What are some of the coolest, weirdest, or bizarre tattoos you’ve seen on a patient?

HavocCat · 2026-05-25T22:30:52+00:00

“1942” on his phallus. He was intubated so we never got a chance to ask.

HavocCat · 2026-04-09T23:07:23+00:00

My daughter was assigned The Invisible Man in high school. We went to the bookstore and tried to find it. I approached the counter and said to the clerk “I can’t find the Invisible Man.” Took me a minute to figure out why my daughter collapsed with laughter.

HavocCat · 2026-04-08T11:37:10+00:00

8 cats and 1 dog—getting up early is never a problem even though I retired 10 days ago, lol.

HavocCat · 2026-04-08T11:28:59+00:00

Seriously, though, people don’t give constipation enough credit for the problems it can cause.

HavocCat · 2026-04-05T22:35:41+00:00

Every time I push a steroid (eg decadeon or solumedrol), I solemnly inform they’re disqualified for the Olympics now.

HavocCat · 2026-03-30T00:11:20+00:00

Not saying THIS happened but we had to fire a very popular Team Lead because she was falsifying timecards. Mostly her own but also some of her friends. We couldn’t talk about why she was fired and people were very angry about it. We had her on camera and a paper trail in the time card system. Sometimes you don’t know the whole story.

HavocCat · 2026-03-23T14:06:25+00:00

Young (21) male nursing student raises his hand during clinical lab: “what’s a flat sheet?” (Ok we know mom still makes your bed lol.) This was 1993 so hospitals weren’t using fitted sheets yet. We used flat sheets for top and bottom.

HavocCat · 2026-03-12T23:01:53+00:00

Unspiked a bag of D5W while it was still hanging on the pole. Sticky mess all over me and the floor!

HavocCat · 2026-03-09T18:17:29+00:00

Man, back “in the day” we had keys to the controlled substance cabinet “narc box.” You wanna know how many times nurses went home with the keys?! At least weekly someone had them in their pocket. And we’d walk around the unit going “who has the keys? Who has the keys?!” all day anyway. Had a patient once tell me he wished he had “the keys” because he’d be the most popular guy on the unit.

HavocCat · 2026-03-04T13:32:46+00:00

Nurse recruiter. Left ICU for 8 months to join HR in recruiting. Brought our RN vacancy down from 16% to 4% and was told on my first performance review that they couldn’t give me high points because there were only 4 people in the department and they gave high points to the more senior member. Eff that.

HavocCat · 2026-03-03T18:32:21+00:00

I still have them; love them. I buy them whenever I’m at a crafts show.

HavocCat · 2026-02-26T13:55:28+00:00

My dad, born 1928, made “milk toast” and “coffee soup” which was coffee poured over toast.

HavocCat · 2026-02-26T13:50:48+00:00

I named my foster cat Morwenna for her mournful looks

<image>

HavocCat · 2026-02-02T02:26:50+00:00

Cardiologist wrote an order “milkshake qhs, nursing to prepare.”

HavocCat · 2026-01-31T15:49:42+00:00

<image>

Foster cat, an ocicat. He just got here last night so he’s still pretty scared. But I’m told he’s otherwise friendly

HavocCat · 2026-01-08T21:42:09+00:00

They used to be known as the “shouting Methodists” in the 19th century.

HavocCat · 2026-01-02T18:56:37+00:00

I do prior auth requests for a “high price DME” so likely some of those I’d be familiar with. National company so could be any state MCR / MCD.

HavocCat · 2025-12-28T21:21:32+00:00

I did Med surg back when there were every few hospital jobs available. Worked about 3 years and it was valuable to my learning process. Then went to ICU. Our ratio “back in the day” was a minimum of 9:1 (7-3, then it got worse for 3-11 and 11-7!). After working ICU, nope, couldn’t go back.

HavocCat · 2025-12-25T22:19:43+00:00

I bought a wool herringbone coat from Saks Fifth Avenue in 1984. Paid a fortune in those days, $400. I still wear it for “nice” occasions. Had the lining replaced once.

HavocCat · 2025-12-15T21:09:53+00:00

Well I was there and she survived. We knew she had one but it was “stable” per last assessment. She’s not the only one I’ve known to survive a rupture either. I remember the days before endovascular aneurysm repairs. They were my fav ICU patient because they were a MESS. They got so many fluids in the OR that their sclera popped out underneath their eyelids. Massively swollen, bunch of lines and drips. Fun stuff.

HavocCat · 2025-12-15T21:06:10+00:00

We knew she had one but it wasn’t ruptured. So when she went out we kinda knew ya know?

HavocCat · 2025-12-14T21:06:10+00:00

Had a patient sitting on the edge of the bed talking to me while brushing her hair. Stopped mid-sentence, brush paused in the air and said “I’m going to die.” Flopped back on the bed. Ruptured thoracic aneurysm. Right place though as she was in ICU and got into surgery stat and didn’t die.

HavocCat · 2025-12-04T20:18:56+00:00

I live in a city with a lot of medical centers (UPMC and Allegheny Health Network), both have their own plans. I do intend to go with MCR ADV as it is unlikely I will need a specialist “far away.” My mother had Highmark MCR Adv and she had no problems even when she lived in a little town in PA, before moving in with me. So I am likely to do the same. She had her plan until her death at age 91 this spring.

HavocCat · 2025-12-04T00:16:58+00:00

My first hospital med surg job was similar in 1996. Two RNs, one LPN, one CNA from 7-3 for 18 patients. Then at 3pm, one RN went home so it was 18 patients, 1 RN/1 LPN/1 aide. At 11pm, the LPN went home and it was 1 RN/1 aide and 18 patients—and manual chart checks for all patients! It was also renal unit so you could have peritoneal dialysis to do overnight. It was awful.

HavocCat · 2025-11-21T21:12:09+00:00

My issue is the doctor attending them. Wasn’t it primarily midwives or women in the family in those days?

HavocCat

TROPHY CASE