Blog Post 2 (Wyatt’s Nipples, Smoking Socks, Hostage Situation, A Shout Out To Possums)
Wyatt’s Nipples
It was 11:00 am on a very busy Monday morning in my office in a high school with non-stop traffic. Sixteen year old "Wyatt" had already been in to see me three times that morning for the same complaint (sigh)...nipple pain. You see, his parents had gone out of town for a long weekend and he'd decided to get his nipples pierced in their absence. The first time he came in, he flipped his t-shirt up to show me. Sure enough, there were little gold hoops in each nipple. They did not look infected and I had a line outside my door so sent him back to class, but not before I scolded him for making the decision to do this while his parents were gone. An hour later he was back and complained that the pain was horrible. He did not have parental consent for pain medication and when I couldn't reach his parents by phone, I gave him ice packs, one for each nipple, and sent him back to class. Well guess what! In less than an hour he was back. Apparently, the pain was unbearable whenever his shirt touched his nipples. "Nurse Johnson", he asked, "Can you just message my teachers and tell them to let me take my shirt off in class?" Although I could write notes allowing for all kinds of exceptions to help a student get through a school day, that was not an option! I was running low on ideas and patience. Once I had cleared out most of the teens from the waiting area, I couldn’t help but laugh at him sitting there with the look of misery on his face as he held his T-shirt out like little tents from his nipples. "Wyatt", I said, "the only other thing I can offer is Dixie cups”, knowing as I said it that a 16 year old high school teenager would never agree to such a thing. To my surprise, he did agree to it! He held the little Dixie cups over each nipple while I secured them with medical tape. I don't have to tell you how ridiculous he looked! I had to laugh as he left my office with a look of relief on his face, his shoulders back, chest out and Dixie cups firmly in place. He seemed unconcerned about the attention he might get walking around campus like that. It was a pretty rough high school and I was concerned about bullying so I informed our admins about the situation in case there was trouble. Surprisingly, there was none. That was probably because everyone within earshot of him that day was tired of hearing about his nipples.
I did not see Wyatt again until first thing the next morning. He was waiting outside my door asking for reinforcement taping of his Dixie cups which he planned to continue using until his nipples weren’t so “freakin’ sore”.
Piercings and tattoos and other forms of "expression" of almost every part of the body are very common in teens. I have even seen a couple of teens who chose to be branded. They often do these things to themselves or have a friend do it, without their parents knowledge. The results can be infection, disfigurement or scarring.The first year I became a nurse in a high school, I learned to never say the words “Nothing surprises me anymore”, because when you work with teens, every day holds surprises!
Smoking Socks
My first venture into the world of the homeless was about 1988 when I was a young public/home health nurse in Connecticut. There was an old 8 story hotel that had been converted into a homeless shelter. Since it was downtown, it was in my assigned area. It should have been condemned, but it was not. The old carpets from decades past were still in place and gave out little puffs of dust when stepped on…probably more Asbestos than dirt. As I walked down the halls, I did a little skip-hop down the hall where the dips in the carpets were covering rotten boards and flooring that had given way underneath. I was terrified of falling through a hole so I kind of zigzagged, hop-skipping my way down those halls. If anyone had been looking on they would have thought I was playing hop-scotch while intoxicated. There was no working elevator. It was boarded up, but I probably would have avoided it even if it had been working. The only way up was climbing rickety stairs, also covered in old dusty carpets with rotted boards underneath.
This hotel shelter housed not only the regular homeless, but also a couple dozen homeless mental patients. A mental hospital about 20 minutes away had recently lost a lot of their grant funding and discharged over seventy patients at one time with nothing but the clothes on their backs and enough bus fare money to get them to any of the neighboring cities within about a 30 mile radius. These cities and towns scrambled trying to find somewhere to house them before winter arrived. The homeless can't survive a winter outside in the north.
On my first visit to this shelter, I went to see Mr. M., an older man, probably about 70. The doctor had requested a home health care evaluation. I made my way through the dark and dusty hallways to his room on the 7th floor. As I entered his room I noticed it wasn't much warmer than the hallway. I could actually see my breath. He was sitting on the side of his bed. I introduced myself, put my equipment bag on the little table, then turned around to face him but stopped mid-sentence. His feet were smoking! In fact, black smoke was filling the room! Taking in the situation, I realized he was dangling his shoeless feet over a hot plate to warm them and his thin, cheap nylon socks were melting and beginning to smolder. They gave off a thick black smoke that caused our eyes to water and our throat to burn. I dove down and quickly peeled the socks off his feet, dangling them out from me as I ran towards the little sink. I turned the tap on but nothing came out. According to Mr. M., the only water was on the next floor up and down the hall in a community bathroom shared by the 7th and 8th story residents. I knew that I had to get the socks out of the room quickly because they were still smoldering and giving off the thick black smoke. Now in a bit of a panic, I thought, ”The window! I’ll throw them out the window!’. I ran to the window and tried to open it. That’s when Mr. M. told me that the windows were nailed shut! Running out of options, I ran to the door and threw them in the hallway and stomped on them repeatedly, unsure what my next move would be since we were on the 7th floor. Mr. M. was the hero that day. He teetered out of his room with a couple cans of beer and began to douse the smoldering socks!
As I reentered the room, still filled with the toxic smoke, I returned to the window to open it for some fresh air, not believing it could be nailed shut. As I tugged on it, my patient informed me that all of the windows in the building were nailed shut. He said this was because the management wanted to keep the heating bills down. We moved out into the hallway with him sitting in the one available chair and me kneeling on the dusty carpet near the wall and away from the weak spots, silently praying neither of us would fall through the rickety floor. Somehow, although red in places, his feet did not get blisters and somehow the smoldering socks didn't catch the old dry rotted carpets on fire. I guess the beer took care of that. The whole building was like a tinderbox just waiting to erupt into flames. No smoke alarms. No fire extinguishers, and of course no cell phones back then. As always in unexpected situations where there is panic, ideas come to you after it is all over. I call these the “shoulda-couldas”. If you are like me the brilliant shoulda-couldas never appear until you don’t need them anymore.
I was horrified by the danger the residents (including a couple dozen children and lots of elderly) were living in. I learned how to become a patient advocate through the years through letters, phone calls and just being an unrelenting pest when I felt it was warranted. I have learned to choose my battles carefully. It took many years to learn to keep my cool when fighting an injustice. During the three years we lived in that area, the situation didn't change much, despite a small group of advocates, but I did hear that the old hotel was eventually condemned and torn down.
Hostage Situation
It was about 11:00 am one morning when I pulled up to my patient’s house. I got out of my car, grabbed my medical bag and walked across the yard to the front door. Just as I was about to ring the doorbell, two police cars came tearing up the driveway with sirens blaring. I turned around in shock, standing there with my mouth open and a “deer in the headlights” look on my face. They opened their doors and took positions squatting behind their doors with weapons drawn, just like you see on TV. Over the megaphone they told me to move away from the front door and move towards them. I dropped my medical bag, threw my hands up in the air and walked down the steps, almost peeing my pants. As I reached the first police car, they informed me that they had received a call that someone was being held hostage inside the house and wanted to know if I had seen or heard anything. About that time, the front door opened and a very confused Mr. J, the homeowner, emerged. He also came down the steps with his hands up. The police explained that they had received a call that a woman was being held hostage in the home, and was, in fact, at that very moment still on the phone with the 911 Operator. I looked at the home owner and he looked at me, both of us suspecting the same thing. His mother had Alzheimer’s Disease and she had been doing a lot of unpredictable things lately. Explaining our suspicions to the police, we all entered the home together and walked down the hallway to the end where his mother’s bedroom was located. There she sat with her back to us, still on the phone with the 911 Operator. She did not notice us standing in the doorway as she spoke to the operator about being held hostage by “the man in the blue shorts and red shirt” who was in fact, her son. She failed to mention this to the operator because she did not recognize him due to her mental impairment. I walked over to her and touched her on the shoulder. She turned around, and gave everyone a big smile except the man in the blue shorts and red shirt. Her son had been and continued to be a patient and attentive caregiver. The challenges in keeping her safe and healthy were endless.
There is humor in this story, but also sadness. It saddens me because Alzheimer’s Disease is such a cruel disease; cruel not only for the patient but cruel, painful and difficult for the family and caregivers as well.
A Shout Out To Possums
I used to think that possums were really called opossums (long O) and that calling them possums was only a southern thing. I have since learned that the “O” in opossum is actually silent. Makes me think that whoever named the “opossum” and made the “O’ silent had way too much time on their hands! For some reason, when I pronounce the word opossum in my head I say it in a British accent. Anyway, let me tell you about possums! Like most people, I have always thought they were low on the totem pole in the cute animal department. Beyond that, I did not know much about them. Thanks to my friend Judy, a fellow animal lover, I have learned just how valuable these little critters are. Did you know that they eat thousands of ticks and other pesky bugs? Even better than that, they are largely immune to snake venom and will kill venomous snakes! Another interesting fact about possums is that, contrary to popular belief, they do not carry rabies but are in fact basically immune to it.
Our house backs up to a woodsy area and we get all manner of wildlife in our yard and along the perimeter of our fence. One night I let the dogs out into our fenced yard before putting them to bed for the night. One of the dogs chased and caught a possum. Possums are slow moving creatures. Mollie had it between her teeth and shook it violently and repeatedly. I finally caught Mollie and made her drop it but it was already dead. I was just sick about this innocent animal being attacked and killed by one of my dogs. I brought the dogs in for the night and went back out later to retrieve the possum corpse so the dogs wouldn’t get at it the next morning when I let them out. It was gone! It was no longer in our fenced yard. I then saw it scampering off into the woods! I have since learned that when possums “play possum” , which it was obviously doing that night, they enter an involuntary catatonic state that can last up to 4 hours! Fascinating!
One other interesting thing about opossums (silent “O”) is that, like kangaroos, they are marsupials and raise their young in pouches. Baby season for possums is between March and August. Keep in mind that when a female possum is hit by a car or killed for sport during those months, she likely has her babies in the pouch and if she dies and no one rescues them, the babies will die also. Baby possums also hitch a ride on their Mom’s back once they are big enough to hold on. When spooked or chased by people or dogs, the mother will hurry away and sometimes her babies will fall off. When they fall off, the mother will not return for them.
Rabies-What You Should Know
So, what exactly is rabies? According to the Centers For Disease Control (CDC), Rabies is a viral disease transmitted through the bite (saliva) of a rabid animal. The Rabies virus must travel to the brain before symptoms occur. The first symptoms resemble flu-like symptoms then eventually progress into neurological symptoms such as confusion and abnormal behavior. Rabies is most common in bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes. In fact, according to the CDC contact with infected bats is the leading cause of death by rabies in humans in the United States. Worldwide, the spread to humans is primarily caused by unvaccinated dogs. (Note to self-do not pet stray dogs when visiting third world or impoverished countries). Fortunately, due to widespread vaccination of dogs in the US, the transmission rate to humans via dogs is very low here.
I don’t know about you, but growing up I heard that rabies treatment for humans was a series of painful shots in the “stomach”. That actually used to be the case. In fact, according to the National Museum of History, treatment consisted of a series of 25 injections over 18 days. Apparently, it was given in the abdomen because the large amount of vaccine in the syringe needed to be given in a large surface area. The needles were large. Today, rabies treatment consists of just four doses given over a two week period in the upper arm.
Points to remember and teach kids:
Never try to pet or pick up bats, raccoons, skunks or foxes, especially if they act friendly. A healthy wild animal will be afraid and run away. If this is not the case, and it approaches and seems friendly, be suspicious.
Call your local animal control and ask them to come and check out animals that seem “out of character”, ill or injured and have them evaluate.
Use gloves when moving dead animals off your property or out of the roadway
That’s all for now! Thanks for visiting! The next blog post will be up in 3-4 days. I had to get some help making some technical changes. I have been asked about following my page and sharing it with others. You should now be able to follow and share it if you’d like.
Susan
