Clumsiest moment?

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 29, 2002

I always laugh when I do something stupid, like sitting on a rolling stool and getting deposited on the floor. Even if I'm hurt, I laugh because I'm so embarrassed. One time many years ago, when I was coming out of this hilltop tavern after having consumed three and a half Long Island iced teas, I stumbled over my own feet and, since I was headed downhill, lost control and crashed through a wooden fence. Broke it, too (you should've seen the bruises on my legs the next morning). The trouble was, I ended up with my butt in the air and my face in the bushes, and I was laughing so hard I couldn't get up!! It took both of the friends I was with, plus 2 good-looking bouncers, to extricate me from the vegetation and put me in the car. Fortunately, I don't do that sort of thing anymore (I haven't had so much as a sip of beer in 10 years, 8 months, and 29 days, but who's counting?). Still laugh about it, though!:imbar

longtermcarern · Sep 29, 2002

The other night at work I had a pt. who was in severe pain. When I took her brand new bottle of roxanol in to give her some I tripped over air as I opened the bottle. Spilled half the bottle all over the floor. Had to call in a cna to be a witness that it was spilled and to watch me clean it up. The pt was laughing so hard she momentarily forgot her pain and the cna laughed all night.

sunnygirl272 · Sep 29, 2002

quote:

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originally posted by mark_ld_rn

well am not very clumbsy but had a couple of episodesof it.

1) we had gotten new l&d beds .just finished a delivery patient still upin stirrups, was attempting to put foot of bed back on , ithought i had it locked in place so i pushed on it .and ended up falling foward face first ended up on the floor very red and embarressed

2) i once turned to walkout of patients room and walked into edge of open door.boydid that hurt

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originally posted by ktwlpn
good thing that you ended up with your face on the floor-and not between ..those stirrups....yech!lol!!...or imagine if you had flung a hand out to try to stop your fall? grabbed hold of...well---best left unsaid...i am roflmao right now....

omg, ktwlpn , i am sooo glad i am not the only one who thought that!!!!rotflmao!!!

TheLionessRN, RN · Sep 29, 2002

During my Health Assessment final while I was in nursing school, I was very nervous. We were in the skills lab and had to run scenarios. I had a dummy pt in the bed, which was next to a wall, and the bedside rolling table was against the wall, leaving a small amount of room between it and the bed to walk. The instructor was on the other side of the bed. I was doing my thing, running the scenario, and something rolled off the bedside table. I bent over to pick it up and bumped my head on the underside of the table, which sent the rest of the stuff on it crashing to the floor. Backing out from under the table, I ran into the pt bed with the backs of my knees and plopped down on the side of the bed, just far enough to break my fall, but not far enough to stop my rear end from sliding off the edge....and having to reach for the rolling bedside table in front of me.

To the instructor's credit, he didn't laugh, but on that day, I coined my own personal phrase for myself. I was having a Lucy Moment.

stressedlpn · Sep 29, 2002

I have been called Grace since for as long as I can remember. Like Wendy I often trip on air. I can always laugh at myself. I figure that I was made this way to provide hours of amusement to my co workers and family. Unfortually not only am I "graceful" but also tend to be a wee bit hyper 90% of the time, not a ggod comination

tyger9966 · Oct 5, 2002

I feel so much better knowing I am not the only ridiculously clumsy person around....but at work it's just me. everyone else is super-coordinated compared to me. I'm the one who sprained (lucky I didn't break) my neck trying to do a handstand, who trips over absolutely nothing, knocks EVERYTHING onto the floor at 6 am in the bathroom, waking all the neighbors, etc. etc. I am just now living down a recent incident (luckily it didn't happen at work): I was taking my dog out early one morning, and it had been raining for a week straight. Well, we have these little landscaped areas around our apartments where there are brick walls that go about 5 feet down with trees, etc. in the bottom area and the ledges had become slimy from the rain. I usually (not anymore) walk on the ledge since I don't like to get my feet wet in the grass. Whadaya know, I get up to the ledge with my dog, put ONE FOOT on it, and somehow lose my footing, hit my upper thigh right on the friggin' corner of it, fall off 5 feet down, and roll into a tree and knock the wind out of me! When I got my wind back and looked up, my dog was standing at the top of the ledge looking at me like I was the biggest idiot on earth! I fell so hard that it tore my skin on my elbow and leg right through my robe and pajamas!! :chuckle

NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2002

Originally posted by RNConnieF
While I'm thinking about it, could we find a way to reroute IV tubing so I don't catch my foot in it, and can we change the tele monitoring system so I don't catch my stethoscope, name tag, med keys, earrings, hair, or ear in the wires? ;)

Speaaaaaaaaking of which...the other day, the xray guy came down to do an xray on one of the babies on our unit, and had leaned over the bed to help the nurse reposition the baby. He turned away, the iv tubing snagged on his lead vest, and rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrip! Out came the IV. The part that REALLY made me cringe? It was a scalp IV. Thank heavens for Morphine drips! He started crying, god bless 'im. (Um..the tech, not the baby...) When I was in nursing school, my stethoscope got tucked into some foley tubing and when I backed away, out it came, balloon intact and everything. *I* cried, that time, along with my howling patient. Ouch.