This week is Zombie week

So this week is dedicated to Zombie.  If by the way you are weak in the stomach then you best not read this post.  I had a patient come in a few weeks back.  He walks in to my triage.  The computer tells me his chief complaint is an abscess.  Non medical folks: An abscess is a collection of pus in any part of the body that, in most cases, causes swelling and inflammation around it.  He has it covered with a bandage so I can not see it.  But this guy isn’t acting right.  He barely answers my questions and seriously is out of it.  His girlfriend seems to want to tell me what is going on but can’t.  I had to pull his teeth just to get him to talk to me.  I told him that I don’t know how to help him if he doesn’t answer my questions.  He mumble to most of my questions.  I take him back and he gets up from the wheel chair and about tumbles into the floor. By the way he was here for an arm abscess.  He said he could get up with no problem.  At this point I am hollering for our male nurse to help.  He gets him into the bed. We get him connected to the monitor and all.  I tell the doctor something is up with this guy.  Either the infection is so bad he is weak or he is truly on something.  While the doctor talks to the patient the girlfriend leaves and pulls me aside.  He apparently shoots up with Morphine.  He has been squeezing at this place on his forearm for awhile.  Most likely where he shoots up.  It look like something out of a zombie flick.  The skin was literally rotting off this dude’s arm.  Most people come into the ER with an abscess the size of a quarter.  The doctor makes and incision and removes the pus by squeezing.  Like a giant zit.  So if you’re a zit popper this would be a dream to you.  Here's is a mild picture of an abscess.
His was 4 times this size and the skin had forced itself open.  When the doctor squeezed this thing it look liked chunks of his arm fell out.  IT WAS AWESOME!!  I know I am gross.  But that’s one of the reasons I became a nurse.