Flashback Friday

My first day of nurses training was almost my last.

This was the culprit:

OK, maybe not the bedpan, but what was in it.

Don’t be afraid, you can read on, I’m not going to be too graphic.

I was taking care of my first medical-surgical patient and it was bedpan time.

My patient needed to , eehem, used the bedpan and when it came time to empty it, I was overcome by the smell and I… I threw up, right after it, into the toilet.

Oh, was I distressed. It was my dream since I was a little girl to be a nurse and now it was over!

I went home in tears. I told my mom my sad story.

“Oh,” she said, “is that it?”

Then she told me the centuries old secret that many a smell-a-phobic nurse has tucked into her bag of tricks…


Now, I am about to entrust this secret to you…

“ Just don’t breathe through your nose”

That's it? Yep, that’s it.

Those 6 little words saved my dream of being a nurse.

Well, I actually overcompensated and pretty much any time I am in the hospital I “turn off my nose”. During my patient assessments, I actually have to deliberately breath through my nose to check for anything foul (ok, sorry, a bit gross here).

Now, you are going to have to believe me on this, but you can do this in a way so you do not sound like you have your nose in a finger pinch “)

That’s it for this Flashback Friday “)