You learn something new every day.

I like being a nurse.  I don't like the paperwork involved, but I like the people. Oh, and I'm also not really a big fan of looking at strangers rashes or getting asked medical advice when they find out I'm a nurse.  I'm not a doctor.  A lot of people get those two things confused...including nurses.   I like the people because they provide the best stories to tell.  Some of them I can even write about without getting thrown in the pokey because I've infringed on someone's privacy rights.  I always change the names, the circumstances and the place.  But, even with doing that, the stories are true and are just too odd to have been made up.

Take, for instance, the story of Mr. Clean.  I'll just call him that because of what the poor guy did - at the advice of a nurse no less- (but not me thank you).  He had a foot fungus that would itch the chigger right off of a boy scout. A nurse friend of his suggested that he soak his foot in bleach every night. She told him to mix a half a CAP (with an "a") of bleach with a gallon of water.  He did this for five years which obviously didn't cure the itchy foot.  However, one fateful night, his wife (who normally mixed up the solution) was out of town and Mr. Clean decided he could do it himself.  Unfortunately, he put a whole CUP (with a "u") of bleach in one gallon of water and then dried his foot, put his sock on and then later that night when he was going to bed and took off his socks,  he took the skin from the top part of his foot with it.   Off he goes to the ER, (which by the way I'm sure would be a great place to get even more "You did what?" stories, but I don't work in the ER.  I work in home health.  I'm a whole different kinda nurse.  Currently, we're taking care of the foot and it's starting to look better.  Now comes the infection prevention measures. Fortunately, he's diabetic and has diabetic neuropathy and can't feel his feet too well.  It's the small blessings in life that make it doable I guess.

So what have we learned from this post students?  Don't soak your feet in bleach.  In our next episode, we'll tackle the concept of "If you're an Octogenarian, don't think you can start walking down an extremely steep driveway without avalanching to the bottom and breaking something."  Benefit from the stupidity of others people.  That's the real survival of the fittest.