Mrs.A

I think his past and his future are his business. Everybody deserves the chance to better themselves without being judged. There are many safety checks in place for the clients safety. I agree that given enough rope most "unprofessional" nurses hang themselves. Who's to say nursing won't change him for the better? Before nursing school, I had a drug problem, was in an abusive relationship and had confrontations with the police. That was almost 17 years ago; I maintained a 4.0 avg. in school, never did illegal drugs again , never stole , diverted or abused any drug. I'm quite positive I would of been diagnosed schizophrenic if I had been hospitalized on drugs. One bad acid trip, I saw Jesus come off his crucifix to talk to me in an oil painting. If that isn't a little mental..As for brain damage, I used to think I burned one too many cells. Seeing the logic of some people led me to believe cells must of regenerated or maybe I just had a surplus. All this is called growing up and taking responsibility, some of us do it and some refuse to. I don't know where I'd be today if someone had stopped me from going to nursing school because of my past. I am not that person anymore because being a nurse redefined me. I had a few more run ins with the police. It's unavoidable when your husband's a cop who doesn't pick up his dirty clothes. I changed that too .. he retired he went to nursing school also. It's funny he's 41, has 8 years in law enforcement :yeahthat: and 4 in nursing. At 22 years old, he was a bad boy with a history that surpassed. Repeat myself , people do change.

Chantix..quit after 16 years this summer. I had no side effects and no withdrawal from nicotine. It was kind of strange after a couple of weeks I could take or leave smoking. Cigarettes just didn't matter to me anymore. My coworkers noticed I hadn't been struggling to quit and several went and got Chantix for themselves.

Ok, I was laughing but "accidently" losing the goldfish just killed me.

Gross, yucky , nursing story. Ok, one evening I had to cover a locked behavior unit. There was a geri pt. with dementia, hx. of violent episodes. He had done some serious damage so I kind of kept track of where and what he was was doing. I see him standing just outside the door of the recreation room. I walked over to see what he was doing and he flashed me a big smile. He had been eating his feces and his teeth were absolutely covered. I could feel my stomach turn as I tried to direct him to his room calmly. Then he reached out his hand towards someone in the rec room. I looked he had been passing his feces out to other patients and about 4 or 5 of them were having dessert with him. All that kept going through my head was "OMG, they are passing it around like a box of Russell Stovers" . It really did look like they were offering each other fine chocolate.Revolted, nauseated I don't think there is a word to describe what I felt. I called for an aide and it was the one time I pulled rank. I said they need to be cleaned , and left on my hour lunch. I felt awful not helping but, there was no way I could do it. For a whole week, I'd get that "like a box of chocolate" thought in my mind and there went eating for the day. Even now , my husband was watching me on computer and said what are you writing, your face is all screwed up. LOL after all these years retelling the story makes me cringe.

My absolute favorite was when I was a new grad working in a NY city nursing home. One of the residents was a very tall, distinguished gentleman. He was a soft spoken, polite fellow who proclaimed to have made millions in the "railroad". At that time , sex shops would promote themselves by slipping ads resembling hundred dollar bills under the wipers of parked cars. John had pass privileges and would collect his "millions every time he took a walk. It was really cute, if you did something nice for him he would thank you and tip you 100 bucks (or a topless woman with an 800 number if you didn't have dementia). Anyway one extremely hectic shift , I get paged to the front lobby. When I got off the elevator there is John , hat in hands wringing it away, looking like he's about to drop his cane and sprint. Behind him was an irate man shouting in Spanish along with 3 nothing left to the imagination, no doubt about it prostitutes. When I asked what was going on, the man immediately identified himself as the cab driver who wanted his 50 bucks fare. John had apparently wandered pretty far, found himself some pretty girls and told him about his railroad millions. They must of seen dollar signs thinking of all they could take this old man for. They hailed a taxi, which of course John being a gentleman offered to pay for and went to John's "house" aka nursing home. The cab driver starting yelling at the hookers that they were going to pay him and they in turn were demanding that I pay them time lost and the fare. Isn't it funny no part of nursing school prepares you for angry hookers asking you to pay up. One of them said I was responsible because he had millions and I control his money. When reasoning got me no place,I called upstairs and had the CNA bring down John's money. I handed some hundred dollar ladies to the cab driver and some to the prostitutes. I told them there was John's money and to get out before I called the police. They did leave, calling me and poor John all kinds of names. I took his arm, the man was close to 90 years old and shaking like leaf, to help him on the elevator. On ride up , he thanked me and told me once I got him home he would pay me for my kindness. Some days you just have to laugh or you'll go crazy.

Geez now I find the truth out about male nurses. Wish they had told me they were all gay before I married and had 2 kids with one. :smackingf

Awesome way you simplified the confusion for me.