A nurse had to come and 'attend' to me yesterday, for some odd reason I was having a bad reaction to some 'new' tablet my doctor had prescribed. I had developed a really irritating skin condition all over my torso. A lot of red blotches appeared and made me feel a need to scratch at them. Also my groins and my anus became very sore & with red open skin.
The nurse was around 30 years old and very slim indeed. She came into our lounge and looked amazed because I lay naked on a 'lounger' settee and our niece was sat in just jeans opposite me. The nurse asked about why I thought my tablets were the cause of my present situation? Then asked why was I laid naked in my lounge with a half naked female watching over me. I think many other people may have felt offended by her comment, but I just answered. "The present skin condition that I have has only evolved since Wednesday morning, I started taking these tablets on Tuesday mid-day. I am laid here naked because I prefer to be naked and so do the most people in my family & my friends. My niece is sat wearing jeans & nothing else has just put her jeans on, previously she too was naked. Do you have any problems with naked people or with direct answers to your questions?"
The nurse didn't answer immediately but she came over closer to me and began looking more closely at my chest & my abdominal area. As she glanced towards my niece then back to me she asked "You mention that you have sore groins & a sore anus, do you need me to examine those area's?" I could accept that the nurse was feeling uncomfortable with the situation, so I replied, "I don't need you to examine those area's, but if you feel that you ought to look at them then I will move around as you request to make the examination easier. Also my niece can leave us alone and go to the kitchen to make drinks?"
Eventually there was no need to have a further examination, the nurse requested me to stop taking the tablets & to revisit my doctor as soon as practical, then she said as she was preparing to leave. " I have no issues with nakedness, I have no issues with a family member being present at any patients request, but, it is very unusual to see a patient already naked and laid in a lounge, it is also not usual to see a family member half naked. I will be more aware next time I call in around 14 days, if you or any of your family are naked I will be more prepared for that. Goodbye."
Overall I am very happy with that meeting. How would you have reacted in a similar situation?
26 thoughts on “Rash words”
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I am sure the nurse was surprised by both the situation and the bluntness of your response. In my experience the majority of people are shocked by direct factual answers not couched in some apologetic language.
Nurses,etc. often tell me to go ??? and "take everything off". They then either hand to me or direct me to gowns. My first visit to a dermatologist it was just <take it all off>. I could see the surprise on the assistants face on arrival but she went ahead with the exam of the skin discoloration all over me. Then she called in the doctor to confirm her diagnosis of a rare condition.
I take thirteen pills a day following months of observation.
my wife takes 1 pill for each of her ailments. I am diabetic i take 3 pills for that and 1 to control cholestorol. but the pills beat the hell out of needles
I probably would have stopped taking the "new" pills without waiting for a nurse to come inspect my body.
With respect Bob, I have had to undergo a long period of trials of drug combinations to ascertain what would suit my medical conditions. If anyone has 1 problem they can probably have 1 tablet, 2 problems is possibly 2 tablets etc etc, but when the medical conditions are different and the available tablets are so varied, it takes some time to get suitable compatible combinations. So when a new tablet is introduced it may not in itself cause a reaction but it may cause other tablets to react in a different manner. Thus causing a visible & irritant reaction. It isn't as simple as just stopping taking the new pills.
misunderstanding only happens when people try to hide things or keep secrets.
you have no control over the perceptions of others. My lifestyle is perceived as abusive by most vanillas.but the to them sex in any position but missionary and for any reason otherthan procreation is wrong.
I think that, whilst a medical person should indeed not be surprised at the naked human body, your nurse will have been thrown by the situation. With experiences in other fields, in this day and age of health and safety appraisal mentality, I'm sorry to say that it may have crossed her mind that, entering your house, she may have entered a compromising situation. Did she seem to be looking for the nearest exit? LOL
I hadn't thought so much about the potential for misreading the situation as a 'compromising situation' in any way.
Maybe this old dog and his family are too 'innocent' to realise that others may perceive guilt. I must tell my niece to put her clothes on totally or take them off totally if she is here when the nurse calls again, also to make sure she isn't in any kind of posture or situation that could initiate an unfortunate misunderstanding.
This is the problem nowadays. It's not your intentions (good or bad) it's other people's "right" to be offended at whatever they can think of to be offended about, whether they have read the situation correctly or not. I can't proscribe what you should or shouldn't do in those situations. I would just urge cation in some cases where maybe the envelope is being pushed back.
I didn't think I could 'push the envelope back' ! But maybe the impulse to feel offended is more strongly evident in mere mortals, I had put medical people (in this respect) on a different plane. (NO… not aeroplane before anyone is silly enough to mention it! 😀 )
what i find the most refreshing in the story is the nurses honesty. honesty is something that is fastly becoming extinct in todays society.
That last line is what I think as well. It just threw her off, if all. At least she was candid with her thoughts.
Patrick, I think you handled it well. Any nurse is used to seeing anatomy, but medical professionals are taught to take great care to respect patient sensibilities and religious beliefs, etc. Since most people are reluctant to be seen nude by strangers, it is surprising to see patients who are comfortable and a family member undressed would be especially unusual. I think the surprise factor just threw her out of her element. 🙂