It's hard to live with a nurse because...

[Brian]

1) When you forget to flush the toilet, you get a complete analysis with a plan on how to correct any noted problems.

2) Thanksgiving dinner comes in pre-cut small pieces because she doesn't want to have to perform the Heimlich maneuver and be reminded of work on the only holiday she's had off in years.

3) You've been awakened from a dead sleep in the middle of the night to find her shaking you because your breathing patterns were a little too close to a Cheyne-Stokes rhythm.

[rn500]

A couple years ago, my 8 yr old daughter ran into a closed patio door - it didn't break, thank goodness - but she smacked the inner malleolus against it pretty good. She limped around for 5 days before I finally took her to the doctor, positive that she was over-acting (she's a whiner). Well imagine my guilt when I found out she had a fracture and needed a cast!

Then, before she was even out of her cast, my older son was goofing around in the yard with his friends and turned his ankle. 5 days later, he was still complaining so I roll my eyes and off we go to the doctor. You guessed it - a cast for him too.

Now it's a family joke when someone hurts themselves - "you gotta suffer for 5 days before she'll take you to the doctor!"

[bagladyrn, RN]

My son told his friends it was h*ll to have an OB nurse for a mother because "Every time she gets another 14 yr. old in labor I get another lecture on sex" All the neighborhood teenagers would come to me with questions, I guess figuring I already knew teens were sexually active. Proved awkward when one of the boys told his 10th grade health class teacher "George's mom already told us all about that!" Had to go to school to explain to teacher what mom did for a living!

[princess_64]

My family can sympathize with all of yours. After 12 hours of work, I come home to hear "Mom, look at my eye...ear...toe...etc. My favorite reply is take a tylenol! My kids have said that they know not to call me from school unless they are throwing up guts...and I want to see the guts before I bring them home! Of course I keep a large bottle of tylenol in the kitchen so they don't have to wake me up after working all night due to a headache, earache, toeache, etc!

[ok-rn]

Having been a nurse for 15 years in med surg, L&D, ICU, office and ER, I have pretty much seen it and heard it all. And to add injury to insult, my husband is in law enforcement so we get to deal with the same "high caliber" clientel.

Our poor kids know that if you are walking and talking, chances are Mom is not going to do much to you. They know where the ace wraps, peroxide, neosporin..etc. are and are encouraged to use it. My daughter learned real quick that a "bad tummyache" will get you nothing but Fletchers Castoria so she quit whining.

My son who is 17 is pretty level headed and has grown up with mom being a nurse so he is a take charge kind of kid. When he drove his car head on into a tree last year and knew I was on duty in ER he had a bystander call to tell me he had a broken femur and tib/fib but was otherwise okay.

When EMS got there to cut him out, a friend of mine crawled in the car to start his IV and said "I need some alcohol" The kid piped up, "Well, you gotta go somewhere else, I haven't been drinkin!"

[darjamman]

I loved these!!

At my house, the kids know not to disturb mom unless they are both bleeding!

[RENTANURSE]

My son & daughter are both quite self sufficient...

My son cut his finger to the bone washing dishes at work and was too embarassed to go to the ER for yet another work related injury:rolleyes: Sooo, he did a rolling blanket stitch after pouring peroxide and alcohol (rubbing) over it when he got home. It looks great!!!! However he did complain it took a while getting the stitches out and felt "wierd"...DUH!

Our daughter had a run-in with a snippy nurse in the VA. It seems the nurse gave her a Lovenos injection into her bellybutton! Katrina informed her SQs were NEVER to be given in muscle and got the MD to write the order she could selfadminister her Lovenox. She called from her hospital bed to ask me about proper technique and, (unbeknownst to me) I talked her thru her 1st shot.

I have some special kids:D ... strange, but special!

[Catsrule16, RN]

Talk about being critical of tv programs ... Last night while watching Big Brother 2, I couldn't stop looking at the neck of the young lady that was evicted. She had a bulge that looked like an enlarged thyroid. Then I started looking at her eyes looking for them to be protruding ... Sure enough, they were. Wanted to send CBS an email telling her to get it checked... Had to stop watching.

[Squeeta2]

I have three boys, they know not to call me at certain times during the day ie: med pass, trays .. They will also tell ME I have to hang up if they can hear one of the Vents alarming in the background.

My oldest son, 17, once called me to tell me that Bryan (middle child) had cut his foot while jumping from the barn roof into our swimming pool. I asked if it was bleeding badly..he hesitated & then said not really & don't worry about the carpet he is sitting outside on the porch. I didn't hear any screaming in the background so I told him that I would call him back after I finished my med pass, he said that was fine. Five mins later I get another call asking if I've left yet! The other nurse on duty said no why? He says I really need to come home...I get back on the phone more than a little irritated at having been interrupted twice now.. I say to him "I thought there wasn't that much blood?!" His reply? Only when he lets go of his toes, when they hang they bleed alot.

My coworker did triage while I drove home to find my driveway completely blocked my the nieghborhood childrens bikes who had come to stare at his mangled foot. After asking my oldest to hose off the porch & going to the bathroom, I drove him to the ER where the PA took one look at his foot & vomited all over herself & the floor! They promptly took him into the OR to reattach his first three toes, as we are walking down the corridor my boy starts laughing & says "aren't you glad your not working here tonight Mom? Man did she hurl!" LMAO

My fav responses? Is there blood? How much? (Although my oldest & I have had a discussion on this topic!) When did you last have a BM? Drink some fluids, And here is my all time, most common response..Do I look like I'm on duty?!

[KelliSipe]

My husband has great veins too, he even let me practice on him and a few friends when I was taking a phlebotomy class. He drew the line at inserting a Foley for practice though!! (I hadn't done one in awhile)

[debbyed]

When my youngest son was 12 he called me at work (Emergency Room) and told me he had fallen off his bike. I asked him almost all the right questions. He could walk, he could talk and all the bleeding areas had more or less stopped on their own. Of course I told him to take a Tylenol and go to bed. When I got home I looked in on him and he appeared to be resting confortably so I curled up on the sofa.

So are you wondering what I forgot to ask. I didn't ask if all his body parts looked the way they are supposed to. When he got up one look told me he had a radial/ulna fracture. You Know... that little hump that reminds you of a camel.

I really felt bad for quite a while after that. During this same time my brother lived with us. He was dating my best friend who was a CNA and my husband was also a CNA. My son was used to the dinner room conversation because his dad is a CCU nurse. When ever we would all be off together we ate together and you know where the conversation would always go. My poor brother (he's kind of a wimp) would always end up either leaving or telling us to shut-up. We just couldn't help it. We had an ER Nurse, a CCU nurse, a CNA from a nursing home and a CNA from a psyc. unit. What else were we going to talk about???

[Kyshine1]

:d

these threads are sooooo funny. i love reading them because i find out that all nurses react the same way to so many things.

my daughter and her husband are nurses. when we go out to dinner with them my husband tries to prepare himself for the worst. we're always telling gory stories and my husband acts like he's going to gag.....and has!!

what a great forum this is!

linda

[Cynderfella]

I love this stuff! My kids are grown, so it's just me, my husband and the cat now. To help out my husband took over cleaning the kitty litter box. But I still insist on a "shift report"! Did he have a BM today? I will have to admit he is very good at shift report, accurate and only what I need to know. LOL.