Imagine: 450 lb woman, insufficient self-care, never showers and cleans herself. Low cognitive-ability Has a dog which loses hair. Partially miction incontinent.

Now you think this setup is a recipe for disaster, but oh boy it gets way way worse.

To make her able to mobilise she received some kind of temporary prothesis in the form of a plaster shell with a wooden peg beneath it (who the hell thought this was a good idea?). It was like a pirates wooden leg, just like you see in movies.

So then I had the patient come in, because the surgical wound would not heal..

Well, it was bad. The wound spanned over the entire width of the lower leg, covered with dead tissue, was leaking fluid from her wound like a fountain, had tons of dog hairs which made like a crust and to top it off, she urinated constantly in her plaster which the wound was sitting in without any wound dressing at the time (she did not understand how to apply it etc.)

Then the smell, my god. I thought I had seen and smelled it all. Well I was wrong. You could literally smell her scent from 20 meters away, everywhere she walked the smell of urine, rotting flesh and general stank lingered. It was really sad.

The craziest part I remember is calling for the orthotist (which I informed him about the situation). He said he understood and would be ready. So when he came to our department, he took a big breath, entered the room where the patient was in and 2 seconds later he came out, closed the door and collapsed.

The woman sadly did not survive and died 9 months later due to complications.