I would just like to say a quick thanks to all my fellow students for the lovely flu virus swimming around in my blood right now. I know you all are type A personalities and don't want to miss out on anything...but please for the love of God stay home when you are sick! I was hoping I could go through the whole school year and not get sick, but apparently not possible. So next time stay home and I will take notes for you and bring you chicken noodle soup while wearing a surgical mask.
Day 50: A day like this day will turn you off from junk food for the rest of your life and make you want to live at the gym. I will start with my patient. While she was perfectly sweet and went home at the end of the day, she was long winded. I don't mind listening to my patients, but it is rather challenging to respond to them when you have no idea what they are saying. The poor lady had had so many strokes that her speech was perminately slurred, her dentures did nothing to help. I asked her when she wanted a bed bath and I was going to do it when she felt comfortable, but the CNA came in a told me I don't ask I just do it. I was a little shocked. We were taught to ask when the patient would feel comfortable with ADLs, the CNA completely ignored that and it bothered me. However my patient just let me do what I needed to do without complaint. I gave her the ton of cardiac meds eventhough they are all contraindicated in eachother. They did little to help the heart condition she had. I was just happy her family actually took care of her.
Indy's patient on the other hand was a totally different story. 600lbs, end stage renal failure, congestive heart failure, diabetes, bed and fat sores, and a whole host of other things. She was clearly addicted to her pain meds and they never helped. The woman has two bellies one of which went down to her ankles...I am not joking, literally to her ankles. She required constant care and wanted food constantly eventhough she was restricted to a 1800 calorie diet. Toward the end of the day the CNA comes to Indy and I and two of the guys in our group and asks us to help her turn the patient. We all figured, well the woman does have bed sores so it is logical that she would need to be turned. When we walked into the room it smelled a little ripe...however what would you expect it to smell like with a 600lbs woman that refused a bed bath because they are too traumatic? The CNA had a tub of hot soapy water with wash clothes in it...naturally I didn't think anything of it. I got on the side with the CNA and we rolled the woman toward Indy and the two guys. What was uncovered was horrifying!!! And the smell, oh Lord, the smell. The woman had pooped herself everywhere. I am not talking regular poo, this was buckets of chucky diarrhea. I seriously could feel the vomit in the back of my throat. The CNA looks at me and says "OK go ahead and clean it." I was horrified...was she fucking kidding?!?!? Here we all are gloved, gowned, masked (she had a vancomycin resistant disease), and the CNA is asking me to clean the poo. I wanted to ask her if she was out of her fucking mind. She gets paid to do this!! Granted not enough, but still! Poor Indy couldn't look at it. So I grabbed a wet wash cloth and dove in. It was everywhere and in every fold. I cannot even begin to describe what it was like. After we finished cleaning her up, Indy and I scrubbed our hands and arms until they were red. We both went home and boiled our skin off and vomitted at the thought of eating pizza.
I couldn't feel sorry for the woman. It was clear her daughter was moving along the same path. How do you let yourself get to that point? When do just stop caring?
Day 51: Lab day! We learned how to treat wounds...not to challenging. Then got a new partner for Health Assessment. We were learning about ENT- everyone wanted to see what a deviated septum looked like so...everyone stuck their fingers up my nose. I was happy to help out.
Day 52: Test today. Failed it...so failed it....well I don't know. I had a small cough all day and was extremely tired. I ended up falling asleep in my car in between classes...strange not like me. Cardiac quiz was a fail as well, but I don't think anyone did well.
So I have spent the last two days dealing with the flu and sadly missed clinicals today. Boo.
No comments:
Post a Comment