Grossest Thing You've Ever Seen

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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 Emergency, outpatient.

Hygiene Queen, you ROCK! Too many nursing personnel are afraid (or too lazy) to go there. Your patients and coworkers are blessed. :bow:

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New nurse so the only one I have is the GI bleed that projectile vomited coffee ground material (and one lonely grape) all over the bed, the floor, and the wall. I could not get the stink out of my nose!

Okay, see..this is what I fear the most. Projectile. Geez.:eek:

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Ahh... coffee grounds. That reminds me....

I had a pt with untreated cancer. She wasn't doing so hot. It was dinner time and we had all the pts in the dining room, except for this pt, I'll call Ann.

My gut told me to go check on her in her room where she was in bed.

As soon as I walked into the room, I knew the end was near. You know, you can just tell.

Sure enough, I told her, "Ann, honey, it's L888. You're not alone. It's okay."

I held her hand and, sure enough, she let go and died.

I left the room to tell the charge Ann had died.

The charge asked me if I needed help cleaning her up. Everyone was busy feeding pts and I had cleaned up dead pts before. I said I'd be fine, I could handle it.

Well, I turned Ann to change her and make her look nice before her dtr arrived.

When rolled her back, coffee grounds started to come from her nose.

I'd seen that before and kept working to make her look nice.

Then the coffee grounds let loose from her rectum.

I rolled her back over to change her again.... then began the deluge of coffee grounds from every orfice.

The poor woman was a mess. Every time I thought I got it, out came more... nose, mouth, ears, lady parts, rectum... I mean, holy cow. She was just oozing like crazy. It was like her insides were mush and it was all escaping.

I couldn't believe it. Looked like a horror movie!

I didn't know when the dtr was arriving and did NOT want her dtr to come in and see her mom like that.

Poor lady was absolutely swimming in foul brown muck.

I finally got the job done, but I then had to rinse out all the linens in the hopper.

I was 8 months pregnant and my stomach wasn't feeling to good. I remember I thought I would pass out!

I'll never forget the sight and the smell. It was unholy!

God love her, but it was hard.

Fortunately, when her dtr came, I was done and Ann did look peaceful.

My nerves were shot, though!

Wow. God bless u, Hygiene Queen

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Please pardon my ignorance, but WHAT were the "coffee grounds"? I'm doing pre-nursing (I start nursing school next fall) so I'm not familiar with disease process, etc. yet.

But this picqued my curiosity - I have a pretty strong stomach as long as I can tell myself there are gloves between me and the grossness. :)

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Curious, "coffee grounds" is blood mixed with other bodily fluids. For example, if someone throws up and it looks like coffee grounds, they have a GI bleed. :)

And my hat's off to you, Hygiene Queen.

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Okay. I cannot be a nurse. I think I'm going to consider a career in...landscaping...or something now.

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This isn't so much "gross" as it is disturbing. I had a 75-ish male who came in complaining of bloody urine and pain in his pelvic region. Upon X-Ray, it was apparent that he had a fetish for shoving needles into his perineal area. I was present while the doctor fished out as many as he could with tweezers prior to surgery (most had migrated much deeper though), and the old guy became erect and ejaculated. I kid you not!

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Specializes in Pyschiatry/Behavioral (Inpatient).

Wow..

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I'm sorry, but that is just nasty.

I don't understand why people find physical pain an erotic stimulus. Something must be "broken" somewhere...

I feel sorry for them.

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Both pain and sexual arousal are caused by the stimulation of nerve endings. That the two get crossed should not be a surprise. Most people are able to utilize one to achieve the other without messing up their lives or landing in the emergency room. They're not broken--it's just a normal human variation like any other sexual activities.

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Specializes in Hem/Onc, LTC, AL, Homecare, Mgmt, Psych.

Long term stasis ulcer on the lower leg of an old farmer. Had to remove the old packing to visualize the half-way rotted through tibia. Ugh, it looked the spine of a chicken... after it's baked in the oven, you know?

What else..... a maligant tumor on the face of terminal pt. It had grown to about baseball size and broke through the skin. The blood vessels that were feeding the tumor were very fragile and whenever we'd reposition the poor guy he would drain about 500 cc blood out from around the tumor. We'd have like 3 abd. pads over it and it would soak through... and out & around.

I've never had any toes fall off in front of me (laughed at that one) but gangrene does REEK!

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Also, some people who engage in various forms of self-mutilation do so because it releases endorphins. This is why some teenagers (and older people too) cut themselves.

:(

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