Strange things that you saw when you were a student

ShandyLynnRN, BSN, RN · Apr 14, 2003

When I had my son, I had a male LPN student examine me, from epis to peri care, to breast exam...

The next semester I started nursing school and guess who was there in my RN class??? Talk about embarrassing!!!

sunnygirl272 · Apr 14, 2003

Saw a dermoid cyst during my lab rotation...

gwenith, BSN, RN · Apr 14, 2003

One woman who had been brought in after being bedridden for many years. Her toenails were like the horns on a sheep so long they curled into spirals. we had to get in a podiatrist. He took one look and went back home to get a hacksaw form his toolbox. He had to saw the suckers off! To this day bad toenails creep me out.

memphispanda, RN · Apr 14, 2003

So far...it's the guy who had an indwelling foley for who knows how long, and his urethra had fistulized to the skin and he had all these holes from his scrotum to the meatus (which was torn/enlarged) that urine would come out of. He couldn't have a foley any longer and the family refused a suprapubic catheter.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Apr 14, 2003

Necrosing carcinoma of the sinuses - had literal eaten away much of the frontal lobe of the brain - we could see pulsing in the vessels during dressing changes. The pt was alert and partially oriented but relatively painfree - it was a bit strange.

bigjay · Apr 14, 2003

I was doing my rotation in the community and we went to see an elderly woman with CHF to do a dressing on her legs. They were very edematous and weeping. This lady lived with her daughter and both suffered from some form of mental illness. They were both pretty delusional and their house was a mess, food and garbage everywhere. They had a pit bull that was the most obese dog I've ever seen, must've weighed over a hundred pounds easy. There was an open take-out container with a hamburger in it on the floor and I figured since it was still there the dog must've gorged on something else and was saving it for later....

Anyway, through the course of the dressing change, the mother said some interesting things. She told me about how at night people snuck into the house and put bombs in her which made her heart not work right and her legs swell and weep. She asked if the dog could help with my work since she was trained by the navy to do such things and also sung Beethoven beautifully. She made some other comments as well but those are the ones I remember most clearly.

All through the dressing the daughter sat in the other room. I could see her out of the corner of my eye and she was sitting on a chair, staring at a wall and every so often twitching or thrashing in place.

After we left, I asked my preceptor why they weren't being treated for their psych problems. She explained to me how difficult it is to treat people who live independantly and don't want the help. Apparently the other daughter didn't have these problems and had been trying to get them help for quite awhile but hadn't had any luck.

The story did end somewhat happily (sort of). The mother got very ill was hospitalized, dying in the course of her stay. When the mother passed away, the daughter had a psychotic episode and was hospitalized, finally getting the help she so sorely needed, though I'm not sure how well that went.

ERNurse752, RN · Apr 14, 2003

I had an elderly woman as my pt during one particular day...she had a prolapsed uterus but did not want surgery...so she just kept it tucked up into an adult diaper.

LaVorneRN · Apr 14, 2003

Originally posted by gwenith
One woman who had been brought in after being bedridden for many years. Her toenails were like the horns on a sheep so long they curled into spirals. we had to get in a podiatrist. He took one look and went back home to get a hacksaw form his toolbox. He had to saw the suckers off! To this day bad toenails creep me out.

:roll HORNS ON A SHEEP!!!!! bleep that's a good description! I'm still rolling!!!!!I've seen some bad horns but this takes the cake!!!! Good one!!:chuckle

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 14, 2003

strange? most of these accounts here are GROSS not strange to me. that uterus in the diaper thing......EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

LaVorneRN · Apr 14, 2003

Oh yeah! Sorry. Had to stop laughing at the sheep horns! I would have to say a prolapsed uterus on a 75ish year old woman who didn't speak english. I was still an aide and walked in and she was standing there, all of 4'10", with her gown up to her chest and her legs open. This thing was hanging out of her and she looked up at me like,"bleep?" and I looked back at her like "oooh. yeah, I know" The nurse told me what it was and said,"oh, I just have to go push it back up in there. No biggie." okkkaaaaaayyyy. I'm with the old lady. bleep?

gwenith, BSN, RN · Apr 14, 2003

There was one patient when I was training - he was a little intellectually handicapped. Had a scrotal hernia that he had never bothered to get repaired. It came down to his knees!!! Now the worst part was he used to drop his pants during visiting hours to use a bottle.

We had some explaining to do believe me!