You did WHAT with the suppository?!?!?

Okay, I had to share this one, and anyone who is a nurse, or knows a nurse will really appreciate this one.

So, in case you didn't know, I'm a registered nurse (just one of the many hats that I wear) who goes out into the community to take care of my patients. I love this kind of nursing because I enjoy the one on one time that I get to spend with patients and their family and it's usually SO MUCH CLEANER than working in the hospital. Plus you don't have to be stuck in one place all day long and you don't have to do personal care i.e bathing or cleaning up after your patients. You know the bathing I can handle, but the poo thing... yea. Not so much...

Anyways, back to my story. So I decided to call this blog "You did WHAT with the suppository?!?!"
because of a very funny incident that happened in the home.

So, first things first. What is a suppository? A suppository is a drug that is shaped like a bullet and is inserted in this case into the rectum (yes, inserted into the bum). It is usually glycerin based and we use this method of drug delivery when a person cannot tolerate taking the drug by another route such as orally. So in this case you would take the suppository, lube it up and insert it into the rectum. The suppository will dissolve and be absorbed via the rectum and the patient will receive the drug.

Okay, so now that you know I can go on with the story.

So here I am, a new nurse in the community. I'm so fresh and new that I'm sure I'm a slight shade a green... I enter the home and ask my patients wife how things were going. The wife explained to me that he still was still not sleeping well and asked if I could give him something to help him sleep. I said that because I didn't have a doctors order to give him anything I couldn't do it. However I did suggest that we could go over some relaxation and breathing techniques to help him sleep naturally. She seemed open to that as did my patient however, they still wanted some drugs to help him sleep... So being the good nurse that I am, I explained to them that sleeping aids do not mean that the patient will be well rested the next day, and that just because the drugs make you feel tired thus making you sleep doesn't mean that you will feel well rested. They said that they understood this but asked if there was anything that he could take, just for one night to get him to fall asleep. Reluctantly I told them that if they were really desperate they could try giving him a gravol (as most sleeps aids contain this drug or benadryl). Once hearing this the wife's face lit up as she exclaimed that she did in fact have Gravol and that she would give him some in the evening if he couldn't sleep.

Before I left, I made sure that she was aware of how much she could give him, and also advised her to read the label as well.

So the next morning when I arrive, the conversations went a little something like this:
Ai-Linn: "Good morning! How did he sleep last night?"
Wife: "Ummmm.... not too good. I gave him some Gravol and it didn't seem to work"
Ai-Linn: " Okay, well what do you mean by that? Remember when I explained that just becasue he takes something to fall asleep doesn't mean that he will be rested."
Wife:" Yes I know, but he still couldn't even fall asleep."
Ai-Linn:" Oh, okay. Well how much Gravol did you give him?"
Wife: " Well I gave him two"
Ai-Linn: " Hummm.. you gave him two and he couldn't fall asleep after that? That's strange... would you mind showing me what you gave him?"
Wife:" Sure"

So we walk over to the kitchen where she presents me with what she gave to him. Sure enough I take the small blue box from her hands. I look at the box and it reads "Children's Gravol" So I look up and her and say "well it's children's gravol so he really only had half the dose but that's okay" then I look closer at the box and notice that it reads "Suppositories"

Perplexed, I look up and her and say "so you gave these to him in his bum?" She looks up and me equally perplexed and says "No why would I do that?" I look back up at her, then down at the ground, then put my left hand across my mouth to hide my brewing laughter as I mumble "because you're supposed to put this drug up the butt to give it..." I finally make eye contact with her and her eyes grow bigger as she says to me "Oh shit. He chewed them last night!"

Sigh, good times in nursing :)