Grossest Thing You've Ever Seen

Nurses General Nursing

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So today I was emptying my patient's recently revised colostomy drainage...And I removed about a pound of what looked like pot roast, along with peas and cucumber seeds. I didn't freak out in front of him, but on the inside I was gagged and trying not to freak out. I've seen lots of other really "gross" things and not even flinched, but for some reason that almost did me in.

So now I need to know... what's the grossest thing you've ever seen?

Specializes in Icu, ltac, stepdown.
I work in the ER and a patient came in from a SNF with an infected fistula with an opening to the lower abdomen. When we removed the bandage, the weight of my hand above the opening caused purulent drainage to POUR out:eek: and quickly run down in between her labia before I could grab 4x4's next to me and stop it. Without forcing it, the wound drained about 800 ml and the smell was unbearable. I had to get a mask and leave the room several times to stop myself from vomiting. The only blessing was that the pt thankfully was totally unaware of what was going on due to advanced Alzheimer's. This among the long list of disgusting things I have seen and done still is at the top for me for some reason, I think partly because I was totally unprepared for what was underneath the dressing.

AWESOME!!!! I LOVE NURSING!!!:D

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

I got 2 I can't decide between, so....

1) Homeless guy, living in the woods, had maggots in his rectum. Doc told me later that he thought the guy'd had hemorrhoids that flies had laid eggs in, eggs migrated upwards. CNA went in to change the guy, let out a scream, I go running in, and there's maggots in the brief along with stool. After I got the stool and maggots up (and got the CNA to get me collection bottle for the lab), I got a couple of 10cc flushes and tried to wash the site enough to figure out where they were coming from. You could see them just boiling out of the guy's orifice. Called the doc, guy went for tests (CT and xray, I think, it was last year) and then off to surgery. Guy didn't make it. The smell was...unique. Sorta like a GI bleed, you can't describe it but you sure don't forget it.

2) Alcoholic with dissecting esophageal varices, threw up the lining of his esophagus and about 2 units of blood. CNA went in to give him his bath, yelled, "I need a nurse in here NOW!" We go running in, and he's sitting on the edge of the bed in front of "Lake Esophagus" -- he didn't call for a nurse, and was sorta shocked by the whole thing, I think. He went for emergency surgery, got his esophagus replaced by a section of his colon (I think that's what they said they did). I just remember coming thru the door and we all came to a dead stop, and I said, "Wow, you don't see that every day..."

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When I worked I in LTC, I had a stomach of pure steel. Nothing phased me. NOTHING...

However, we got a stubborn old man who had gangrene on his foot. It should have been amputated but he flat out refused.

He could not come out to our dining room unless his lower leg was covered in a plastic bag and then covered with a lap robe to hide it.

I had to remove the bag back in his room after dinner. It was the first time I had done it. I was chewing Mint-a-Burst gum and as I removed the bag, the over-powering scent of rotten flesh permeated the air.

The patient asked me a question and I had to answer. When I opened my mouth, it was like all the foul stench entered my mouth. It mingled with the intense minty flavor of the gum.

I tasted mint and rot.

I could hardly keep from losing it. It was horrid!

I managed to finish up with the patient, left the room as cooly as I could, made it to the soiled utility room and ALMOST threw up.

I have not been able to chew that particular brand of gum since... and that was probably 15 years ago!

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I don't know about the grossest thing, but definitely the weirdest thing i've seen was when I was at clinicals and I was assigned a patient. The chart said "female", the ID band said "female". When I went to change the diaper, I was staring at her member. And that's not the weird part. Right when I was leaving the room after changing and cleaning her/him, she gets up as if she wasn't bed bound at all. My classmates were snickering in the hallway saying "maybe he just wanted you to handle her goods, lol".

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Specializes in med/surg, psych, public health.

OMG, LMAO at all of y'all's experiences and feeling kind of queasy at the same time!!!

:hhmth:

Especially love nerdtonurse's "Lake Esophagus".... :chuckle

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I....I just remember coming thru the door and we all came to a dead stop, and I said, "Wow, you don't see that every day..."

can't... stop.... laughing..............

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Oh the joys of nursing!! Some of these were great! :yeah: Thanks for posting...us night nurses were getting a kick out of them this morning:rcgtku:

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Specializes in ICU.

grossest.......mushrooms growing in crevices of a leg with elephantism :bugeyes:

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Specializes in Emergency.

wow, i'm in my first year of nursing school and I just can't wait...

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Specializes in LTC, home health, private care.

This is pretty tame compared with the other posts, but it's the grossest thing that's happened to me yet.

A few months ago one of our residents had a peg tube removed. The site was still healing. She was on a pureed diet, but tended to sneak regular diet items whenever possible. I went in to check the site, and she started coughing after the dressing was removed. Her stomach's contents sprayed out at me like a geyser, totally soaking my uniform. Solids, pureed items, the whole deal.

Now how could I ever go back to a desk job when more experiences like that await????

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

at work i don't get grossed out to much.. but boogers make me sick... my maine coon cat had a stuffy nose today and she just flipped a big booger on my computer , and i almost hurled....i just cleaned my computer with a lysol wipe

i also hate when pt's show me their mucus from their nose or lungs... it makes me so sick to my stomach.... they save it in a tissue and practally shove it your face... i thank them and ask them to throw it out.... blech.... i'm sick to my stomach for the rest of the shift after that ..... forget lunch....

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KizzyKat you must have never worked on a floor with fresh trachs after a max. facial resection due to CA. You could walk down the halls and look at the walls opposite their bed and see bloody mucus phlegm sliding down the wall from when they coughed and forgot to cover their trach...

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