This week in the ICU... two other nurses and I were just finishing bathing a patient, and stuffing pillows into pillow cases. K comments, "It was time that toenail came off anyway. I mean, did you see the tissue around it? It's necrotic. That nail was..." she glances at the sedated pt, then back at us, "that nail was D-E-A-D."
Me: "You're right, the nailbed isn't even bleeding. It's a good thing we removed it -- " then J cuts me off, "What?! Just because she's sedated and intubated she can't spell?" and suddenly K and I realize what she had just done, and bust up laughing.
Also, on a related note, we've discovered what really makes seasoned ICU nurses squirm. Nurses who have suctioned rivers of poo, poked and prodded open, oozing wounds, had skin blisters pop all over them, dealt with tenacious mucous plugs...show them a toenail which has fallen off, and they get a little weak at the knees. A whole toenail.
Well, tomorrow is the big PAWS walk! The dogs are currently resting up, after carbo-loaded and stretching. Okay, so they'd be 'resting up' anyway, but you get the picture.
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