Episode 264: Snail’s Nails

Posted on by Judy E Martin

Doing the job that I do, you have to have a pretty strong stomach at times, It is quite ironic really, as I  have always been pretty squeamish! I even have to look away in horror and action movies when there is too much blood and gore, regardless of the fact that of course, it is not real.

Mr Grump is totally the opposite, He loves it. He enjoys a good ‘fly on the wall’ hospital documentary where someone is having half their head drilled, or sawn off before a surgeon delves in and started poking about, pulling things around, or talking bits out. He is thrilled to see broken bones sticking out of skin, and blood pouring out massive wounds, he nudges me to draw my attention to it, but I don’t want to know.

However, when I am at work I can deal with blood, pus,puke, poo, festering wounds and horrible scars. As much as they can be pretty unpleasant at the time, I deal with it, then cringe about it later!

I might have mentioned before that I do not like feet! We have this poor old lady in that had probably not had her toenails cut for well over 10 years. They are so bad that the big toenail is all curled over and ridged, All the other nails are long too and dig into the adjacent toes although the patient says they do not hurt her.

Anyway, yesterday I was helping another member of staff to wash her, and as the patient turned over, she let out a squeal and complained that her toe hurt. Sure enough it was bleeding slightly, We got some dressings quickly and dressed the toe. The huge nail had completely come off in one piece.

Once we had finished I looked in the sheet. There was this huge chunk of nail, almost like an empty snail shell…except that it had a bit of skin still attached to it!…I felt a little queasy!

What makes you squeamish?

35 thoughts on “Episode 264: Snail’s Nails”

  2. OMG, this was like a horror story for me, Edwina.

    Toenails are the one part of the human body I do not like…at any cost. In fact I wrote a post about them not so long ago.

    Eeeerk! This has scared me this morning. I’m shuddering at the thought of that toe nail.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Ewww. That’s disgusting! I’m very sensitive to foul smells. I can deal with smelly farts but the smell of vomit or the sounds associated with vomiting or even hearing someone else gag can trigger some dry heaving for me for sure.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. What makes you squeamish she asks……eh your fecking post! lol
    My Mum’s feet are bad, I need to soak them and do something with them, we’re at week three of negotiations, one of these days she’ll let me and then I’ll cry my lamps out, I’m afeard of the big toenails lol

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Ha HA! I toed that post down especially for those who are even more squeamish than me! You are going to have to ‘man up’ if you are going to tackle those toenails! 🙂

      Like

      Reply

      2. Of course. Now will you be needing some sort of power tool that grinds or sands down, or something? Oh, don’t forget to put a mask on, you do not want to inhale toe nail clipping dust. Could be nasty! 🙂

        Like

I'd love to know what you think