jar head.

By impactEDnurse • Jan 20th, 2007 • Category: reflective practice.
who knows how many moments slip by a man too busy.

Man walks up to the Triage Desk.
Man: “Can I speak to the doctor in charge?”
Me: Uh Oh….. this is going to be good. “May I ask why you wish to see our staff specialist?”

The tatty stained man reaches down into a tatty stained paper shopping bag and lifts out a large screw top jar. Its heavy and takes two hands to lift it onto the counter, leaving the bag to fall to the ground.


Its an old jar made of thick glass with a slight green tint. Number 4079 branded at its base. Tiny bubbles trapped in its making. The tin lid has been sealed neatly with black gaffer tape.

The contents of the jar were divided in two, like a lava lamp not yet warmed. The bottom was like dense tomato chutney, all browns and dark reds with a swirl of almost fluorescent green running through. On top lay dark yellows and mustards, through a translucent fluid. At the border where they met was the hint of something solid buried in the density.

He tapped a dirty fingernail on the lid. “You’d better get that to your boss real quick. And you’d better get a sample down to pathology. Its the cure for AIDS young man.” He spun around on a wink and walked for the exit without further ado.
“Don’t let it get too warm mind you!”
“It’ll spoil.”
And he was mostly gone, except for his smell… which he had left for added effect no doubt.

I placed the jar under the counter with an urgency that would have left the man sincerely pissed off.
Later, when there was a break in the traffic I put on some gloves and took the cure for AIDS down to the pan room. After some time picking at the gaffer tape I finally got it unraveled. The lid was screwed tight and my latex glove tore under the strain.

Unscrew the lid and lift it away. The room filled with the smell of lavender and cloves. I carried the jar with two hands carefully over to the sluice.
And for a moment I hesitated.
The single ceiling light cast over the cure for AIDS, dancing shimmers of yellow white gold up the wall.
I stood in a field of flowers.
And still I hesitated.
Nah, dont be silly.
So I tipped the cure for AIDS into the sluice with a long wet plop and flushed it away. The jar went into the bin.
I scampered back to the sick.
Nah.

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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7 Responses »

  1. Sean on January 20th, 2007 at 1:36 pm:

    Awesome post :)

    Sean

  2. Kim on January 25th, 2007 at 7:24 am:

    Whoa! Such a “what if” scenario!!!!!! Great story!

  3. apgaRN on January 25th, 2007 at 9:43 am:

    Love it.

    Really, though… what IF?

    N

  4. Change of Shift: Volume One, Number Sixteen // Emergiblog on January 25th, 2007 at 11:35 am:

    [...] What if…? Impactednurse ponders a cure for the incurable presented to him at triage in jar head, posted at impactED. [...]

  5. canoehead on July 27th, 2010 at 9:15 am:

    Awww come on, you didn’t take it in for the docs to check it out first? They hand you all kinds of unmentionable jars….they didn’t even get to sniff it. Ian, you disappoint me.

  6. Mary on July 27th, 2010 at 11:24 pm:

    You’re a better man than me, I wouldn’t have even opened it. I would have put the whole lot un-opened in a bin.

  7. Kelly on July 27th, 2010 at 11:35 pm:

    I wasn’t expecting the smell you described. I was expecting something horrible.

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