adventures in disaster

weirdness

I had a really bad itchy heels for the last few days and because I am human last I checked I scratched..and scratched some more. My heels now look like I have been walking over ground glass. They thankfully aren't painful, just hideous and still itchy.
I don't like the look or feel of feet. Especially old guy feet with those scary long, sharp toenails.
I have had so many patients with awful feet and I know this is a recurring theme but please enough of the cracked fungus feet.
We had an incredible run of all patients all the time diarrhea this last week. I am amazed the patients didn't disappear into prune shapes from loss of essential fluids. The smell was just overwhelming. Every time a visitor walked in you could see them flinch and then grimace in shared shame and sympathy. I think there can be nothing more destructive to your dignity than to have lost control of your bowels not once but over and over again.
I understand the patients humiliation but damn the sheer workload involved in cleaning up all this is astronomical, Backs were just breaking at the end of the day. It sucks and sucked. We blame the nutritionists who can never seem to get the tube feeds right. Either too constipated or sheer flowing liquid. The docs don't care and refuse to prescribe anything to make it stop. We end the day exhausted and furious with everyone and stinking.
All you want to do is get home and scrub but the smell wont leave the nose and the thought of having to wake up and go do it all over again makes me ill.
Please stop pooping nice people we are tired and we are sure you have pooped enough for all of us.
Here is another conundrum: why do the elderly become bowel obsessed? I have had patients literally in tears over not having a bowel movement for a day. They refused to explain or be reasoned with. No one must have a bm every day, you will not drop dead if you skip a day and no one should be taking laxatives compulsively in fear that it might not happen for them today.

I had a bizarre twelve hours of english as a second language with the most absurdly cheerful guy I have ever met. He babbled away as if we were having a grand conversation..I didn't bother to ruin his delusion I just played along nodding away hopefully in the right places.
It was a lot of fun really. He was so happy and really didn't seem to care at all if he was being understood. Maybe it was the pain medications. His not mine ofcourse.
Nursing can be so strange.

posted by adventures in disaster @ 8:32 PM