What Freaks You Out?

Brita01 · Apr 3, 2002

This wasn't my patient (thank goodness), but we had a patient admitted to med/surg with a diagnoses of severe constipation (do I need to go any further?). Anyway, her nurse gave her a ton of Golytely down the ole NG tube and when the dam broke I've never seen or smelled anything like it. The bed was a POOL, I mean a pool of green crap. The bed wasn't even big enough. It leaked over the side of the bed onto the floor. And the smell. Oh my God. Nothing has ever made me retch before. But I had to leave the room and had the dry heaves for about 2 minutes. God knows how long that shit had been in that colon, but it was ROTTEN. Whew! Needless to say, the sweet old lady felt much better after that. :roll

Goofball · Apr 3, 2002

I remember this 97 year old comatose intubated lady from a nursing home, who had just come to ICU with sepsis and respiratory failure, was already maxed out on levophed and dopamine.

They didn't mention anything about her abdomen in report from E.R. or in notes.

She was a skinny little thing, but her gown looked big and lumpy in the middle. I pulled up her

gown to assess her abdomen, and instinctively jumped back as I heard that horror movie music play in my head.

It looked like she had a belly crowded full of a tangle of medusa snakes, just under the skin. You could easily see the outlines of them, because they raised the skin up so high.

I ran out to call the Dr., who happened to have just shown up, and dragged him in there to ask him what the heck, is she harboring aliens, or did her intestines explode? He had no clue, but said we weren't going to test anything anyway, because they had just made her a No Code/comfort care only.

I had to wonder if it all started with constipation!

LasVegasRN · Apr 4, 2002

Grinding and/or mangled bones. Can't take it.

My second year out of nursing school. Cleveland Clinic. Med ICU. 18 y/o female had overdosed on Tylenol. Must have been a full moon that night. We had 3 codes running at the same time. I'm holding down the fort with my two vent patients, the 18 y/o and a lady with fulminating rabies (hey, it was a cool place to work!). The neurosurgeon comes running in, says, "We've gotta drill her! She's shifting! Here, you hold her head while I drill!". Oh no. Not me.

No one else available. Unit going crazy. I hold her head, praying I can get through this, imaging an ocean, birds, waves crashing against the shore, ANYTHING, but GRINDING BONE.

I wake up on the floor staring at a curtain - hey, do they ever wash these curtains? Yuck.

End. :stone

Hella6191 · Apr 4, 2002

There are only two things for me, one is to watch when the orthopedic tries to put a bone back where it belongs. I still remember my time on a Trauma team, trust me nothing surprises you when you on a traume team but when we pulled a GUY OUT THE hELICOPTER with one of his legs pointing in o complete different direction withh an open wound and watching our MD readjusting that leg under X-ray and bone fragments spitting out of the wound and asking me to hold that leg, that's discusting. There are many nasty things and vomit is one of them. I have receive a pretty fresh bowl of chillie half digested all over myself, trust me I didn't eat chillie for a while after that. Amputations is another story so are body parts.

TracyB,RN, RN · Apr 4, 2002

My hubby chews & has a spitcan. . . well, that can is usually an empty soda can. .

Just a few weeks ago, I was at the computer, surfing & grabbed what I thought was MY soda can. . . I was sooooo wrong, ended up with a big mouthful of "chew spit". EEEEEWWW, I am gagging just thinking about it. To make matters worse, I did the exact same thing, like 3 days later.

I have learned my lesson, went & bought a bottle with a lid for the "spitoon"

Goofball · Apr 4, 2002

TracyB, that is the worst!

callalilly · Apr 4, 2002

Could someone please tell me in layman terms what c-diff is??

(not yet a nursing student so no clue but very curious!!)

Goofball · Apr 4, 2002

It is a bacteria that can grow in the intestines,

and it produces a special kind of toxic waste that causes terrible inflammation of the colon, and its own unique foul odor. People who have been on a lot of antibiotics are prone to it, since antibiotics kill off 'good' germs along with 'bad' germs. It usually gives a person a lot of diarrhea and pain, and once in awhile it can be bloody and cause them to become extremely ill. The

stools, besides that smell you can never forget, are often yellow and have lots of mucus. It can also be transferred to others unless good handwashing is practiced.

bestblondRN · Apr 4, 2002

About the only thing that has grossed me out recently, aside from the dead body I mentioned in the "ahhh" thread, was a recent case of Norwegian scabies in a 93 year old woman who was admitted to our ICU. She was grossly septic, had these patches all over her--particularly over her face and head--and smelled like someone who'd been living on the street for forever. The saddest thing about this case was that she lived with her daughter (mentally challenged), and the daughter had it as well, but didn't know what to do about it. The patient succumbed to the sepsis within the first 24 hours after admission. We had to completely disinfect the unit after the woman died, since her daughter had been everywhere, sitting on furniture, etc. It was a sad, but gross, story.......

TBone1812 · Apr 5, 2002

I am a newbie here...phlebotomist, er tech in a level II trauma center, army medic and when I first got out of USMC I was an autopsy assnt.

Ive pretty much seen it all...here are some of my favorites...

on a woman who had died several weeks before...alshimers (sp??) Pt...got in her car, drove until the gas ran out or she died, whichever came first...found her in a corn field (?????) automatic autopsy. It was June, it was hot, windows were rolled up..doing the post, we noticed her skin was "crawling" turns out to be maggots!

another autopsy, old guy xmas eve dinner with family...witnessed arrest...did the autopsy on 26 Dec. Gastric distention...as I was pulling out the intestines, doc was cutting messintary (again sp??) nicked the stomach and the damn thing took off like a baloon...shot xmas dinner all over me...let me tell ya...half digested chicken and noodles are NOT what you want on you.

had a guy come in ER a few weeks ago...injured at work...big piece of metal broke loose hit him in the face...lower jaw looked pulverized...*he actually looked like the "scream mask" poor guy, we couldnt give him any meds b/c we werent sure what it would do to him, plus, it was an obvious head injury. this poor guy was sitting in trauma one using a suction hose on his own face.

here is a good one...doing a code on a 60+ yo woman..cut off her clothes...as we started to roll back rolls of fat...dead cockroaches fall out and some live ones take off for the hills...the whole room just freakin FROZE!

the guy with the snapple bottle up his rectum...while it didnt gross us out...it made us wonder just what in THE Hell was going on with this cat to make him want to shove a large snapple bottle up his ass!

and doesnt C-Diff just smell wonderful???

leeriza · Apr 5, 2002

Anything about eyes! I don't know why but even a pink eye makes me shiver!!!:imbar

Goofball · Apr 5, 2002

TBone, nurses are one breed, but people who work in the Coroner's office are a whole 'nother. I have co-workers who did stints there while students, and the stories are not your usual morbidly fascinating. They are twisted in a most perverse and tragic 'I don't want to hear it' kind of way. Blecccchhhhh