# The worst smell you have ever experienced



## emtashleyb

while on a call? 


We got called to a house for a sick subject right when it started to get hot it was 80+ degrees outside. We got to the house they didnt have their a/c running and told us their brother had been staying with them but they had not seen him for 3 days and wanted us to make sure he wasnt dead. He was up the stars and down the right hallway. As soon as you got to the second step the smell hit you like a ton of bricks. It smelled like a decomposing body but somehow in the filth and nausea causing smell this man was still alive and of course had defecated all over himself just adding to the smell. Even the paramedic who had a good amount of years in was gagging. I swear that was the worst thing I have ever smelled in my life. I dont think the poor man had a shower in ages he turned the sheets on the stretcher black. I had to shampoo 4 times to remove the smell from my hair, the uniform had to be tossed I tried everything even febreeze and gain. 



So whats the worst smell you experienced? Doesnt have to be off an actual pt mine just happened to be


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## Sasha

emtashleyb said:


> while on a call?
> 
> 
> We got called to a house for a sick subject right when it started to get hot it was 80+ degrees outside. We got to the house they didnt have their a/c running and told us their brother had been staying with them but they had not seen him for 3 days and wanted us to make sure he wasnt dead. He was up the stars and down the right hallway. As soon as you got to the second step the smell hit you like a ton of bricks. It smelled like a decomposing body but somehow in the filth and nausea causing smell this man was still alive and of course had defecated all over himself just adding to the smell. Even the paramedic who had a good amount of years in was gagging. I swear that was the worst thing I have ever smelled in my life. I dont think the poor man had a shower in ages he turned the sheets on the stretcher black. I had to shampoo 4 times to remove the smell from my hair, the uniform had to be tossed I tried everything even febreeze and gain.
> 
> 
> 
> So whats the worst smell you experienced? Doesnt have to be off an actual pt mine just happened to be



A patient vomitting fecal matter when they havent pooped in a good while.


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## medicdan

Nursing Home + Summer, NO AC, + Incontinent Patient + Diarrhea 2-3 days ago, unnoticed, un cleaned by CNAs + some sort of lower GI infection + 25 min transport= nasty smell. NTL, i wore a N95 the entire transport- it was the only thing that kept the smell noticeable. AC went to max, exhaust fan went to max, and even then the driver was gagging. 

We walk into the hospital both wearing N95s, and the staff freaks out. It was quite a sight to see. 

I have always been sensitive to the smell of fecal matter. Rumor has it (by way of my mom) that when she changed by diaper as a baby, I gagged at the smell.


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## NESDMEDIC

We were dispatched with law enforcement for a welfare check to an elderly man's residence because he hadn't been seen in 5 days. LEO gained entrance to the residence and you just knew without going any further what would be found. The man was in his bed under an electric blanket decomposing. The stench was so strong you could almost taste it just breathing, a smell I will never forget.


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## el Murpharino

A morbidly obese man who had been decomposing for 3 or 4 days in a 20 X 20 apartment (on the third floor, nonetheless) in the summer, was bloated from all the trapped gas, no AC running...when we moved him, a rush of fluid came from his groin area that still has to be, in my opinion, the most putrid smell I have ever experienced.  We had to leave the room and ask the fire dept. if we could borrow some SCBA equipment to wear while we placed him in a body bag and dragged him out.  Thankfully, the fire dept. obliged (with snickers and laughter).


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## Oregon

*Guess the stench*

This last summer, going deep into the backwoods (I swear I could hear banjos playingh34r into the yard/parking lot for every dying chevy product known/trailer home landing zone of some private property to go searching for some kid swept away by the river.
We stepped from our vehicles, sidled past the piles of dog poo bigger than our boots and started down the trail when we were assailed by the thickest, warmest, oiliest miasma ever.
When we all got done swallowing our own vomit, we ventured to guess what exactly it was, none of us quite getting it right.
We learned the truth when we got back from hours of scouring the riverbanks, as the homeowners had returned.  It was deer offal, they had butchered several deer a couple of days ago and just left the innards in a pile to rot in the sun.

Nice people, didn't mind us parking 10 cars on their property to look for a kid, quite helpful...just didn't seem to notice their wall o' smell.


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## Bosco578

An old partner after a night of beer and hotwings and chilli.........


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## abriggs

Sasha said:


> A patient vomitting fecal matter when they havent pooped in a good while.



I'm sorry, WHAT???? Is that a normal call??????????<_<


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## abriggs

emt-student said:


> Nursing Home + Summer, NO AC, + Incontinent Patient + Diarrhea 2-3 days ago, unnoticed, un cleaned by CNAs + some sort of lower GI infection + 25 min transport= nasty smell. NTL, i wore a N95 the entire transport- it was the only thing that kept the smell noticeable. AC went to max, exhaust fan went to max, and even then the driver was gagging.
> 
> We walk into the hospital both wearing N95s, and the staff freaks out. It was quite a sight to see.
> 
> I have always been sensitive to the smell of fecal matter. Rumor has it (by way of my mom) that when she changed by diaper as a baby, I gagged at the smell.



LOL - your mom told you that? that's funny!!!
CNA's make me mad. I used to work the certification program for CNA's and they really aggravate me... the education required is a 6th grade level, and they get to take care of our parents! argh!!!:glare:


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## NRCCEMTP26

abriggs said:


> I'm sorry, WHAT???? Is that a normal call??????????<_<



Yes it is not uncommon for a clogged colonostmy bag to overfill. And yes the pt do vomit their own fecal material, smell, and chuncks and all. VERY DISTURBING


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## Ridryder911

Sasha said:


> A patient vomitting fecal matter when they havent pooped in a good while.



This is not usually caused by constipation or even a colostomy bag overfillled, rather a bowel obstruction. This is a *common event*. 

One of the worst smell was a call where there was a ileostomy (before the large colon) became obstructed and decided to open up. It literally "popped" the bag from the escaping gases. 

The other "bad smell" is when one's liver is diseased it disintegrates and the patient literally starts vomiting it as it goes back through the gall bladder (think of spinach soaked in motor oil) the other was gaseous gangrene (which smelling is harmful). 

R/r 911


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## Sasha

Ridryder911 said:


> This is not usually caused by constipation or even a colostomy bag overfillled, rather a bowel obstruction. This is a *common event*.
> 
> One of the worst smell was a call where there was a ileostomy (before the large colon) became obstructed and decided to open up. It literally "popped" the bag from the escaping gases.
> 
> The other "bad smell" is when one's liver is diseased it disintegrates and the patient literally starts vomiting it as it goes back through the gall bladder (think of spinach soaked in motor oil) the other was gaseous gangrene (which smelling is harmful).
> 
> R/r 911



Yes, but with a bowel obstruction, they dont poop for good while, yes?


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## LucidResq

While we're on the topic of fecal vomitus.... one of the worst ways to die imaginable: aspirating your own feculent vomit - 



> The aforementioned fatality, described by Drew and
> Herdson,3 occurred in a 49-year-old man with paranoid
> schizophrenia who was treated with clozapine (500 mg/day)
> for 2 years. He died unexpectedly in a psychiatric ward.
> Postmortem examination revealed severe pulmonary
> edema secondary to inhalation of feculent vomitus. Extensive,
> severe fecal impaction was found, involving the entire
> large bowel with feculent fluid extending all the way to the
> stomach.



Death From Clozapine-Induced Constipation

Worst thing I've smelled in recent memory... D&C of a pretty old miscarriage in a woman with bacterial vaginosis... she should have been about 10 weeks along but not sure when fetal demise occured.


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## reaper

Crispies!! That smell is with you for days!


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## mycrofft

*See "What grosses you out?" thread.*

uuch!...........................


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## daedalus

LucidResq said:


> While we're on the topic of fecal vomitus.... one of the worst ways to die imaginable: aspirating your own feculent vomit -
> 
> 
> 
> Death From Clozapine-Induced Constipation
> 
> Worst thing I've smelled in recent memory... D&C of a pretty old miscarriage in a woman with bacterial vaginosis... she should have been about 10 weeks along but not sure when fetal demise occured.



That is...very bizarre.


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## Ridryder911

Sasha said:


> Yes, but with a bowel obstruction, they dont poop for good while, yes?




Not always, hence the misunderstanding from medics sometimes and missed L.B.O. Actually, many times the patient may have diarrhea (fluids go around stool). 

The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?). 

R/r 911


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## Sasha

Ridryder911 said:


> Not always, hence the misunderstanding from medics sometimes and missed L.B.O. Actually, many times the patient may have diarrhea (fluids go around stool).
> 
> The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).
> 
> R/r 911



As a woman I am still trying to figure out how a woman forgets she had a tampon in. Does the string hanging out not give any indication? Or the fact she just finished her period? Omg. I imagine it smells horrible. I have yet to experience that either as a medical professional or personal experience. 

Why doesnt the woman go all shocky? My mom used to tell me if it was in more than four hours youll die from toxic shock.


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## LucidResq

Sasha said:


> Why doesnt the woman go all shocky? My mom used to tell me if it was in more than four hours youll die from toxic shock.



TSS is really, really rare and the instances of it have been on the decline. Although it's associated with tampons, it's actually more correlated to high-absorbency tampons rather than longer usage time. In 1997 only 5 cases of tampon-related TSS were reported.


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## Ridryder911

Don't forget TSS can be produced by anything that can be grown in the wet, warm, sticky area.. not always tampons. i.e. bandages, packing, etc.. left in from post surgery, etc/

R/r 911


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## EMTCop86

Ridryder911 said:


> The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).
> 
> R/r 911


 
I might regret asking this but how did you come about encountering this particular smell?


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## FF-EMT Diver

We were dispatched to a res. for a guy who had not been seen in 3 days broke into the res. to find a god awful odor went on in and found the obese guy leaned against his couch DOA, bloated and leaking body fluids from all orfices, ( oh he was nude toohow nice!!!), Summer, No AC, 


P.S. We use n95 masks with vicks vapo rub smeared on the inside when we have smelly enviroments.


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## Airwaygoddess

*"Honey it sure don't look or smell pretty in here!"*

Let's face it folks, we work in a job that is not all pretty and smells like roses, gas gangrene, now there is a smell..........:wacko:  P.S. Funny how I can think about that and still eat..... Airwaygoddess just shrugs her shoulders and keeps on eating...........


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## tydek07

*GI bleed*

I would have to say it was an 80yr old with a GI bleed. When you can smell it the second you get off of the elevator, which is on the opposite side of the building, you know your in for a treat. Had every window open in the ambulance, had the power vent going full blast, and the AC on high.... didn't help a thing! Pretty much just dropped lifeless out of the ambulance in the ER garage haha :blink:


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## emtlady76877

A bad burn victim stinks pretty bad too.


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## traumateam1

Sasha said:


> A patient vomitting fecal matter when they havent pooped in a good while.



Yup, same for me.


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## traumateam1

Then again I guess a purging dead person in the prep room, pre embalming and decaying is also really nasty.. One time, luckily I was wearing a face mask, I just moved a head a little bit and the fluids came squirting out of his mouth onto my face mask!! That is also very very nasty in smell.


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## traumateam1

Ridryder911 said:


> Not always, hence the misunderstanding from medics sometimes and missed L.B.O. Actually, many times the patient may have diarrhea (fluids go around stool).
> 
> *The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).*
> 
> R/r 911



Rid.. I have to ask.. How did she forget it was in there?....


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## DT4EMS

Grey Squirrel...........

That is what I have named the "downstairs" of a (female) person who has not been cared for......... elderly ............. bed ridden......... 

I learned after the first few to always place myself at the head of the stretcher when the sheet was "poofed" over the patient.

I have smelled a lot of stinky stuff............ but to me.......... Grey Squirrel is the worst!


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## lizhiniatsos

I'm with airwaygoddess....Pizza anyone?


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## Airwaygoddess

*Yep can still eat!*



lizhiniatsos said:


> I'm with airwaygoddess....Pizza anyone?



Extra cheese and extra sauce!!


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## HokieEMT

I was doing a ride along to keep my skills up while here at school and we had a nursing home call.  I first off dislike/hate nursing homes because my grandmother died in one, but the smell is always the same.  So we walk into the room and it's a 90+ yr old female who got her arm caught in the bed rail when she fell out of bed.  Suffice to say she had a dislocated right shoulder and broken humerus.  The icing on the cake though was that the CNAs had not changed her diaper in THREE days because supposed they were told not to.  There was a beautiful greyish/brownish liquid like matter oozing from her diaper which absolutely reaked.  I found it when we went to roll her for the backboard and thank god i am an adamant gloves wearer because they saved my hands.  From there i went to C-Spine and had to keep on looking at the diarrhea and smelling the smell it was pretty bad.  Im sure ill have more to come especially when I get deployed.


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## stephenrb81

Had a freezer failure in the morgue and was chosen (lost a game of rock, paper, scissors) to help move a body.  The body was a crispy critter that became a little soupy. My side was a bit heavier than I expected and a little goo leaked out on me...I didn't realize it right away just thought the smell was stuck to me from the freezer failure.  Went back to the ER, sat next to the doc who began sniffing the air, looked at me and said in a thick Thai accent "Ooooh, Steeeve...You stink, go wash yourself"


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## BossyCow

Easter Morning... bowel cancer pt... stoma...ruptured during bout of vomiting, after night of drinking and about a year of avoiding any contact with her oncologist because 'he never gives me any good news'.

It may have smelled bad but it was colorful!


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## EMERG2011

Cardiac arrest patient with endstage stomach cancer. Tried dropping a combi-tube, and ended up having a healthy case of gastric distention. The vomit fountain out of the end of the combi-tube was pretty heinous. Something between a mix of skunk, normal vomit, and some sort of chemical smell. I had to wash my arms off for about 20 minutes to get the stench off.


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## Tincanfireman

I'll go for the low-hanging fruit; end-stage colon CA pt with a burst ostomy bag x 3 days. Family hadn't changed bag because it was "too icky", so they left the elderly parent to lie in it until the smell became too much to stand.  The bed was unbelievable, and the patient (victim?) had skin ulcerations galore by the time we got there.  Called in as "unknown complaint/medical device failure"; we figured out the rest when we got there. Yes, Social Services was notified enroute to the ER and were waiting when we arrived. Family was more worried about the cost of the new mattress than coming to the hospital. They actually asked us if we thought Medicare would buy them a new one to replace the one that Grandma had "ruined!".


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## JonTullos

Tincanfireman said:


> I'll go for the low-hanging fruit; end-stage colon CA pt with a burst ostomy bag x 3 days. Family hadn't changed bag because it was "too icky", so they left the elderly parent to lie in it until the smell became too much to stand.  The bed was unbelievable, and the patient (victim?) had skin ulcerations galore by the time we got there.  Called in as "unknown complaint/medical device failure"; we figured out the rest when we got there. Yes, Social Services was notified enroute to the ER and were waiting when we arrived. Family was more worried about the cost of the new mattress than coming to the hospital. They actually asked us if we thought Medicare would buy them a new one to replace the one that Grandma had "ruined!".



Great bunch, that family is.  I hope they were charged.


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## Redemption

Ridryder911 said:


> The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).
> 
> R/r 911



How exactly does someone forget a tampon for that long... actually how do you forget it at all?!?!?


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## aidan

Redemption said:


> How exactly does someone forget a tampon for that long... actually how do you forget it at all?!?!?



I don't know..but apparently it's pretty common because I hear about it a LOT out here..


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## Redemption

aidan said:


> I don't know..but apparently it's pretty common because I hear about it a LOT out here..



That's raunchy. 

I'm not yet an EMT however I used to work an ISL home with four DDMR adults. I had been sick for about a week with bronchitis. Anyhow, I'd been having problems with the other staff, almost all were females, and didn't really pay attention to one of our residents hygenic care because he was male, and it 'made them uncomfortable.' 

When I returned to work after that week I came into the house and smelled the most horrendous staunch I'd ever smelled. The worker I was relieving was out on the back porch because she couldn't stand the smell, and the other worker had taken the three females out and left the poor guy behind.

He had not been bathed in over a week, nor had his clothes been changed, nor had anyone assisted him with his toileting. I was shocked and appauled that they'd go out of their ways to avoid the smell.

It took me over two hours to clean him and he cried the entire time. When I finally had him all bathed I saw that he had skin breakdown in his genital region, and since I was working alone that night, I called my boss, who advised me to call for a transport to the hospital. It was the most insanely heartbreaking thing that I'd ever witnessed. (Even more so than the 'care' I witnessed CNA's at my previous jobs giving.) 

A month later all of the employees that had cared for him had been let go, and he was transferred to a long term care facility by his family. I left my job there because of this, and other incidents.

It never ceases to amaze me what the people who are supposed to be providing care will do to someone.


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## Dobo

Well this was back when I was surveying, we were doing a topographic survey on a make-up factory and need to climb down into the sewers to get inverts on the pipes leading in and out. It is never pleasant to have to go down in the sewers for obvious reasons. but it turns out this place was dumping chemical into the sewers as well. Well we pull the manhole cover off and immediately get hit with these fumes. we both threw up and refused to continue the day because we were so nauseous. There was this pink fluid with "floaters" going by in the sewer. Anyways we refused to get the measurements siting health and safety reasons. I cannot describe the odour it was so strong it made your eyes water and stomach turn. I find it hard to believe it was legal for them to be dumping chemicals like that but never looked into it.


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## aussieemt1980

el Murpharino said:


> A morbidly obese man who had been decomposing for 3 or 4 days in a 20 X 20 apartment (on the third floor, nonetheless) in the summer, was bloated from all the trapped gas, no AC running...when we moved him, a rush of fluid came from his groin area that still has to be, in my opinion, the most putrid smell I have ever experienced.  We had to leave the room and ask the fire dept. if we could borrow some SCBA equipment to wear while we placed him in a body bag and dragged him out.  Thankfully, the fire dept. obliged (with snickers and laughter).



I would have made the firies do the recovery as rescue lol. The single worst smell I have ever smelt has to be what my 8 month old boy leaves in his nappy (diaper) as a present for us on a warm day. I can handle most other smells.


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## EMTWintz

*Way back when*

I first got on the squad. I believe it was July (or August) we got a page for well being check. Would guess that it was bout 115 with heat index. The neighbors of this elderly lady hadn't seen or heard from her in bout a week. (This was in the country) Anyway they called us. Off we rode. Come up on a trailer. No windows open ANYWHERE. So checked the door. Locked. PD ended up kicking down door. When finally the door swung open the smell hit you like a back of bricks. Once the fog of stench cleared we found out why no one has heard from this lady. She was dead. After the smell you were able to focus on the sights. Old lady, buck *** naked on the floor.  Little bit more info on this particular lady. She has forever been known as "crazy cat lady" Along with this lady was like 30some cats. She didn't feed them dry food either. It was all in cans. So tell me,, what happens when cats can't get into their food?   Thats right my friends, they had on heck of a fiest. Some on also discovered a bedroom in the back of this trailer and in that room there was a pile of about 20 other dead cats. That was a bad night. Fortunately I can no longer "remember" this smell. THANK GOD!!!!


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## yowzer

EMTWintz said:


> Along with this lady was like 30some cats. She didn't feed them dry food either. It was all in cans. So tell me,, what happens when cats can't get into their food?   Thats right my friends, they had on heck of a fiest. Some on also discovered a bedroom in the back of this trailer and in that room there was a pile of about 20 other dead cats. That was a bad night. Fortunately I can no longer "remember" this smell. THANK GOD!!!!



Eh. I can think of worse things to happen after I'm dead than my corpse feeding my pets. It's not like I'm going to need it any more... somebody might as well get some use from it.  Too bad about the other cats, though.


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## MidniteMedic

One of the worst I have ever delt with is a floater X 2 meaning this was the second time  they come up and have them deflate. before you have the bodybag closed. I have delt with plane crashes that have not been found/ got to for a couple of days in the summer and floaters that come up for the second time win, hands down. I'll take week old bodies with out A/C over that.


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## E.M.T.Loza

Im working as an assistant at the pathology department in a veterinary teaching hospital, the worst smell is our out going cooler after all the animals have gone through a necropsy, imagine a giant cooler the 30x30' full of dead horses, cows, dogs, fish, any animal you could imagine all decapitated and opened up . smells even better when people forget to close the cooler door.:wacko:


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## captainbeatty

I worst I can recall is a man in a nursing home who had severe leg infections. His room smelled like a used diaper x10. The great thing is, after 6 weeks at wound care, he was able to get out of bed, and was told he could start therepy to walk soon. I left the service that was transporting him, so I don't know the complete outcome, but I wish him well.


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## NolaRabbit

The worst EVER was the floater autopsy I watched in P-school. RANCID. I couldn't eat meat products for a week afterwards, it all tasted like rotten dead body. I am so thankful that we don't bag up the bodies where I work.

The worst ever in the field was the call I had for a fall of two patients. Knew it was gonna be bad when we saw PD standing outside, laughing, "You ready for this?" as we approached the door. 

70 y/o male sick for a week in bed in a room nearly inaccessable with heaps of clutter. I counted six overflowing cat litterboxes and one very unhappy looking cat on the bed. The patient had been using a bucket for a bedside commode for a week and had been suffering with diarreah. Pt tripped on a stack of clutter looking for a DVD and fell, taking out the diarreah bucket with him. Pt was unable to get up amongst the clutter and was covered from head to toe in watery feces. Pt's 95 y/o father came to try to get his son off the floor and met the same fate when he slipped on the mess. Both pt's were covered in diarreah and were unable to get up. 

The smell was disturbingly reminscent of Kraft white cheddar macaroni & cheese. This is one of three times in my nearly 8 years on the street where I have actually gagged. I've never actually vomited, but this was probably the closest I have ever come.


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