I no longer work as a nurse in the ER. I now work as a hospice nurse.
This basically means that I see way less interesting wounds and people that have nearly killed themselves in very silly ways. Instead I spend all of my time with people that are close to or already dying. Oh, and dead people. I spend a fair amount of time with corpses.
Anyway, I was off yesterday, but one of my co-workers asked me to take one of her patients because she 'Couldn't handle the foot anymore'.
Baffled by her statement, and motivated by my own curiosity, I agreed to do her job for her.
And boy, am I ever glad that I did.
Her patient is very near death.
Cyanosis is present on the hands, which never bodes well for ones health.
Anywho, while making note of her cyanotic hands, and continuing my full-body assessment, I noticed a rather foul odor. Now, working in the medical field, you get used to being around all sorts of stink. This, however, was new.
I breathed in deeply through my nose, trying to pinpoint the smell. It was definitely coming from the patients lower half, but it was not the smell of excrement, urine, or old blood. Curious, I lifted her sheet, and that's when all of the pieces came together for me.
What my co-worker couldn't handle wasn't just some smelly foot. Oh no. It was my lucky day. This poor womans foot was....Gangrenous!
Now, I know it sounds terrible to put a positive spin on gangrene, but let me tell you a little something about this particular patient; mentally, she's gone. Some people go to a sort of mental purgatory while they're dying, and this woman is definitely there. She's still breathing on her own, but she doesn't respond to any sort of external stimulus. Other than the general discomfort of having her body slowly but surely shut down, the woman is oblivious.
Anyway, I measured, took pictures, and documented the foot, as I'm sure that my co-worker was too repulsed to do her job properly.
I can't post the pictures I took with the company-digital camera, but I did secretly snag a few with my camera phone.
Illegal or not, I want to share with you.
[Note:] This is what's commonly referred to as a 'dry' gangrene. The wet variety is entirely more foul. And smelly. Still, the odor of rotting flesh is present.
Enjoy!
Edit: Okay, my phone, and/or gmail, is crap. I can't download the foot pictures I sent myself.
Give it time.
