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!)
My initiation into the nursing field came as I first started as a nurse's aide. They had me accompanying other aides for my training to learn what I had to do. One little lady who was admitted from home, came in with huge decubitus all over her buttocks. The odor was the most horrible I had ever smelled. (Remember I was totally new to this world.) The aide I was with gowned herself all up, and she took a towel and wrapped it around her head like i do now after I wash my hair. Then she took another towel and wrapped it around her nose and mouth and tucked it in the back. she fashioned her own face mask. Back in that day, supplies were not readily available like today. We had to make do. And of course, me being the trainee, I followed her example. But with all that wrapping it did not hide the odor. I vaguely remember the treatment we had to do was to flush out the decubitus with some kind of solution. The wounds were so bad, the solution poured into one would drain out of another. I still to this day have not seen anything close to that severity. I'm sure the little lady passed soon after. That's been over 4o years ago.
My initiation into the nursing field came as I first started as a nurse's aide. They had me accompanying other aides for my training to learn what I had to do. One little lady who was admitted from home, came in with huge decubitus all over her buttocks. The odor was the most horrible I had ever smelled. (Remember I was totally new to this world.) The aide I was with gowned herself all up, and she took a towel and wrapped it around her head like i do now after I wash my hair. Then she took another towel and wrapped it around her nose and mouth and tucked it in the back. she fashioned her own face mask. Back in that day, supplies were not readily available like today. We had to make do. And of course, me being the trainee, I followed her example. But with all that wrapping it did not hide the odor. I vaguely remember the treatment we had to do was to flush out the decubitus with some kind of solution. The wounds were so bad, the solution poured into one would drain out of another. I still to this day have not seen anything close to that severity. I'm sure the little lady passed soon after. That's been over 40 years ago.
Another that comes to my mind, I was moonlighting at the nursing home, and a little man was admitted who had TB that went untreated for years. It ate a hole from,his left lung clear to the outside. The only thing I can say to explain the odor, is that it smelled like 3 or 4 day old roadkill, in the hot summer sun. They placed him,in a room right next to the entry/exit door, the little shorthall right next to the med room . I worked on TBE med cart, and another nurse was responsible for the treatments, so I,did not have to do the treatment on him . But the odor was so bad it just permeated the hallway there by the med room. I lived in fear that one day I would be told I had to do the treatment, but it never happened.
Those the worse 2 yuckies of my career. I'm retired now.
LPN Retired, LPN
123 Posts
My initiation into the nursing field came as I first started as a nurse's aide. They had me accompanying other aides for my training to learn what I had to do. One little lady who was admitted from home, came in with huge decubitus all over her buttocks. The odor was the most horrible I had ever smelled. (Remember I was totally new to this world.) The aide I was with gowned herself all up, and she took a towel and wrapped it around her head like i do now after I wash my hair. Then she took another towel and wrapped it around her nose and mouth and tucked it in the back. she fashioned her own face mask. Back in that day, supplies were not readily available like today. We had to make do. And of course, me being the trainee, I followed her example. But with all that wrapping it did not hide the odor. I vaguely remember the treatment we had to do was to flush out the decubitus with some kind of solution. The wounds were so bad, the solution poured into one would drain out of another. I still to this day have not seen anything close to that severity. I'm sure the little lady passed soon after. That's been over 4o years ago.