CRAZY / GROSS / NASTY

[kvn813]

It's no secret. We all know that nurses see a lot of crazy/gross/nasty things when on duty. Would anybody be willing to share their story with us? Please, don't spare any details.

I'm interested in your stories because I know that it's not all rainbows and kittens. There must be things that sometimes you'd wish you could un-see or un-experience (I know that's not a real word). Whether that be sticking your fingers in a patient's wound (for whatever reason), or having phlegm coughed on you, etc. Don't be shy.

I'm very curious to know some of the things I might see and/or experience once I become a nurse. Being a nurse is so exciting!!!!! 😃😃😃😃

Thank you.

[Farawyn]

The first time I ever witnessed a manual extraction.

The poor gal had not had a decent bowel movement in a week. She was a post-op LE joint replacement in a lot of pain, so she'd been getting a lot of narcotics, hadn't been moving, didn't have the most regular schedule to begin with, etc. Well, she finally started having liquid stools, lots and lots of uncontrolled anal leakage. We (a very specialized post op floor) weren't exactly familiar with the effects of massive constipation. I had no clue that liquid stuff would push past the solid stuff. Fortunately for all involved, an experienced float swung by and offered to help with yet another bed change. She recognized the signs immediately and we proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes breaking up and digging out huge chunks of petrified poop. We pulled out a mound that you could have played baseball off of.

The patient was more comfortable, though.

The vault is empty.

[Christy1019, ASN, RN]

During 2nd year of Med Surg clinicals an approximately 84 year old gentleman was admitted via the ER to the floor. He was unresponsive, had no family and had been in a rather unpleasant long term care facility. He was poorly groomed, not having been shaved for several weeks, nose hairs were sticking at least an inch out of his nose and were covered in dried mucus. I started the process of trying to get him presentable at least and began using warm cloths to soften the dried stuff from around his nose and mouth. After spending quite some time I was able to loosen the stuff and one particular piece of mucus started coming loose, I started pulling and found that it was somewhat moist farther back in his nose. I swear to God almighty that this piece of mucus went all the way to his lungs. I was sort of gagging at the back of my throat but kept working on it and finally came to the end with a big 4 foot long hunk of snot. The gentleman gagged once and opened his eyes and whispered "thank you" to me. That was what made me decide to work in LTC, I never wanted one of my patients to have been treated that way.

Oh muh gosh!!! 4ft?? Seriously?? I'm going to blow my nose right now lol

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

Maggots in the ice machine. I have brought water from home ever since.

[m_n_b_96]

...It creeped me out because it reminded me of a scene from a book where someone is eaten from their feet up.

Took me about an hour and a half to read through all 13 pages of this thread. NO TITLE OF THE BOOK FOUND. WHAT IS IT. Anyone....

[benwade]

For brevity I didn't mention that he took to soaking them in urine first.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

For brevity I didn't mention that he took to soaking them in urine first.

Okay there, benwade, you just hopped in here without any reference to anything at all, and I went back to, I think it was page 8,before I found a post by you. And it was from August!

I intuited that you are talking about someone's false teeth being soaked in urine (hey! it's sterile....isn't it?)....

It sounds like you are continuing a conversation, but one where I missed the beginning.

Say, uh, *whispers*

...are you hallucinating?

[ontnursec]

Mine's not nearly as bad as these! But I'm sure they'll get worse as I move along in my career Here goes, severely confused but friendly elderly gent, found on night shift pooping in a bedside table drawer. Poor guy was startled by us interrupting his bathroom time. And no, it was not his room!

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Mine's not nearly as bad as these! But I'm sure they'll get worse as I move along in my career Here goes, severely confused but friendly elderly gent, found on night shift pooping in a bedside table drawer. Poor guy was startled by us interrupting his bathroom time. And no, it was not his room!

And when he closes the drawer, it's flushed away!

[benwade]

Sorry about that. I imagine we must all see somewhat different views of the conversation. In the view I saw, a commenter had stated that she was crying and laughing about a story I had told about a patient who threw fecal balls. I was just giving additional information. Again, my apologies for the apparent non-sequitur.