tip toe through the tulips.....

Since I am just a boring student and haven't started my clinicals, I don't really have any good stories to share yet. But our instructors do. They've already told us some great ones, so for now I'll tell those instead.

In our positioning class this week we are learning the positions for the lower extremities, which of course includes the toes.

One of my instructors came over while we were practicing the position for the big toe and it reminded him of a time when he imaged the big toe of a diabetic patient. Unfortunately, the patient's foot had very bad blood flow due to extensive arterial damage and the tissue of most of the toes was black and in an advanced state of deterioration.

Part of positioning the big toe for a laterial projection involves putting tape across the top of the toe and pulling it back so it isn't superimposed over the other toes. Well, when my instructor put the tape on the toe and went to pull it back, the tip of the toe came right off!! Fortunately (kinda), the necrosis was so bad that the patient didn't even feel it.

Of course, we asked our instructor what he did. He said that he promptly placed it in a plastic bag and sent it back to the nurse with the patient after the exam. As for what the nurse did with it, that's anyone's guess. Have you checked eBay, you can buy anything on there.........OK, sorry. Sick joke.