The things you never forget...

[nerdtonurse?]

There are things I've seen that I know I'll never forget. Anyone else want to share?

• The first time I had my steth on someone and listened to their heart stop
  
• The first time I looked at a CT report and realized my patient had advanced and probably terminal cancer...and they didn't know it yet.
  
• Calling a family trying to get an authorization for surgery on an elderly alzheimer's pt, and having the grown child say the patient had been physically and sexually abusive as to them children, and they refused to authorize it, saying they hoped he died...and the other 3 kids (in their 40's) I called all said the same thing.
  
• Maggots
  
• Having to code someone with a living will stating no code blue, but the doctor wimped out on the DNR order because the family couldn't agree

[tencat]

Let's see.....I think I'll never forget the LOL who had lung cancer and no family except three dogs. We had a funeral for her as she had no family, and the dogs were there.

The man who was on 400 mcg fentanyl patch, 100 mg MS contin BID, PRN dilaudid q 2 and PRN roxanol 20 mg q 2 who was STILL screaming in pain from cancer

The 103 year old lady with no family (she'd outlived them all) crying because it wasn't fair that she'd outlived her children

In school seeing the little girl who had been beaten so severely that she was semi-conscious and crying a shrill, horrible cry. She had so many scars on her body and a wrist that had healed crooked from a prior injury that had not been reported. She's the reason I know I don't have enough faith to be in Peds.....

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

The daughter of a pt that died before her family went to pick her up at the airport and brought her all the way to hospital for me to tell her he had died. it had been at the exact same time her plane landed. the young couple who was going to get married the following weekend but he was in the hospital with lung ca and we had thier wedding in the lobby of out floor. he died 1 day later. the lady I had my first year nursing who had a disease that made the skin on her abdomen peel off and we were doing dressing changes every 2 hrs that took an hr to do, she recovered and I have seen her since and she remembered me before i remembered her. the patient that was an alcoholic who died of liver failure and me crying with the family and the resident telling me i needed to find another profession if i couldn't handle it.

[shelly304]

Taking care of my friend who had AIDS. He came from a very religious family that believed God created AIDS to rid the world of gay people. They didn't question that their son was not gay. But they did believe he must have done something so terrible in life that God chose to inflict him with HIV. I cared for him in my home for one year. He died on my birthday in 1995.

*******************************************

He was a hemophiliac who had received a tainted transfusion in the mid eighties before blood banks began mandatory testing.

After his death the family sued the hospital for millions.....and won.

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

I won't ever forget a baby that came in one night for meconium aspiration, it was bad and there was no way he was going to make it. We are a referral hospital, his mom was still at the little county birth hospital. Dad was at our hospital, and was told that the baby would not make it, he called and told mom and mom wanted to come in and hold her baby. The birth hospital arranged for this mom to be transported on a guerney, in an ambulance, the 30 miles to our hospital. The mom came in, accompanied by the nurse that was her labor and delivery nurse on dayshift, this nurse stayed with this mom all night. We found a way for mom and dad to have privacy, mom still on her guerney. They held their son and sang to him and talked to him. Finally after a few hours mom said it was time to say goodbye, we extubated the baby and he was gone within minutes, laying in his mom and dads arms, all 3 on the guerney. I will always remember this experience, it made me proud to be a nurse, I was proud to be a nurse with the labor nurse who was off the clock and staying with this mom. I was proud of my facility and the birth hospital for breaking the rules so this family could have time together. I was also deeply affected because I have never seen a family have to put a lifetime of love into a couple of hours. After the baby passed, the parents both went back to the birth hospital together. We dressed their baby in a cute outfit, wrapped him and the transport nurse took him to the morgue, it is surreal to see a baby get zipped into a white plastic bag, especially a baby who looks so perfect.

[tns3362]

The 43 year old guy who had a huge MI, too late for Retavase, was admitted to our ICU, then wanted to go home. We offered transfer to another facility, everything we would think of, but he wanted to go. He was worried about his TV being stolen. Every risk was explained in detail, he was a nice guy, not even a jerk, but neither we nor his daughter could convince him to stay. His daughter found him dead the next morning. The EMT's told us the best thing in his house was a great TV.

[bisacat]

I will never forget the autopsy I watched when I was in an ER intern program. As fascinating as it was I could not get over how the ME just tossed and threw organs around and how rough she was with the body. I kept thinking how ignorance is bliss and what a blessing it is for the family to never ever know this. It was so voilent to watch. She would filet his organs and thinly slice them...a peice went into a jar and the rest was examined then tossed onto a cutting board. It was like watching Rachel Ray or Emeril but with blood everywhere. When the autopsy was over she literally THREW (from a distance of a foot or 2) his organs into a red bag, this bag was then tied closed and stuffed violently into the body cavity and the man was sewn up so haphazardly. His sawed in half skull was crookedly put back, his face had been peeled from his skull and that was so weird looking. The man was dropped onto a metal table with this loud thud. It was surreal. The ME had a tech helping her and his job was to cut the ribs with a regular tree trimming lawn tool and he sawed the skull top off. The tongue was even removed and put into a jar.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

-The little girl, 14 months old but the size of a 9-month old from months of neglect and abuse, hospitalized for a broken femur- the look in her eyes I will never forget- such sadness there.

-The two patients I have cared for who had SMA Type 1- both beautiful kids, alert and lively personalities, with amazing families- one died before 2 months, one at age 14 months, but they both lived lives full of all the love their parents could give them

-The 2-year-old in the PICU after her 3rd resection of rhabdomyosarcoma

-The 15-year-old with encephalitis, who was completely disoriented and rather combative for days, then one evening woke up completely oriented and fine- how his family cried for joy in the hallway- one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!!

I guess those are enough for now. These are some amazing stories thank you all for sharing...

[teeniebert, LPN]

Psych clinicals in my first attempt at nursing school...

It was my night for ER; I spent the first 2 hours in triage, then 2 hours with 'whichever patient you think might need some help'. I ended up with a 3-year old girl who had come back from a weekend at her dad's and told her mom "my lady parts hurts." I spent 2 hours playing with this adorable little girl; blowing up gloves, letting her 'listen' to everything in the room with my stethoscope, and practicing counting while her mom talked with nurses, doctors, and social workers just outside the door. I think about her frequently and wonder how she's doing...what grade is she in now? Does she remember that night? Is 'purple' still her favorite flavor? And of course I still wonder what actually happened to her that weekend.

[Morettia2, BSN, RN]

There are a few things that I would never ever forget but one of the best is:

it was about 2-3am and we were sitting at the nurses station charting. I hear this pt. start mumbling something in spanish from one of the rooms right next to the nurses station. He begins saing the same thing over and over agian. It wasn't my pt. but I went into the room and asked if he was ok..he was laughing and pointing to the door of the bathroom, the bathroom door was closed, and mumbling something in spanish.

I asked him agian if he was ok in spanish..he said to me "DONDE ESTA LOS COCKAROCHAS? " I was like WHAT? I thought he was confused untill I cracked the bathroom door and saw a HUGE dead COCKROACH in between the door to the bathroom...

I am such a girl I calmly RAN outof the room and out of sight from the pt. so he couldn't see me to the COOTIE DANCE...I AHTE HATE HATE COCKROACHES....he kept saying los cockroaches over and over I was freaking out...I am such a bad person I told my charge about it and I ALSO told my fav nursing assistant about the bug and she went into pick it up. PLANT MAINTENACE TOLD US TO SAVE THE BUG.....EWWWW I THREW A BIOHAZARD BAG AT HER AND MADE HER PUT IT IN TI...I am going to hell for that one..but she knows my fear of bugs.

Ewwwww to this day , I get so skeeved out going into that room. I am deal with every bodily fluid possible but NOT bugs!!!! UHHH

[Satori77, ADN]

A couple of these made me laugh, a few made my jaw drop...but most of them made me cry. Not get teared up, but tears streaming down my face, couldn't see the monitor cry. Thanks for this wonderful thread.:heartbeat

[Debra ACRN]

I am so proud to be a nurse when I read these stories

I will never forget the LOL who was my first disempaction. I was pretty cool about it but rather glad it was over. After I cleaned my sweet patient up and went back in her room, she took her hands in mine and kissed them over and over while saying, in a think Danish accent, tank you nurse, tank you.

I remember the one of my first patients with AIDS, in the old days when everyone died. I was taking him back to a room in a really noisy busy outpatient clinic. He and I knew each other really well as he came in every week. In the middle of the hall, in the middle of all this bustle, he stoped, grabed my arm and said, "do you think there is a heaven". I remember his deep brown eyes looking into mine and how every noise stopped and there was no one else but us in the world. And how I told him that I believed with all my heart that not only was there a heaven but that both of us would be there. He smiled at me and said OK.....then all the noise came back, and I was back in the world again. He died a week later, peacefully.

I remember telling a sweet little 18 year old blonde headed boy and his mom that he had HIV. Their tears filled the room and I held their hands while they cried for thirty minutes straight.

I remember crying when I finally got an experiemental drug for resistant HIV approved for my patient who had virtually no immune system. It worked and she is now living a normal life. I see her every three months and she hugs me every time I see her. She was diagnosed while pregnant with her son and she watched him graduate from high school last year. She is my hero.

[heron, ASN, RN]

-sitting with an elderly drag queen dying of AIDS ... talking him down from a panic attack ... hearing him reminisce about the great drag balls back in the 40's and 50's, when it was downright life-threatening to be obviously gay. I say his name every Gay Pride.

-the sickle-cell pt in her early 30's (in the early 70's, this was OLD)who got stuck with an intern that didn't want her to "get addicted" ... took her from dilaudid 8 mg q4h at home to demerol 50 IM q4h DURING A CRISIS! The crying I could hear at the other end of the ward ... is it any wonder I'm one of the most aggressive nurses around when it comes to pain tx?

So many of my hospice patients:

-WW2 survivors ... a survivor of the Bataan death march ... a Navajo code-talker ...

-an incredibly sweet old lady with her face half gone from cancer ... never a harsh word out of her.

-an ex-con who wanted nothing more than to make amends with his son before he died. He succeeded ... he stayed off narcotics until he was actively dying so he could stay sober for his kid.

-the incredible support system that grew up between a bunch of Puerto Rican end-stage AIDS pts on my unit. They were all there for months ... too sick to go back to the street, no place else to go. They loved and cared for each other in a jillion different ways. When one of them died on my shift, I had to awaken the others to pay their respects (ex-con "junkies" in a state hospital don't get funerals).

-a 23 year old man dying of AIDS, restrained because of dementia-related agitation ... looking up at me and saying "I want my life back"

All I could do was say "I'm sorry" and hold him.

I'm crying now ... gotta go.