Staples, Nose Catheter And A Wet Bed

The patient's appendix had ruptured and it being such a nasty mess, the surgeon had left the surgical wound open. After a few days, it was healing well, so the doctor decided to close the wound with staples, without anesthetic. We have lidocaine on the floor. He could have, without too much trouble, have numbed her skin, but I guess he didn't see the point. He wasn't the one who would be feeling the pain.

Later, when the patient told me about what had happened, I told her if the doctor had tried to do that to me, I would have kicked him in the balls. I wonder if it's okay to say that to a patient?

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My patient had something sticking out of her nose that I had never seen before, a foley catheter. Usually, you only see those sticking out of people's urethras. Her doctor was creative in his approach to stopping her nose bleed. He had inflated the little balloon in her nose to squeeze the bleeder. It worked, but looked rather odd.

It got me thinking. I've had bad colds when my nose would not stop dripping. Perhaps I could insert a catheter in each nostril to catch the snot. I'll have to keep that in mind.

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The confused patient (do we have any other kind?) got out of his bed, sat on his roommate's bed and wet the bed. It must be hell to come into the hospital and have another patient pee in your bed.