I was working a night shift on a tele floor as a new Nurse.
We had this one poor old lady who was confused and was restrained as usual for her safety. She was our designated resident nightmare geri from hell, so she was placed near the Nurse's station.
So we are chilling out at the Nurse's station, chatting and trying to get through another night...
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see our lady in question standing in the dimly lit doorway of her room!
I instantly leap out and run to her. As I approach her, she appears to be falling towards me, so I meet her in a bear hug...my arms around her waste, and her arms around my shoulders.
As I catch the lady, I notice a very strong smell of feces, and I feel something warm on my hands, arms and shoulders...
My fellow heroes come in behind me, and as the lights are turned on, my worst fears are instantly realized.
Yes, I caught the poor old lady with a good old bear hung football catch, but I was also covered in the lady's feces.
As I look at her, she has feces smeared all over her arms and hands... (and even her face!)
Yeah I'm on medicare; it pays for preventive (50%)for treatment of cavities, etc. Does not pay for dentures so. .. I had an upper denture made about a year prior to my disability causing me to stop working. After 3 relines, several refittings I finally gave up on it since I couldn't handle the pain when it was tight enough to stay in place, sore spots causing ulcerated areas even with denture paste to keep it in place. Medicare will not cover a new denture, I spent what money I had for living expenses during the>2 years it took to get approved for disability. So now I walk around with about 6 teeth on the bottom (was supposed to have them out but ran out of money before they could remove them) and no teeth on top at age 55. So far haven't managed to find help to get a new set. Moral:don't judge those who come in with few or no teeth; few resources for dental help for disabled or elderly.
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
Mommavik said:
Yeah I'm on medicare; it pays for preventive (50%)for treatment of cavities, etc. Does not pay for dentures so. .. I had an upper denture made about a year prior to my disability causing me to stop working. After 3 relines, several refittings I finally gave up on it since I couldn't handle the pain when it was tight enough to stay in place, sore spots causing ulcerated areas even with denture paste to keep it in place. Medicare will not cover a new denture, I spent what money I had for living expenses during the>2 years it took to get approved for disability. So now I walk around with about 6 teeth on the bottom (was supposed to have them out but ran out of money before they could remove them) and no teeth on top at age 55. So far haven't managed to find help to get a new set. Moral:don't judge those who come in with few or no teeth; few resources for dental help for disabled or elderly.
I did have 4 bottom teeth left when the oral surgeon decided to pull those 4. I was sorry he did, because I could have had partials on the bottom jaw and still be able to wear my dentures. However, since he made them so cheaply, I now am not able to wear dentures at all.
I did have 4 bottom teeth left when the oral surgeon decided to pull those 4. I was sorry he did, because I could have had partials on the bottom jaw and still be able to wear my dentures. However, since he made them so cheaply, I now am not able to wear dentures at all.
Here I thought it was just me, lol! I feel so self conscious about my bare gums showing when I smile but I've learned to live with no teeth
I was irrigating a foley with another nurse the other night and starting CBI. The foley exploded in my face and I got bloody urine in my eye and all over my face.
My first week on the job at a LTC facility, I was walking my hall when I noticed the smell of bm. This is not unusual, but it was very strong! I entered a room to find a middle aged resident had taken off his attends, was covered in what looked like a gallon of stool..... AND HE WAS MASTURBATING USING THE STOOL AS LUBRICANT!!!! It took me an hour to get him and everything else cleaned up, but once I was done, I knew I could handle anything!!
Once helped a med-surg patient transfter onto his toilet and he promptly started urinating... forward, all over the floor and my shoes. But that's pretty tame.
My most impressive BM story is the LOL who was hospitalized after a fall at a nursing home. She said she needed to have a BM, so I assisted her on the commode. And waited... and waited... and got lots of charting done... while the smell built up in the room... Finally she said she was done, but she felt like she had been straining and not gotten much out. When I helped her off the pot I discovered that she had indeed been successful! She felt like it wasn't coming out because it just never ended. This lady was probably 100 lb soaking wet, and she had a formed stool that snaked around and around in the pot. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a 5 lb evacuation. Unfortunately for everyone else on the unit, I had to open the door. For HOURS people were going "What's that smell?"
Wound care had endless adventures, from the enterocutaneous fistulas (gifts that keep on giving... good luck keeping the skin dry long enough to get a new wound manager on!) to stage IV pressure ulcers. I had no idea I would touch so many living people's exposed bones. Once the wound doc was getting a sacral bone sample to culture, and the piece of bone went flying through the air and hit me in the face. Another time we had a patient with severe dementia and contractures (whose family wanted us to get him strong enough to ride his exercise bike again... there was some seriously delusional thinking in that situation...) and many, many severe pressure wounds. He had an ischium with a large area of eschar with surrounding tissue edematous, red, streaky... it opened during the course of the full wound assessment & care, and was a seemingly endless fountain of bloody brown goop. The wound doc, the other wound care nurse, and I were all dry heaving and taking breaks darting out into the hallway to breathe. Oh, how I loved wound care.
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
When I was a nurses aide in a nursing home, I cared for a lady with advanced cancer of the left breast. I can still see that honeycombed scene of where the cancer had eaten most of her breast away. Pus, blood and fluid kept oozing from it continuously.
Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN
2,369 Posts