The Stool Sample
WARNING: TMI ahead! This post may gross you out!
However helpful it is in diagnostic medicine, the stool sample may in fact, be the grossest medical lab test that was ever invented.
I now know this from personal experience.
From the collection process (don’t ask!) to the tubes filled with toxic liquid material (even before you add the offending stool!) to the helpful little spork attached to the lid that you use to scoop your stool into the specimen tubes (grooooooooss!)…it is a revolting experience.
Add to that the directions that request that you take a sample of “small amounts from each end and the middle” [of your formed stool], and the requirement that the sampler shake the tubes to thoroughly mix the stool and poisonous liquid, and you get one grossed-out sick person.
That would be me.
I encourage every reader out there to stop RIGHT NOW and go consume some yogurt that has active cultures in it, so that your gut has the appropriate balance of healthy bacterial flora.
If it helps you avoid taking a stool sample, it will be worth it.
Trust me on this one.
Filed under: General, Catbird, Random Thoughts on September 26th, 2006
What a post to return home to! Ewww. Are still feeling awful? I’m out of the loop! Hope to see you soon!
Wow. That’s nasty! That’s about all I have to say about that.
no fun being sick . . .
sorry you are still sick! they just discovered my bf Stacy has a bacteria. the doctors discovered this after 5 weeks of medical tests and her not being able to work. NO FUN! she had to have several stool sample tests. ICK!
Not to mention the poor lab person that has to deal with that tube when you are finished with it….
ewwww!
And they wonder why nurses wear gloves all the time!!!
Okay, I totally have to comment because I definitely have thoughts on the stool sample topic. I will say as well that this is going to be TMI for probably most people.
First let me prefece all this by saying that I am/was a pediatric nurse for 10 years. So I have had to collect and even measure every type of bodily fluid from vomit to diarrhea to blood to well, pretty much anything else that can come out of a person.
And none of it ever bothered me (okay well, the vomit was my least favorite) until I had to give a personal stool sample for the physical portion of my residency application to move to Hungary.
It was pretty much my undoing.
I mean wouldn’t you think that as a nurse I would know how to get a perfect sample with the least amount of gross factor.
Yes you would.
I almost passed out.
So this tells me that there is no humanly possible way to not completely wig yourself out while obtaining a sample.
From different portions of the stool?
That’s practically enough to make me reevaluate God’s call on my life to go to Hungary!
Or it’s enough to even make me eat yogurt.
And that’s big because I really hate yogurt. (i think it’s a texture thing.)
So for the future I plan to have CVS pharmacy’s “Latex Exam Gloves Fits All Mega Pack (120 ct.)”
MEGA being the important word there folks.
That way you can put as many glove barriers as your heart desires between you and the…
…sample.
My apologies as I just realized that my comment was more like an entire blog entry itself. I didn’t realize I had so much bottled up inside of me about a stupid stool sample. Sorry!
Do yourself a favor and go to Whole Foods and buy some FOS. Mix it in water…it has no flavor (if any, it’s kind of sweet). It skips the stomach and goes to the intestines to deposit good bacteria all over the place. Works great for me.
Picture this….my kids had major stomach issues when they were little so I had to take a stool stample outside on the Little Tikes picnic table and segment it, describe it and put each section into little sample containers with the terribly inefficient red spork. Kinda took the fun out of playing with playdough on the cute little picnic table later.
The things I learn on Cathy’s site…
My comment is, “No comment!” :o)
Brenda, your comment was fine. It made me laugh. Which is a great thing these days.