when I picked it up to bring it to the food cart, he grabbed my butt and said in a loud voice, "You have a nice butt, Molly." Everyone in the diningroom heard and started to laugh. One of the aides said, "Okay, Ray. Behave yourself." The staff and my classmates started to call me Molly for the rest of the night. I was so embarrassed, even though he couldn't help it. Being a CNA has its moments. It was quite an adventure. :rotfl:

[irishnurse68]

OMG --- this was defanentaly not a good thread for a new nursing student to have read...I'm really starting to reconsider....~feeling a lil dizzy~

--CLaire

I was just thinking that same thing!! Actually, I am having a ball reading all of these, can't remember when I have laughed so hard! I should be studying my med surg right now...this is more fun

[EricTAMUCC-BSN, BSN, RN]

I had a patient with a swollen scrotom and bubbling member, according to one physician and a veteran nurse it was similar to ascites caused by his acute renal failure. Poor guy was in bad shape.

about 10 years ago when I was doing my clinicals in OR,

we had a man come in from a rural area with an inguinal

hernia. I had to assist so I walk into the OR and here is this man

with a scrotal sac the size of a basketball. All of his intestines

were inside his scrotum. We had to open up his abdomen and

pull the intestines out of the hernia to put them back. This took

about 2hrs, then we had to do the actual hernia repair!

I was wondering the whole time about how this man

got his pants over his nuts. Or did he come to the hospital

in one of those mumu dresses like Mrs.Roper from Three's

Company used to wear?

[acynicalnurse]

oh----how sad. i seem to remember that advanced aids patients can suffer from organic dementia, just as cancer patients with brain mets can (or, of course, alzheimer's patients.) he probably had absolutely no control over his behavior---interesting that he remembered it.

i was curious about this, so i googled "aids" & "psychosis" together and came up with this:

"dementia is a known complication of hiv infection. it tends to occur late in the course of hiv infection, and is usually associated with high viral loads and low cd4 counts seen in people who are not taking haart (highly active antiretroviral therapy) or who are on a failing haart regimen."

know what you mean i have looked after people who have seen them selves acting strange and or violent ( aged and mostly post op till drugs well out of their system) but state they had no control and opologize perfusely. which is nice i feel you know taking responsibility for what they did. :uhoh21:

[acynicalnurse]

i have loved reading these stories and the replys so much i have never laughed so much despite some of the grossness of the stories

my gross stories are to do with wound dressings i have had to do when i was a grad in my first year. i have always looked after kids so poo, snot, and vomit were always known entities to me but i have been surprised lol on occasion

1 / some lady in her 40's- 50's she had i think diabetes or venous disease but she had had bi lateral bka (below the knee amputation) and then a one side went worst than the other so had a r/ aka (above the knee amp.) and then both sides got worst so she had a l/ aka and also a r/ ampututation up to her pelvis. she became septic and had mrsa in the wounds. the smell was bad +++ but the pus and exudate from the would was terrible - green and mouldly looking. i learned quickly to mouth breath and keep talking to her like it was a stroll in the park cos she was so upset about the whole thing and needed to relax. she was such a co operative pt too and i felt for her cos it all happened over a couple of years. she was for four hourly dressing changes and it took over an hour and being on the low end of the pecking order as a grad

guess who got the job :angryfire but took it in my stride and was glad of the experience as a newbie

2/ another one was a lady late 60's with bi lateral breast ca that she ignored for years then got dx which also developed mets and refused active treatment except for wound care. from her just below her neck to just below her breast line was a fungating/ green/brown/ mouldy smelly layer but it was actually attached to her breasts. she was for six hourly dressing changes with charcol imbedded dressings cos even she couldn't stand the smell . on top of that she was on and off confused cos of brain mets and we had some male rn's whom she refused to let near her.

isn't nursng grand i was lucky though both patients were very co operative and not aggressive

jo :) the cynicalnurse :balloons:

[happthearts]

If anyone know's what this is please tell me When I was an aide in California many years ago I was sitting with a Pt about 85 years old receiving blood product she was dying of cancer.

Her stomach began to fill up with the blood and she began to sweat I noticed that when I sponged her down with the white wash cloth that there was blood on the wash cloth .I thought maybe she had a tear some where but she didn't have any tears I noticed that the sweat droplets looked blood tinged So I touched her arm with my glove and noticed blood on the glove.Withen in minutes the lady expired when we moved her we noticed on the sheet where her upper back had been there was blood also.

This has alway kind of intrested me as they have said in the bible Jeaus when he died bled from every pore.Alway been a mystery to me.