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

Ok , that was a riot!

Two residents at my job are a couple in varying stages of dementia; he has Alzheimer's, she is occasionally confused. They have 2 cats, and they often require prompting to feed the cats or clean their box.

One day, an aide complained that the room stank, even though the box had been cleaned the day before. I walked in the room for some reason. As I washed my hands in the bathroom, one of the cats knocked over the trash can. I said "bad kitty" and stepped toward the cat, who jumped into the shower. I moved the shower curtain and saw a large pile of cat poop to the left of the drain.

The wife kept the cat box in her closet. The door was usually open, but someone (maybe an aide) had closed it that morning. Since the cats couldn't find their box, they pooped in the shower. At least it was easy to clean.

I was a hospice volunteer for over a decade and was assigned a very tall good sized man who had end stage colo-rectal cancer. He no longer had bowel or bladder control and was largely unresponsive much of the time. That day it was in the 90's and very humid and this elderly couple, who had been married over 70 years, lived in a metal trailer and it was H-O-T inside. His diaper had not only just filled but BLOWN OUT for the umteenth time that afternoon and I got what I needed to clean him up and change him and the bed. I had just attempted to roll him over, when I heard a disgustingly cheerful voice call "Hello... Where are you?" It was the family's minister. I called, "We're in here." He came back and blinked, swallowed HARD, and said, "How can I help?" I told him that I hoped he really meant what he had said because I really really needed some help right then. That sweet, good, wonderful man, held my patient in position, helped me wash, dry and apply diaper rash cream, and change the bed, then he carried the sheets to the washer, loaded and started it. When we were finished, he stood there, in his undershirt and said, "I didn't know it smelled so bad to serve the L**D!" By then, the patient was sleeping and we were in the far end of the trailer. When we'd stopped laughing -- finally -- he said he'd probably be much more cautious about offering help in the future! Also that he'd have a good story to share (without names) when he went to "chicken leg and creamed peas" dinners for the next year...


Kathy
sharpeimom

Years ago during my time at a LTC facility, there was a little lady I knew I'd never forget.

In the middle of a (for once) pretty quiet night shift, this poor old girl walks up to the desk, and complains of lower abd pain. There was a little swelling in the area, and the lady was in obvious pain & getting a bit tearful.

Chg nurse notified the patient's MD who said he'd see her in the morning... about two hours later she walks back to the desk, still crying. I'm sitting behind the desk, talking to her over the top, and start to hear (the only real way I can describe the noise) a sound like something cracking and popping as it hit the floor. This sound is accompanied by the worst odor I have EVER smelled, in my whole 11 years as a CNA.

THREE FULL MONTHS ago, during Easter time, the grands and great-grands came to visit our little woman. They'd given her easter eggs to hide for the young'uns. Guess where those eggs ended up! After a good clean-up, she was sent off to the ER for the raging infection... Yours truly got to clean up those eggs from the floor...

Blood, stool, vomit, snot... body fluids and gore don't bother me, but those eggs... *gags*

Anyway- that's the only downfall with being independent (ADL-wise) in a facility- no matter how confused you might be, if you use the bathroom and shower yourself, in many places you will NOT get checked out properly on a routine basis. After that experience, ALL my independents are checked several times a shift!!

Hey Coco and welcome to allnurses! What a story! Years ago I worked Thanksgiving Day. Dietary had placed some sort of leaves on a plate with fruit on top. The one patient ate everything on the tray including the damned leaves. Guess who ended up having to call the Poison Control Center on this otherwise quiet shift ! Ended up just observing her....

men canalso get breast dancer, although rare...

I've had the patients-eating-leaves quite a few times! Surprising how many dangerous plants people bring in unknowingly!

Family members once brought in a HUGE poinsettia plant and put it on the desk to brighten things up around Christmas-time. I think we sent out three or four of our patients that evening before someone finally decided to toss out the plant.

Several times, I've noticed things like foxglove in bouquets.

Just goes to show you, even a CNAs job isn't always as straightforward as people might think!

Okay, for another gross one (really isn't too bad, but still.)

On the rehab hall, we have a healthy-sized man (about 6', 220 lbs or so) who is recovering from multiple strokes. He just switched from the g-tube to solid food not long ago, with good results.

That is, until he had his flu shot. It floored him! We were cleaning vomit for hours on end, and struggling to keep him sitting up in the bed. In the end, we all decided that putting him in the chair would be the best bet, and while he was up about six feet in the air, swinging in the Vanderlift, the nurse decided to unfasten his brief and give him a suppository for nausea.

Good in theory, bad in practice.

He started heaving just as she was giving the suppository. He peed all over her, just bathed her from her lower back on down (as she was kind of kneeling/bending over beneath the sling of the lift). She hurried up and finished, and stood up quickly, trying to reassure him that we'd get him cleaned up and in the chair.

As she started talking, he turned his head toward her and vomited all down the front of her.

Needless to say, she went home to change. Sucks to be her! She was a good sport, laughing about it, but I can definitely say I'm more than a little relieved it was her and not me!

That is so disgusting. I'm starting EMT school next month and I'll eventually work my way up to being an RN, I knew that nursing was a hard job and Im completely ready to take that challenge, but WOW! I didn't know it was full of so many disgusting things! At least it gives a good laugh for the shift, right?! =p

I gather the leaves weren't lettuce or spinach or some other deep green leafy vegetable?

OT: When I was in college, I was a hotel banquet server and for a while, our main chef decorated the platters with kale and orange slices or candied apples, which got all dried up and were rarely eaten. We then hired a new chef, who in addition to using kale did things like slice up a tomato and make it look like a flower or a bird, and my fellow servers were surprised to see people taking the garnish and eating it. I replied, "It's food!"