Things that make you go "EEEWWW"

Nurses General Nursing

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Stevielynn's thread about the nursing home with the signs on the food carts brings up (oops, no pun intended:D ) something that happened at work yesterday that turned even MY cast-iron stomach. I was the PRN helping with admits, and as I was charting vitals on one new pt., this lady came running up to me holding a patient gown literally dripping with fresh emesis and hollering that her mother was throwing up, and would I come quickly?

I followed her to the patient's room (even after she refused to give me the gown so I could deposit it in the linen barrel and NOT have a trail of slightly used vegetable soup running down the hall) and found a very confused elderly woman sitting up in bed, naked, with vomit EVERYWHERE--all over the bed, on the floor, even in her hair. Worse yet, she was just about to start eating again, apparently having already forgotten being sick, and seemingly unaware of the fact that she'd baptized the tray along with everything else!!

Well, it was all I could do to hang onto my own supper, and I had no choice but to deal with it alone because even the aides were too busy with vitals on the fresh post-ops we'd just gotten. Half an hour later I emerged from the room, smelling ghastly and feeling somewhat under the weather, but by gosh that little lady was nice and clean and her daughter pleased as punch with the service. At least I got a thank-you out of it.....but I hope I don't have to deal with anything like that again any time soon.:eek:

Specializes in Gen Surg, Peds, family med, geriatrics.
Originally posted by oldfolksnurse

Ear Lavage and retrieving large chunks of ear wax from an old person's ear has always and still does make me want to puke. That is the only thing that will do it. I can deal with dentures (a firend of mine can't), vomit, C-Diff stool, etc, but ear wax is eeeewwwwwwwww!

Ear wax doesn't bother me, Lord knows I do enough of that at work. But then there was the woman I syringed not too long ago whose wax was the same consistency and smell of diarrhea! :imbar

Ick, Ick, Ick!

Laura

Several years ago while working med-surg I admitted a gentleman who was obese,immobile and obviously unable to care for himself. He was admitted for leg ulcers heavily infested with maggots. They were on top of open wounds plus movement could be seen under intact skin. The infestation was literally from feet to calves. Once the legs were wrapped with dressings I asked him if he had noticed anything peculiar and he replied "Oh, I felt something moving" and proceeded to tell me how he wasn't bothered by this incident. My colleagues and I (I hate to admit this) were repulsed and it took all our professional control to not flee the room. To top it off his son accompanied him to the hospital and the son's concern was his dad hadn't eaten all day and could we get him something to eat! When I explained about his dad's situation he didn't blink! Unfortunately a few days later his dad succombed to cardiac arrest but I have never forgotten this patient. Then, about a week later my unit received another patient with a large sarcoma of his leg which was infested with black(yes,black) maggots. Prior to his hospitalization he was told amputation was necessary but declined and over time the area became larger and infected/infested due to lack of care. It was deja vu as I and the other nurse working were the same ones who admitted the previous patient. My colleague(who was next for an admit) pleaded with me to admit this patient which I grudgingly did. Somehow I got through it and thankfully a couple days later the patient went to surgery for a BKA and did very well afterwards. Thanks for letting me share! Darla

Just the other night I was doing some trach care on a pt. with a huge amount of secretions...and an incredibly forceful cough. He coughed, thick green sputum flew...into my hair. A long thick string of the nasty stuff clung to the hair just next to my ear, EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! I ran to the sink, soap dispenser was empty so I used the next best thing...alcohol gel (and lots of it). My hair was a little dry when I got home! Nothing a long, scrubbing, anti-bacterial soap, conditioner shower couldn't take care of. It was so gross...and yes, I have learned my lesson to stay out of the line of fire!

Whenever anyone asks me what I think is the worst smell I have ever encountered (typical night nurse conversation!) I say a GI bleed. I agree there is really nothing worse.

It is amazing how the definition of "gross" is in the eye of the beholder....I am flabbergasted by how many new mom's don't want to touch their newborns until they are cleaned up because they are "yucky"! That yuck came from your own body and is on your own child, how bad can it be! Little do they know that before long they will be picking snot out of that kids nose for them! LOL :chuckle

Originally posted by Mimi2RN

Baby poop doesn't usually smell very bad, but it can really travel. Babes in isolettes can squirt all the way to the end, when you are changing a diaper, and it keeps on coming. Wipe...squirt...wipe...squirt. One time a nurse changing a diaper on a big newborn was very surprised when the baby shot poop all the way over the end of the bassinet to the floor. Thats why I never stand at the end of a bassinet to change a diaper. And if you don't get pooped on, they'll pee on you or throw up on you.

When my 1st was born my sister who was a young college student at the time came to see her new niece. She stood at the end of the changing table while I changed Katie's diaper. Well, you guessed it.....poop shot out all over my sisters shirt! She was horrified!! She went on to have 3 kids of her own though and experienced her own share of grossness from them!!! :roll

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Kids are the great equalizer, aren't they? If you couldn't deal with poop, puke, snot, and other emissions before having children, by the time you've raised the first ones to adulthood you can stomach just about anything. There are some notable exceptions, of course, my sister being one of them......she had two kids of her own and raised five with her second husband, but never did get over the "urkies", although she's gotten somewhat better during the years she's lived with my family.

I'll never forget the time when my youngest was a baby and six of us came down with some stomach virus that caused the nastiest double-ender....she was the only one who WASN'T ill. She was holding the baby when he started to retch, and I watched from my sickbed as she aimed his little head over the nearest receptacle (in this case, a trashcan) with perfect aplomb. Never even turned a hair. I was so proud of her---she'd never been able to be in the same room with a vomiting person before---and she said, "Thank God, it was only formula!".

Now, when one of the cats throws up, even I head for the exit......I HATE cat barf......

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Actually i used to say cat barf/sound was the worst.

Untill i heard a 75 lb. dog barf.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

YEECCCCH. I've never had a 75# dog, but I can just imagine.....!

Cats throwing up really gets to me, mainly because they go through these incredible contortions and make these horrid retching noises while they're preparing to do it. It's all very dramatic, and then they produce.......spit. And on the occasions when they do actually vomit, it's either a glut of slightly used cat food, or worse, a sausage-shaped thing that (ULP!) another cat will come along and consume. The first time I saw that happen I had to literally run to the nearest bathroom so MY outraged supper could take a bow. Nothing I've ever dealt with in patient care OR motherhood has gotten to me quite like that.:eek:

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

i wanna know why dogs always barf on the rug. two inches from the more-easily cleaned tile floor. never fails! unless i grab the retching pooch and plop her down on the floor then hold her there while she yaks.

once my daughter was out carousing in her dad's new car with some of her friends who were all very drunk. (she is usually the dd, since two of her good friends have died in etoh related mvcs.) one of the little dears had to puke, got the power window down and leaned his head out the window, hitting the side of the car and into the space where the window disappears. they didn't realize the stuff had gone into the door, and cleaned up the mess. weeks later, the lingering odor of barf was traced to the window motor. cost her a good bit of coin to have it eliminated.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

The cat always loved the bedspread at my house.

The dog, as soon as she make the first retch sound, i got up and opened the front door and she sailed on out. Then we'd sit outside for 15 minutes so she'd get fresh air (and since there wasn't a carpet stain to rescue).

I felt sorry for the dog afterwards if she didn't make it outside. She'd kinda look up afterwards like "uh oh i messed up the carpet, i shouldn't have done that, i know how mad you'd get when i lifted my leg to the sofa".

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

The bedspread is THE favored spot in our house. I wish they'd do it on the floor, we have wood floors throughout that are easy to clean, but no, they've gotta puke on the bed. I have one cat who used to sleep on my pillow, until he whoopsed on my head in the middle of the night. Twice. All I can say is, there's nothing quite like waking up to the sound of a cat tossing his cookies in your hair at three AM.

He sleeps on the footstool at the end of the bed now.

Yeah, I'm one of those "non-nurses" who shouldn't be reading this so I think I will stop reading now and I really hope that all this "euwww" stuff can be gotten used to (bad English, I know)

or I will never make it as a nurse. :) :)

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