a short talk on poo.
By impactEDnurse • Dec 15th, 2009 • Category: Features, the funnybone.Well…. as my typing finger is still jiggered, I thought I would drop another short video-log1.
- Im not sure about these video-logs….let me know if you think they stink. [↩]
impactEDnurse is also known as Ian Miller, a nurse with over 26 years experience working in a busy emergency department in, Australia. This site in no way reflects the opinions of that hospital.
All stories (although based on actual experiences) have been changed to protect patient confidentiality.
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Hahahahahaha! I feel your pain. For the first 4 months of this pregnancy I was dry-heaving every time I had to change a pad, poo or wee! any strong bodily odours had me gagging, much to the amusement of my colleagues.
I had to take a patients daughter aside one day and explain that I was pregnant and that was why I almost puked on her mum while we changed her pad, not because her mum had overly offensive poo! She was much nicer to me after I explained that!
I so hope that “drop a log” means the same thing there as it does here in the States XD If so, WELL DONE, SIR. You win pun-of-the-day.
A friend of mine and I (who started our jobs just about at the same time) just recently both started having really weak stomachs. It used to be we could clean up anything, but now I can’t deal with the smell of vomit, poo, blood. A patient’s IV line broke in transport the other day (closer to the bag end, so there was still a few feet attached to her) and blood was climbing up the tube. Just the sight of it made me weak in the knees.
My “end of the semester celebratory margarita” just came out my nose.
Not pretty, but worth the laugh!
Thanks so much!
I can cope with most stuff, but the only thing that truley has my gastric contents looking for an escape route, is output from ischemia bowel. I have two not so fond, but possibly amusing, memories.
The first was was a patient that the only output the patient seemed to have was from her butthole, hosing out onto the bed. A colleague and I had turns at attempting to access the patient, whilst the other ran out from the curtains dry retching. As soon as my partner would reappear I would shoot out the other side to take a few gulps and prepare for re-entry.
The other was a lady of the street, in septic shock, who had faeces being strained through her g-string teddy. I took solace in the pan room of all places for a breath of fresh air, to return to find our the attending reg and collaege gowned and gloved and up to their elbows. I took one look and had shot to the ambulance bay to reoxygenate.
But I knoiw what you mean about those sh#t particles. They seem to imbed themselves in you nostrils and stick with you for the rest of the shift. You keep checking you hands and washing your hands (out damn spot….) thinking there must be some reminants, being too scared to stand next to anyone in the event they may question you personal hygene.
When I used to work in gastroenterology, my first rotation as a new grad, I always carried balm (like tiger balm) in my pocket for such an occassion. If the liniment didn’t cover the smell, the burning sensation under the nose was enough to distract you.
At this point I get to brag about what most people would normally consider an affliction: I am anosmic.
Initially you may consider this an advantage, and often it is, but it does have its drawbacks at times.
1: Sometimes what our american cousins call a “code brown” is only found by palpation, not scent.
2: Fellow nurses who discover my anosmia are all too keen to have me assist them in some of the browner tasks at work.
3: Occasionally, just like a blind man is sometimes aware of light and shade, my anosmia doesn’t save me from the worst offences a nose suffer.
Most of the time however, I’m blissfully unaware of what all the fuss is about!
I always have handy my little Vicks inhaler stick (or as I call it my anti-stink stick). Poo I’m ok with (just) but sputum gets me dry wretching : – x
I live in Austin, Texas, also known as “The Allergy Capital of the World”, so guess which days of the week I DON’T pop my trusty antihistamine? That’s right, clinical days! (I’m in nursing school.) The nasal congestion does a nice job of blocking out smell, I find. Haven’t tried scented lip balm inside a mask, but I just might since my preceptor keeps thinking I have H1N1.
Anyway, for my money, not much beats the poo-reek from a patient with a brand-new PEG tube getting their first feeding. No matter what I do with the rate, it’s always this foul pumpkin smell…and I can smell it for days afterwards. Poor patient, poor me!