I was completing my practicum at the local hospital. One day a confused 70-something PT came in on request of her family to rule out CVA, UTI, etc.
I was doing something across the hall when I heard loud gagging from behind the curtain. I glove up and walk into the room where this old lady is gagging horribly, I reach for a basin and just as I put it under her chin she vomits up cigarette butts! I guess she had wandered outside and found a styrofoam cup that other PT`s had been using as an ashtray and drank it!
At this point I am doing my best not to vomit with her, but she reached for the cup again and said, “Give me that drink, I cant seem to get this taste out of my mouth!”
I knew it was a lost cause and I wasn’t the person to be helping her.