Patients with interesting occupations (or not)

[FireStarterRN]

Since we have a thread going on patients who are dependant on the government for healthcare due to their dire straits, I thought I would start one on patients with interesting or colorful occupations.

I find that asking a patient about their jobs is often a great icebreaker. Sometimes I'm very surprised to find a patient whom I initially judge to be a needy 'loser' ends up having an 'important' occupation. Someone who seems relatively 'highbrow' might end up having been an underachiever who has not acheived worldly success in life.

Sometimes I'll really get treated to a facinating conversation with a retired gentleman who has had an illustrious or colorful career. I love finding out about patients, and most people love talking about themselves!

[OgopogoLPN, LPN, RN]

A patient who came into my office regularly was 102 years old. Could still walk fine (with a walker), didn't have hearing aids. Lived in assisted living, but still could do many things for herself. I LOVED asking her about the old days!!

She would have REMEMBERED clearly the start of WWI as she would have been 7 when it started and 34 when WWII started!! She was completly cognitant it was fascinating to talk to her !!!!

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

That's one of the things i miss about LTC, the living history.

Reminds me of a lady i cared for who lived to be in her 100's. She'd been through both wars. Her parents had been slaves as children in the 1860's. She'd lived through both World Wars, integration, etc.

Amazing.

[RachelLVN]

What about the bagpipe maker? This man could support his family of 5 by making 6 sets a year.

[leslie :-D]

We had a pt. coming in for a ventral hernia repair whose occupation was.....sex toy tester. We didn't ask which ones, we didn't ask how they were tested, or where and when, ya know what i mean?:stone

Kinda wonder what he told friends and family what his occupation was though. :stone

wonder how he got a hernia.

and how much do those toys weigh????

leslie

[woody62, RN]

In the '80s I worked at a small community hospital near a large prison. We would get a fair amt of their i/m when they needed hospitalization. I took care of a major Mafia kingpin who was in the area to face federal racketering charges. Funny, intresting man, who had had no knowledge of the Mafia, Cosa Nostra or anything related to organized crime. Didn't even know it was a problem in the US.

Another i/m I took care of was a former national president of the UMW, he was facinating, told me about the early union movements inthe 20's and how the union was built up to help the coal miners. He was in prison btw for arranging the assisination of a man who was running against him for in the election. His late opponent was predicted to win the election.

But both men were facinatinating of their take of history and what their lives were like. But as with most i/m they were in their opinion 100% innocent.

I remember the UMW fellow. I even remember the murder and the trial. But for the life of me, I can't remember his name. But I think it began with a K.

Woody:balloons:

[rnmomtobe2010]

:uhoh21:I can't believe it. I haven't laughed so hard in about a month. That cuts the cake. Lord help me. I can't stop laughing! It is not funny but a previous comment has me tickeled! Now all seriousness, I would just be ashamed to admit that I was a cardiologist and now I am...well...ya'll see what MarySunshine said.

I once cared for a very whiny, very fat man who ate obscene amounts of junk food and was bed-ridden from his obesity related health problems. He never said "please" or "thank you" and often made nurses cry. His own family couldn't stand him and apologized to us for him all the time.

His profession before he become "disabled"? A cardiologist.

[woody62, RN]

To answer the question 'what is a bagpipe maker'. A bagpipe is a wind instrument of the country of Scotland. And they are difficult to make. I can understand why someone can earn a living making five a year.

Woody:balloons:

[nancykday]

I remember the UMW fellow. I even remember the murder and the trial. But for the life of me, I can't remember his name. But I think it began with a K.

Woody:balloons:

Tony Boyle. Charles Bronson played him in the movie. i believe the murders took place in 1969 or there abouts

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

My first patient dying of cancer (and a good lesson or two in pain management) had several careers, the most recent one writing gospel music. There was a retired pediatrician, who started out by rubbing me the wrong way and wound up being a pretty nice guy once you got past his pickiness.

I had a tough ole dude who wouldn't admit to pain after a pacemaker insertion. He said "I've been shot and stabbed, this is just fine." I asked when, he said "normandy beach." Ah, well okay. I clammed up and couldn't think of much else to ask him.

There was an engineer who explained some stuff to me about how batteries work, that I can't exactly remember but it was very interesting at the time. And then there was the little ole gramma who had all sorts of blood pressure problems post pacemaker insertion... she was planning to weed her own flowerbeds as soon as she got home. I spent a lot of time with her making sure she did okay, and she told me about being one of the first black females to go to the university in my town. Very feisty, independent woman.

One of the most well-spoken ladies I took care of, went to school "only on rainy days" because her family required that the kids work in the field unless it rained. When it rained, her dad would say, "man can point, but god can disappoint" and send her off to school. When her cardiologist looked at her clinical picture and tried to send her home with hospice, she and her family had a collective hissy fit of sorts. She told me, "don't be led into stupidity" by the numbers or the well-meaning education of anyone. Her mother had outlived her cardiologist by about 12 years and she fully intended to do the same.

Oh, and the disabled nurse, disabled from depression who had allowed herself to come to the point where she didn't walk anymore. Was admitted from a nursing home and she was only in her 60's. Very sad H&P, I won't go into her details. But I noticed she stood to transfer and she wasn't that obese, just in the 160-lb. range. Later after helping her to the bedside commode a whole lot, I asked her if she felt weak standing. She said, "not really." I said, that's odd because I read your chart and the doctor said you couldn't walk. The look she gave me was incredulous. She said, oh you watch me, I'm going to the bathroom. And I walked her to the real bathroom, and she was so thrilled with that. She said "I'll be taking a walk down this hall after breakfast, yes siree." Wow. Turns out the way to get her to walk was to get her mad at the doctor, who knew? (I'm not discounting the timing of it and her possibly getting better mentally in the meantime. But it sure was funny.)

[psalm, RN]

One of my ltc patients had a picture of her in her room in her WAC uniform with a couple of other WACs during WW2...with General Patton. Cool lady.

Had another pt. in acute care who was under Patton and said he was "boring", lol!

[psalm, RN]

AND this is so interesting! I had a pt. in his 90's who was a retired doctor. I read in his ltc chart that he did some of his internship at Rome State School in Rome, NY. Rome State School was a home for the mentally retarded...my family would visit my 2 brothers there every month since I was 5. The doc worked there in the late 1930s. My brothers were there starting in 1958.

The doc and I met in Michigan. Small world!

[woody62, RN]

Tony Boyle. Charles Bronson played him in the movie. i believe the murders took place in 1969 or there abouts

You are right. Perhaps I was thinking about the pair of teachers who got mixed up in the murder of one of their fellow teachers and her two children. Both were tried, convicted and went to prison, if I remember correctly. And there was a made for TV movie about that as well.

Woody:balloons: