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!)
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I was on my way into work one afternoon when a guy standing in the middle of the road flagged me down. His buddy had just dumped hin donorcycle and "wasn't looking too good". I figured I would just keep him down and calm untill the EMTs arrived- Oh my- not arousable- Oh My My MY- no pulse no resp. I started CPR- of course I have no mask or gloves. Mouth to mouth was fun when he would blow back a torrent of blood and broken bits of teeth into my mouth and face with each breath. 15 compressions, to breaths SPIT SPIT GAG SPIT- 15 compressions two breaths..... 15min later paramedics arrive- pt has weak pulse and shallow slow resp that still required asst. I carry a one way mask on the front seat with me from then on.
Specializes in MR Peds, geris, psych, DON,ADON,SSD.
I worked in a skilled pediatric facility for 15 years so i have plenty of disgusting, gross stories to tell. No only have i had trach loogies spit in my hair, my pockets (to find later) and of course an occasional one in my mouth.
THE most disgusting thing i saw was a patient that had gotten up in the night and went to the soiled utility room to drink from the dirty hopper with feces in it with his shoe.
I worked in a skilled pediatric facility for 15 years so i have plenty of disgusting, gross stories to tell. No only have i had trach loogies spit in my hair, my pockets (to find later) and of course an occasional one in my mouth.
THE most disgusting thing i saw was a patient that had gotten up in the night and went to the soiled utility room to drink from the dirty hopper with feces in it with his shoe.
Ok, I'm sure this is not the grossest thing on here. But it was pretty gross to me....two things, same pt. I was a brand new nurse, on a med-surg floor that took just about anything that rolled in the ED door. Picture it: 400lb lady, nonverbal s/p stroke, diabetic, g-tube, and several decubs, the biggest being her sacral one and one on her R heel that ate into the bone. Her R heel was pretty much gone, as was most of the back of her leg.
1) Changing the dressing on that thing....I had to have wintergreen oil all inside my mask, a big cup @ the bedside, & even then I had to hold my breath as long as I could. I just about barfed when I saw about 6 inches of her tibia & fibula sticking out, among the other rotting tissue under/around them. Probably the worst gangrene I've ever seen. I'm sure those little anaerobes just loved her glucoses of 300+ and just kept right on feeding away....And her loving family would NOT sign the consent to amputate OR make her a DNR.
2) Flushing this lady's g-tube....ok, so I meet a little resistance, but no big deal. Or so I think. All of a sudden the contents of the flush AND the contents of her g-tube come flying back to hit me in the face. And I find out a couple days later she's got MRSA in (drum roll please....) her g-tube. :balloons:
I've been a CNA for 15 months and never had the good fortune to witness one - until this morning!
One of my residents is a sweet little Japanese lady, who can toilet herself... I had just clocked out for lunch when a new CNA came racing up... "Mrs D is in the bathroom and she's thrown up; it's all dark red and that can't be normal."
Mrs D is on the toilet, covered from mouth to lap with dark red, dark brown, currant-jelly looking glop. It's on her, on the walls, in and on the toilet, on the floor.... blood and variants thereof pretty much everywhere... She was trying to clean it off with toilet paper... not working... other CNA paged the charge nurse while I got Mrs D's vitals, cleaned her up, and put her to bed... against her protests, actually: "I feel bettah now! I no feel good before, but I throw up and now I feel bettah!"
Nevertheless, the facility sent her to the ER very quickly. What is it with LOLs always being happy to see handsome paramedics?
Cleaned the bathroom up. The whole place just had the most gawdawful reek of blood until housekeeping disinfected.
And the whole time I was thinking "Now I have something to post in the horror stories thread."
Ok, I'm sure this is not the grossest thing on here. But it was pretty gross to me....two things, same pt. I was a brand new nurse, on a med-surg floor that took just about anything that rolled in the ED door. Picture it: 400lb lady, nonverbal s/p stroke, diabetic, g-tube, and several decubs, the biggest being her sacral one and one on her R heel that ate into the bone. Her R heel was pretty much gone, as was most of the back of her leg.
1) Changing the dressing on that thing....I had to have wintergreen oil all inside my mask, a big cup @ the bedside, & even then I had to hold my breath as long as I could. I just about barfed when I saw about 6 inches of her tibia & fibula sticking out, among the other rotting tissue under/around them. Probably the worst gangrene I've ever seen. I'm sure those little anaerobes just loved her glucoses of 300+ and just kept right on feeding away....And her loving family would NOT sign the consent to amputate OR make her a DNR.
2) Flushing this lady's g-tube....ok, so I meet a little resistance, but no big deal. Or so I think. All of a sudden the contents of the flush AND the contents of her g-tube come flying back to hit me in the face. And I find out a couple days later she's got MRSA in (drum roll please....) her g-tube. :balloons:
OMG Arwen!!:barf01::barf01::barf01: TRUELY gross stories! Think you just may be edging ahead in the eeeuuurgh stakes here babe!
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
ok, i'm sure this is not the grossest thing on here. but it was pretty gross to me....two things, same pt. i was a brand new nurse, on a med-surg floor that took just about anything that rolled in the ed door. picture it: 400lb lady, nonverbal s/p stroke, diabetic, g-tube, and several decubs, the biggest being her sacral one and one on her r heel that ate into the bone. her r heel was pretty much gone, as was most of the back of her leg.
1) changing the dressing on that thing....i had to have wintergreen oil all inside my mask, a big cup @ the bedside, & even then i had to hold my breath as long as i could. i just about barfed when i saw about 6 inches of her tibia & fibula sticking out, among the other rotting tissue under/around them. probably the worst gangrene i've ever seen. i'm sure those little anaerobes just loved her glucoses of 300+ and just kept right on feeding away....and her loving family would not sign the consent to amputate or make her a dnr.
2) flushing this lady's g-tube....ok, so i meet a little resistance, but no big deal. or so i think. all of a sudden the contents of the flush and the contents of her g-tube come flying back to hit me in the face. and i find out a couple days later she's got mrsa in (drum roll please....) her g-tube. :balloons:
that definitely is a gross out experience arwen. i have seen a rotted away breast, a femur from a decubitus that smelled like rotten flesh. we were expected to do the dressings on them. i felt soo bad for those people. they survived only on will. i never saw a visitor to the lady with the hip decubitus, but the breast cancer patient had a family that visited her. back then they didn't have the technology they do today, and they were only given supportive care until the patient died.
Specializes in geri, med/surg, neuro critical care.
Back when I was a CNA in a nursing home we had a very elderly female resident who had genital warts. Another CNA and I were cleaning her up in bed and when we did peri care several of her little warts had came off into my washcloth and we also found some buried in her sheets!
:barf02:Can you remember the taste?
FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I
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