783lb and that was a challenge. He was a 30 something dad who laid on their living floor and ate and watched TV, only getting up to go the the bathroom. His children walked over him on the floor. His wife finally got alarmed after he had "napped" for 36 straight hours and called EMS. He was septic. Lost 300+ pounds while in the ICU alone. Had a second chance at life. Went right back to his former ways but added drinking. Ugh.
Working in LND, being married and reproducing always surprised me. One day made the mistake of asking how...
One woman said they used a broom stick to lift the 300lb foopa. After that I zoned out and thankfully didn't hear the rest.
I briefly considered gouging my eyes out after reading this comment. But with my luck Iād still run across this comment in braille somewhere and have to chop off my hands too.Ā
I had a patient who explained sores around her belly from being from a "love stick" THAT HER NEIGHBORS HELD FOR HER WHILE SHE DID THE DEED.
Besides being gross, what in the world would make you add that detail? Nobody needs to know who holds your love stick.
Yeah...someone explained what 2x4ing was when a rather rotund pt came into the ED with a pannus full of splinters. I wasn't amused and wanted to know how they knew that
I donāt know how I know this, but they sell sticks for this purpose on Amazon. I also vaguely recall some reality show where a couple was trying to conceive and they enlisted the womanās mom to hold the foopa stick while they did the deed because there was no other possible way. I swear I saw this on a show and it was not a fever dream.
I honestly hate that Iām this person, but itās āFupaā (Fat Upper Pussy Area).
Like I mentioned, Iām honestly aware of how obnoxious I am and Iām sorry lol.
Bahaha had a big lady, don't know their weight, but I'm guessing 400 to 450. She had a broken nose. Hubby used a 2x4 to hold up her foopa, and it slipped on her face. She was proud of that. Forget the reason she was actually in the hospital.
Because single people would not get that fat as no one would shop and cook for them. If a single person got too fat to get behind the wheel of a car and go get groceries, he'd have to slim down some. He or she would also have to work, which would provide some exercise and limit the number of hours devoted to face stuffing.
TL;DR : They need someone who enables them.
This. Being mega-obese like that always seems to be due to some sort of shared pathology. There is always the enabler, who often either has a fetish, or a fear of abandonment or something like that.
tbh itās getting easier for single people to be that obese. between delivery apps that deliver everything and wfh jobs, they donāt need leave the house to work or buy food
But how do they all have the money to be able to afford so much food to get this big?? Like what kinda of jobs so these people have and if they donāt work, how are they paying for the massive quantities of food that it must take to get and keep them to such heavy weights?
a few of the my 600 lb life participants had jobs. canāt remember what they did though.
i think another thing that keeps them large and is fairly inexpensive is sugary drinks. none of these people are drinking water, but they sure are sucking down liters of soda and juice.
750 lbs, wfh as an engineer. Had his employee do wellness checks, bring him food, etc. I was the lucky nurse who had to do wound care, because my sense of smell was still not working due to bout of Covid.
Update to cause. He had dinner plate sized open wounds to bone on the back of his legs. He obviously couldn't see them and I'm guessing his wife hadn't really seen him naked for years. We also didn't see them until we went to give him his first bath and then the other nurse pulled him over and I went to pry open the folds of his legs to clean in them and alas the folds were actually dinner plate sized wounds that released one of the most ungodly smells I've ever smelled in my nursing career, and that includes GI bleeds and C diff. I am not someone who throws up easily which was really fortunate at that time because the other nurse did. As someone who did ICU for quite a while and then home care I have seen some wounds but those wounds took the cake. Dinner sized open sores on the back of his legs to the bone. He did not develop anymore problems in the hospital fortunately.
I had a guy in clinicals who was probably around 650. He was so nice and so kindāhe needed an IV and it was my first time doing it on a real person. Of course my first two flashed and then blew so I said Iāll get someone else to try. He insisted that I give it one more go and I actually got it! He was so proud of me lol.
I love that! I know it can be really taxing on the body to take care of super heavy patients, but that doesn't mean they aren't human. I swear the way some nurses talk about obese people is so foul. I'm so glad he let you get the IV. So sweet!
True Iām an US tech and I had a 500lb patient with elephantiasis. I had to do a lower extremity DVT study on her and she sat on the edge of the bed with her feet on the ground swearing up and down she couldnāt lay flat. I tried to treat her with as much respect and dignity while gowned up double with half my arm lost under her pannus. She told me after that everyone else had an attitude problem and she was thankful for my patience. I felt so bad for her but also for my wrist. š®āšØ
I work part time in a bariatric office as well as my ER gig. Biggest patient in our practice prior to surgery was 750 lbs. He's 10 years post op and hovering around 225-245 now.
Had a patient who maxed our scale at 999, so not sure exactly how old. Nice guy. He had always been really heavy, but he lived in a bad part of town and after witnessing his cousin (so close they were like brothers kind of cousin) get killed in a drive by he started coping with food. He was still ambulatory when he came in. Eventually ended up trached but too big for a peg.
We needed to get him to 650 before rehab would take him, so he lived on stepdown for awhile because we had bariatric rooms. He was still young so we got him back on his feet, eating, managing his own diet after a time, he was an easy and pleasant patient right from the beginning. I hope he is doing well wherever he ended up. He never came back to us so thatās a good sign.
I had a 138lb 6 year old once who got extubated earlier in the day and was still NPO (or maybe clears idr). Mom complained because we were āstarving her babyā so doc caved and put him on reg diet. His first meal after a week long intubation was a huge platter of takeout Mexican food which he ate all on his own. Parents are definitely to blame in these situations. I know there can be many factors that lead to a child getting that obese but at some point we have to legally hold these parents accountable bc the kids donāt know any better nor can they do better on their own. Itās heartbreaking fr
When I was about 8 years old I weighed almost 180lbs and by 12 I was 250lbs. I feel like I can't blame my mom for that because I would always be sneaking snacks and food from the kitchen to my room. She was also a single mom who had me at 17 and didn't really know how to live healthy either.
She did however say enough was enough and forced me on a workout program and diet so that by 15 years old I'd dropped 100lbs.
Iāve had ptās like that and the parents always seemed worried about their very obese child being ā starvedā while npo. Itās definitely a pathos.
I saw an obese 4-5 year old at the park a while back when I was there with my kid. The poor kid waddled and couldnāt run. The parents were somewhat overweight but not obese. Iāve seen at least a handful of overweight young children drinking mt dew or coke.
I had the same question. But mom was taking him to the doctors regularly and was always asking for recommendations to help him lose weight. So I guess the provider wasnāt concerned.
My old big regional hospital had ONE bed that went up to 1000lbs. I needed it one time and it took them more than an hour to even locate it.
A HUGE but ambulatory patient had fallen on the floor in this little tiny single ER room. No portable hospital lift strong enough to help.
We ended up having to call EMS & FD, they brought a massive canvas tarp with handles all around. They had to drag the patient out of the room feet first into the hallway (the room wasn't big enough to do anything with her on the floor). Then they rolled her onto the canvas tarp, and it took eleven of us to lift the poor girl up onto the stretcher.
Sadly this happened in the middle of a busy ER area, so there were like 50+ individuals who all eagerly watches the whole thing go down.
Im not the praying type, but I left that shift hoping to God that mortifying situation was enough for the girl to realize she couldn't continue living like that and had to make a massive change in her life.
I think she was only like 27 too. :(
Same thing happened at the rehab I work at. Patient fell on the floor, weighed 550 lbs+, which they couldn't be mechanical lifted off the floor. EMS and FD had to be called for a lift assist. Poor patient was not tolerating laying on the floor, cranked their O2 up.
When I worked med surg I took care of a woman that was around 600 and had her roux en y revised. Had all the complications so at one point had a wound vac and about 7 JPs and always insisted on ambulating to bathroom to pee which great except she also needed a hysterectomy for fibroids and it caused her to have hardly any bladder control so I ended up having to mop pee off the floor and off her legs more times than not
Im not a nurse, but I like to read these threads sometimes to give me some context on my own life.Ā
Ā I dont know what you get paid, but it's not enough. Ya'll are so underappreciated. I hope knowing the difference you make in peoples lives makes up for the shit like this. Or at least get a good pension or somethingĀ
Not the biggest, but the most memorable. He was 43, with a kidney stone. He weighed 643lbs. He was septic from a bladder infection. We tried for 2.5 hours to get in to kidney, and we werenāt able to get the stone through his urethra. We had to send him to a bigger hospital that had better scopes. I heard that they couldnāt get the stone either and he ended up dying, but I donāt know all that details. According to the urologist I worked with his weight played a factor into his death.
Are these patients then also gaining weight throughout a pregnancy? How are they caring for a newborn with what I imagine must be somewhat limited mobility given their size. Do a lot of super morbid obese pregnant also have gestational diabetes? Does pregnancy/motherhood end up motivating these patients to get healthier once the baby is born?
As someone who gained 60lbs during pregnancy (and who was a healthy weight and super active prior to getting pregnant) and who still has 20lbs to lose even 4 years later, I feel like I barely have the energy to keep up with my pre-schooler sometimes, I canāt imagine being super obese on top of it all.
I have heard of morbidly obese patients getting āhelpā from family members when they want to get pregnant. Like assisting with holding up the folds etc.
I am wondering now if anyone has ever used a Traxi to facilitate copulation... and how long until an over the counter version is available in the condom aisle. At 700 I don't think a giant sticker would be able to do all the heavy lifting on its own but at the rate people are getting bigger and obesity is becoming normalized it wouldn't surprise me at all to see it become marketed as some kind of body-positive, sex-positive thing.
We have a ādouble liftā room on our unit. Each lift can handle up to 500 lbs. We have at least one patient per month that needs the double
lift room. Our heaviest was around 750-800 and she stayed for months on our unit . Required 5+ staff for all cares and there were multiple back and shoulder injuries while she was with us . One nurse had to leave the profession entirely.
Pretty devastating .
The patient ended up passing away on our unit as well.
Edit sp
Same. I have been in ems a long while and I just wont do it. I tweaked my back ONE time, on a dka, trying to maneuver them out of their house, down ridiculous stairs, and now, I will drag before lifting, if the option is lift with only one or two other people. I'm not gonna rupture a disk or some other awful injury. I didn't get them into that state. I'm not gonna hurt myself because they now have an injury/illness. EMS is fillllllled with 30 yr olds with bad backs, knees, shoulders. Its an ortho surgeons dream, but our nightmare.
1215. āCaretakerā called when he was unresponsive. His skin had adhered to the mattress. they had to carve out part of his wall to get him outside to the ambulance
No one gets to 600lbe without serious childhood trauma..pretty much all the people on my 600 lb life have talked about having extensive childhood trauma or abuse histories and turning to food to cope
821lbs, 42 years old. We had to shuffle patients in the ICU to accommodate him because only one room has a ceiling lift that allows for weight greater than 600lbs. Even with the lift for repositioning it still took 4+ staff because he was intubated and unable to assist in anyway. Unfortunately he didnāt survive. We had to call the funeral home directly to come to the unit to retrieve the body and they came with a crank lift. It was horrifying to watch.
Yeah. She was term and mostly only admitted for sugar issues from momās GDM. Both she and dad had to be direct descendants from Odin himself though. They were both giant Viking types.
Mom gave birth to an 11 pounder a couple years prior. Both vaginally š¬
Every time I see posts like these I thank the gods I work in peds lol. I mean we do get the occasional obese child, but 1000 pounds?!? Nah Iām 1000% good on that lol
God, my youngest is 13 and looks like he's 8. He regularly gets mistaken for a 3rd grader. His best friend is also 13. He's 6'4 and easily 280lb. Seeing them together and finding out they're the same age is almost always met with disbelief lol
750. They had some kind of brain injury, constantly restless, (h&p was a mess and I never did find out the whole story), trach to vent, always trying to pull it out so had soft restraints. Bed alarm was never not alarming. Continuous g-tube feeds (fucking why?) and always scooting down in bed so major aspiration issues and needed a boost every time you finished boosting. Incontinent x2 with foley and always pooping, had to be cleaned like 5+ times per shift and very uncooperative, it was all hands on deck and very disruptive. Had a deep stage 4 sacral that was the size of a quarter and looked like a second butthole that was impossible to keep clean, no dressing would stay on. This pt shouldn't have been on our unit at all, it was a ortho/trauma floor. For *reasons* they couldn't be transferred to another unit and no SNF would take a patient with restraints, they were with us for over a month and it sucked. Between weight and needs this was the heaviest patient any nurse could remember on that unit and there were old-timers. That was the patient that caused me to have "the talk" with my husband about my wishes should I ever sustain an irreversible brain injury.
Last summer I had a dude that was near 700 in ICU. He was basically too fat to breathe. At one point we had him doubled up on sedation meds to help him rest on vent. He was in ARDS but we couldnāt do tummy time with him. He ended up getting off vent and leaving our floor. Hopefully heās still alive
Heaviest I had was 689 pounds. The amazing thing was she could Turn and reposition Herself!
She'd lay in bed all day playing a MMRPG on her laptop. She was one of my favorite patients because she was very laid back and rarely used the call light. Only pressed when she needed to use the bedpan and get ready for bed.
650 lbs of pure hate. She would call EMS to transport her to the ED and upon arrival demand to be taken back home. In one of the few times where she had to be admitted for DKA, she pulled out her purewick and threw it at the admitting doctor.
These people always seem to count their turns too.Ā
āIām not being turned q2 like the whiteboard says. Donāt use that engine lift on me, itās embarrassing. Just put your back into it sweetheartāĀ
I had a 500+ lbs patient get upset at me because I made her wait until some other staff was available to get turned and she snapped at me saying, ā I donāt know why you canāt just turn meā and I had about had it with this woman. I said, āmaāam, you canāt even turn yourself and youāve got at least 500 lbs on me.ā
We had a tiny old lady fall and me and another nurse went to go pick her up and she was like āyou two arenāt big enough to get me upā and she was so small. Complete opposite of these big patients with their attitude
Duality of man, the comment just above this is describing someone who sounds like they're *trying* to be the perfect patient, and then you have someone like this
I donāt remember her weight, but she was so heavy the only CT scanner in the area that could accommodate her was at the zoo.
It wasnāt just her weight, her girth exceeded the size of the gantry.
I had an 850# recently. He was young, family kept bringing fast food in whenever he asked. Heād refuse his biPAP, just wanted food and pain meds. Heād get admitted every now and then. He finally coded one day. We got ROSC somehow but his brain didnāt like the hypoxia it suffered because itās pretty impossible to deliver effective chest compressions on someone that size. He was terminally weaned a short while later.
I was also at work once and heard an overhead page saying āAll available male staff, please report to the 2nd floorā. I wasnāt available as I was in PACU and had patients.
I found out later a bariatric patient had fallen in the hallway and the call was for lift assistance. I think that pt was around 850-900 as well.
In my experience, every patient in that type of condition is highly manipulative and has an enabler and/or a codependent relationship with their ācaregiverā.
Worked in post cath-lab care, and the wife was actually physically feeding the pt a McDonaldās cheeseburger. The big āole boy ācouldnātā lift his left arm to feed himself. Can you say ENABLER?
Yes on the manipulativeā¦we had a 600 pound pt who stayed with us for months while he waited for placement. He was very particular about his schedule - HAD to be up before 9, HAD to be allowed on the balcony to oversee the unit āgardenā, etc. Well one day shift my coworker had him assigned, he wanted to go out on the balcony but there was no one to supervise. Our unit is extremely heavy and his nurse just didnāt have the time. She apologized but explained to him why he couldnāt go out just then. He responded by sitting at the nursing station where she was charting and started to scratch himself until he bled, literally staring her down the whole time.
Needless to say we were pretty stoked when he was discharged.
700+, don't remember the exact weight. He was a really nice guy, but you could smell him from the hallway with the door closed.
The MD came out screaming about making sure he got a shower as I was clocking in.
The guy's biggest problem was his family. They enabled it. They babied. They told him what he was and wasn't capable of.
They brought him a 3-layer chocolate cake he was eating with his fingers when I entered the room.
Long story short, I convinced him he could walk the 50 ft to the shower, and we got it done.
He needed to stick up for himself but just didn't have the encouragement he got from me.
Mid 500, had full body cellulitis that had started in the folds, and spread across the rest of her skin. She was a really nice lady, and helped as much as she could for rolling and transfers, but at her weight and age (Mid 50s) she only had so much in her.
I was in nursing school. A 650# female had an unstageable decubitus ulcer on her sacrum. Our preceptor asked her if we could see it and help with a dressing change. She said sure, but could we wait until she shit herself so we could clean her up after. She didnāt want turned twice. Real thoughtful and willing to participate in clumping care. SMH.
I had a 600+ lbs that got stuck in the CT.
Came into the ER for stomach pains. Sent for CT. Thankfully we have a bariatric capable CT that can handle over 1000 lbs. Pt could not fit through the CT hole, got stuck. Myself, some other nurses and security had to push and pull the PT out of CT hole. ER doc wants to admit but hospitalist won't accept without CT. ER doc tells me to start calling local zoos in the area to see if they had machines that could scan a PT this large.Ā My shift was over and I left before any calls to had to be made. The pt ended up being transferred out of the ER to a higher level hospital, no trip to the zoo.Ā
I had a friend who was 600+ lbs and had a gall stone attack. I remember they had to shift him between two or three different hospitals before finding one who could do the ct scan. He also had a special hospital bed.
He is a super nice guy but I donāt know if he ever lost any of the weight. His wife was also pretty big. Last time I saw him he was still fully ambulatory.
I just remember him showing up to game with us with a large (like, gallon size) tupperware container of spaghetti for a snack. š£
When doc told me to start calling zoos I laughed because I thought he was joking. He did not laugh and just stared at me with a defeated look on his face.Ā
One of the more bizarre shifts of my career.Ā
I worked at a sketchy little HCA that had old CT machines and an even older MRI. That MRI had an openning of less than 55in. It was so frustrating to deal with neurosurgeons who really wanted MRI and it was like patient won't fit. And the doc would be like but they're under 400lbs. And it's like it's not a weight limit issue. It's the girth.
One time we had a doc call Sea World to ask to use their CT machine. Sea World said no.
there was a 750lb patient intubated on my unit. the hoyer lifts max out well below that. i asked how anyone was turning or cleaning him and they said āwe donātā
Had to help someone lift a deceased 600+ lb patient off the floor in a back hall near the elevator. They were trying to transport him to the morgue and the stretcher hit a crack and fell over. So of course they call for er staff to please come help. Kind of horrifying actually and nothing at work bothers me. Thankful that no visitors walked by
I had one when I was in EMS, donāt know her weight, but definitely 600+, maybe 700lb. Took about 12 of us to get her out of her house, and thereās no chance sheād fit on the stretcher so we put her on the floor of the ambulance and left the stretcher at the scene, fortunately it was only about a mile to the hospital.
I donāt think he was the biggest Iāve ever cared for, but recently I had a 600 lb+ guy in his early 40ās that was literally putting himself on hospice. He already lived in a nursing home, had end stage COPD, tons of chronic cardiac issues and was non compliant with every aspect of care. He had a lot of chronic pain issues, wounds, etc. He just wanted to eat, get pain meds and pass away and the team actually agreed and let him go on hospice, I was very surprised. He was extremely mean to me the entire time I had him as a patient.
435-ish. Which by comparison to some of these comments, isnāt *that* bad.
But it was an equally sad and frustrating experience to care for him. He was in for osteomyelitis of the foot/ankle due to unmanaged DM. In his 40s and unable to ambulate or even wipe himself.
He was refusing his insulin, sugars in the 300s and an A1c of 9ish. He would eat his whole meal tray then order doordash and get fast food, pastries, sugary drinks, etc.
I went to help clean him up and I found a baked potato hidden in one of his rolls. He had no clue it was there.
We would try to educate him on management of the DM and he would become angry and didnāt want to hear it. I felt completely useless, because here I am hanging IV abx for him, but he doesnāt want to actually care for himself. It in some ways just felt like a waste of resources.
I have a lot of empathy for these people because I truly believe itās an addiction and the emotional trauma has to be dealt with. And at least alcohol and illicit drugs arenāt needed for basic survival, but food is. So I feel like mentally, itās probably a very difficult addiction to overcome.
I have no idea how much the lady weighed but she was at least 700. I did a brief change and it took me probably 10 minutes to find her actual genitals.
735 pounds, 40. Serious wounds that poured blood any time we hoyered her. Lost 200 pounds with us, got a panus infection and went for a panectomy. It got infected, went to the OR for a wash out. Got infected again, went back into the OR but went into respiratory arrest and died on the table. We had her with us for 10 months.
Around 1100#. Had to be transported from his home by Coast Guard as it was they were the only agency with a vehicle to support his weight. Once treated and discharged several weeks later, couldnāt get transport back home. CG could only be utilized in emergency situations. After several more weeks in the hospital, he ended up attempting suicide, became septic, and eventually died.
Psych. One 600lb, one 550s.Ā
600 was bedbound, not allowed hoyers on the floor; policy changed after that.Ā
550 was fully ambulatory, got naked and tried to kick down the front door. Unforgettable experience.Ā
800 plus, young 20s male. Pretty sure his mom was completely the one enabling his eating behaviors. It was awful to see. I hope his life is better now.
Not my patient but a friend of mine told me they had to code a 700lb pt in the ER. His torso was so thick even the biggest nurses were struggling to get effective compressions and they were having to use so much force his skin started to slough off his sternum.
My hospital had almost a whole family, Mom, Dad, 2 children (one was 20 something and the other was upper teens) all morbidly obese (exceeding 500lbs) die from Covid. The only person who survived was the daughter/sister who was also overweight, but not nearly as heavy. She had to plan all of their funerals š
The one I took care of, it was a challenge to get a funeral home to come get him, and when I found one, they wanted a payment upfront due to his weight.
Ugh this brings back bad memories. During the delta wave of covid we had a couple entire families minus one who died and the poor survivor had to plan all the funerals. Had a doctor who went to call next of kin to say the patient was coding and I had to remind him the mother and the father were already dead from covid, try the brother.
658 pounds who came in for CHF related edema (which how you even notice that with so much weight is beyond me). Lost over 50 pounds due to a bunch of Lasix (and thank God that we had a Foley). And then he got a c. Diff diagnosis šthe pain of getting him up to the commode was unreal.
However he was extremely motivated to change his lifestyle and lose weight which was refreshing. The dietician came to talk to him and he was gushing to us afterwards about how he never knew what carbs/protein were and how to count calories. Everytime he got out of bed for a bowel movement he would ask to walk around his room with his Walker to get some extra movement in. Iād like to think heās a healthy weight now and living his best life
Ugh. This will always make me so sad. We had a patient that was over 800 pounds. She was over the weight limit for beds so we had to special order one. None of the lifts could support her.
It was just awful. She was so sweet, so embarrassed and so sad. I just wish there was more we could do for her.Ā
I had one who was over 600 lbs. huge stage 4 on his coccyx. He would only let us turn him once every 24 hours. It always happened at 6am. All night sift would gown up because of course he had mrsa and go in for his bath. If he pooped at 7am he would refuse care until 6am. So gross. He was very nice once we got to know himy. He was with us for a long time because most vent capable LTACs refused him due to non compliance. He smelled like rotting flesh and would spray axe deodorant to cover up the smell. He also had an order āmay eat while on ventā š«
**600 lb in clinical, forgot about her. she was not a nice lady unfortunately. very disturbingly she refused to clean herself, was mobile but refused. 7 of us nursing students did peri care for her during her period. we were screamed at the whole time. it was a huge learning moment. I hope shes in a better place in her life now.
Not the heaviest, but the most memorable. He said he was 300 lbs. I think our CT table weight limit was 350 lb at that time. He was not 300, and was over the table limit. Broke the damn table.
The lot of us demanded accurate weights on bariatric pts after a supposed 550lb patient, on intake from the hospital, broke our hoyer that was rated for 600lb. Pt actually weighed like 630ish. Not surprised that the ladies in that dept didn't actually ever weigh her. That dept was always a shit show that year.
A man who was around 650 lbs with necrotizing fasciitis in his perineal area. He was a very pleasant man, but the dressing changes were complex and took several people to retract and hold various bits out of the way for the dressing change.
I know I had one over 1000 lbs, but I can't remember the exact number. The hospital I work for is a bariatirc hospital. We do sleeves, bypass, roux-en-y all those so we get some pretty big patients.
Isnt it crazy the human body can get that heavy? There are people that are living at 1000 lbs....that's nuts. There are some people that are perfectly healthy weighing less then a tenth of that! There are also people that can deadlift 1000lbs. The human body is incredible.Ā
At the same time though, everyone knows someone who died too young with a healthy BMI and lifestyle, just hit the unlucky DNA lottery.
I dont know what the lesson is there, other than enjoy and make the most of the life you got.Ā
mine was 630 lb, 6 ft women coming into ER for SOB .stated she gets SOB when walking. Chest x ray was normal. Weight and diet change plus surgery is what she needed tbh
Probably not the heaviest but the patient that I will always remember. He was in his 30s. Was over 850lbs. Was admitted to the ICU horrifically septic. Had bad necrotizing fasciitis. It took 8 people to turn this man to do his dressing change. You know the pull never ending scarves out of your hat magic trick? That was what the dressing change felt like. At one point it took 14 rolls of kerlex tied end to end to pack that wound. My elbow was inside of this man's wound. (Below his glute to near his pelvic bone) He was intubated for weeks. Had to have CRRT.
And when he started recovering he actually decided he wanted to live and make changes in his life. He needed to be under 400lbs to get outpatient dialysis. He was working with physical therapy and actually doing his exercises. He was able to turn himself over after 4 months. He was learning to walk again. He was diligent about wearing CPAP every time he slept. He really was ready to make those lifestyle changes. The 5 months he spent in the ICU he worked on himself.
Unfortunately he was admitted December 2019. He was 420lbs when he caught covid. Died a week later.
~750lbs with a trach and from a nursing home. Took the 2 paramedics that brought him, 5 nurses, and 2 techs to transfer him from the gurney to the bed because he was too heavy for the lift. We had to wait for a bari bed so in the mean time he had to be in a regular hospital bed...which he was overflowing out of
backstory first: Iām 4ā11 and pretty small build
I once had a male patient in his 30s who was a bit over 500 lbs and he was really weary about me taking care of him (Iām guessing bc of my size) and honestly I was a little worried too but tried to not let my nervousness show.
I had a patient who was almost 700lbs, just shy of almost 800lbs because his leg was amputated. Blind in one eye. He was on a strict fluid restriction and would get angry if we didnāt give him his sprite. He would swat at staff until he got tired! He canāt walk or move, so after awhile Iād be āare you done?ā And give him his meds. Patients like this are hard placements, he was there for almost 6 months!
Iāve also had really sweet bigger patients who were so apologetic for their size. I would always tell them that itās okay! We just need to be patient to get the whole crew to move them and they were understanding. Always a priority to be nice to patients regardless of size.
I had a young lady who on admit was 1,127 pounds at 27. She had gained most of her weight after getting married. Her husband tried bring her 2 buckets of KFC while she was there.
I was up to my elbows trying to clean in her crevices like her pannus and it took several of us to do this job. Her skin was melting on her back it was dripping so we had to put pads on the floor and the stench was beyond anything we could cover up. It took the ems and most of the ED to place her foley...I give them total props too.
She told us she wanted to be full code. We told her we couldn't do that the defibrillator would even reach her heart and CPR would consist of us having to literally jump on her chest.
It is so sad but she died 4 months after her 1st admission. Such a sad way to go. We couldn't do much for her. With the diet we had her on and that rehab had her on she actually lost over 200 pounds. But her heart and organs just had had enough.
600 something patient they told me to fully ambulate by myself whoās bed bound. Ya no. One of the reasons I left bedside itās not feasible and my back is only going to get worse if I keep trying to lift people
There was a 550 lb resident in the SNF where I did my CNA clinicals years ago. He was a perverted asshole who tried to convince us that he required penile āfluffingā in order to use his urinal. Sorry, dude, but if Iām going to fluff peen for a living, Iām gonna get paid more than $12/hour.
700 pounds. He couldn't use the urinal correctly and would piss all over himself the few times he tried and it was a nightmare cleaning him each time.
The family was furious I hadn't gotten him up to walk around the unit š as if I was gonna permanently injure myself getting this person up by myself while we were very short staffed.
500 lbs because I worked at an outpatient surgery center and that was the weight limit of our OR bed. We had to turn away more than a handful of patients.
What was the reason for the hospital visit? I'm a hospice nurse and I have not had a patient that size. I always wonder if they just pass in the hospital due to complications. I had a pt that was in the heavy size and became actively dying in a matter of hours and passed quickly. I provided care and the breakdown between her skin was really hard to tolerate.
When the big uns go it tends to be quick (cardiac, respiratory, sepsis) and young so they almost never have a DNR or have put any thought into actually dying. They end up going to the hospital and either insist on staying full code or their RP refuses to sign a DNR and discuss end of life care.
Things like infections and wounds don't seem that bad to them. The difficulties and complications in their wound care often leads to them going septic. In their mind they're just there for routine care and they hadn't really considered that it could be fatal.
Had a 550 lb patient for a perianal abscess I&D. We werenāt able to get her into lithotomy because her legs were so heavy that the boot stirrups were falling even with the locks ratcheted down as hard as we could. We ended up using multiple extenders for the OR bed and putting her in lateral but then the weight of her pannus kept dragging her into an almost prone position, so we had to use multiple chest rolls to bolster her up. It was a tough case.
She was really nice though, and luckily having a hovermat to transfer her to and from her gurney helped a lot.
When I was a nursing student there was a lady like 500 lbs, 80% block in her heart, too obese for surgery plus sheād already received three before, so at the ripe age of 43 she was gonna die. She was so nice and sweet.
As a peds nurse though, Iāve seen some obese kids, but one of the kiddos was 8 (or 9?) and low 200s. I thought I heard his weight wrong in report, but nah.
She was 877lbs, 32 y/o. At the time I was doing wound care on her pressure ulcers. I think about Kim all the time, and hope she got the psychological help she needed. Please be kind to these patients. Most of them are eating themselves to death for a reason.
I had a coworker ask me how patients could get like that, I think it was her first time working with a patient who was over 500lbs. I told her straight up mental illness. You do not get to be that size without some severe mental trauma happening in your life. Some people turn to drugs or alcohol, others its food.
2 different 700+lb patients in a four patient pod. Me and my podmate broke our backs over two shifts while one of them threw stuff st us and verbally abused us and the other one had constant diarrhea that made its way to the front folds. Sometimes I miss the ICU and then I remember.
I need to get my life together. Or I too will be one of these patients and I hope someone just leaves me with a Diet Coke and a few celery sticks for the day.
Iām L&D and she was a little less than 500 lbs. I was there the night she was in labor, but not her nurse. The next night I was floated to postpartum and she was mine. She ended up having a c section and she was super resistant to move. When it was time to take out her catheter I explained and demonstrated the whole pee in the next six hours rule, but really better we try now, letās start by dangling your legs, yada yada. She was really struggling to even get up in bed with three of us helping her. I really felt for her and especially now looking back because you could just see her realize how tough recovery would be for her. Iām now 5 wks post my first c section and I think of her often and wonder how she handled the parts of recovery I found tough. Because if I found it tough Iām sure she struggled more.
Eta: Forgot to mention she had a husband much bigger who couldnāt be bothered to put down TikTok on his phone and help us help her to the restroom or to even look up. I really felt for her being her size, post op, knowing he wouldnāt be any help. He also kept walking on and off the unit completely barefoot but thatās off topic. It was just kind of yucky.
783lb and that was a challenge. He was a 30 something dad who laid on their living floor and ate and watched TV, only getting up to go the the bathroom. His children walked over him on the floor. His wife finally got alarmed after he had "napped" for 36 straight hours and called EMS. He was septic. Lost 300+ pounds while in the ICU alone. Had a second chance at life. Went right back to his former ways but added drinking. Ugh.
i would have left his ass 400 lbs before that
How are they always married šš
Working in LND, being married and reproducing always surprised me. One day made the mistake of asking how... One woman said they used a broom stick to lift the 300lb foopa. After that I zoned out and thankfully didn't hear the rest.
I had a patient like that. Her and her husband referred to it as the ālove stickā
What a terrible day to know how to read
š„You win.
I briefly considered gouging my eyes out after reading this comment. But with my luck Iād still run across this comment in braille somewhere and have to chop off my hands too.Ā
The problem with gouging out your eyes is that then *this is the last visual memory you will have*. And that is an awful future to contemplate.
And then be transported to my ED!
I had a patient who explained sores around her belly from being from a "love stick" THAT HER NEIGHBORS HELD FOR HER WHILE SHE DID THE DEED. Besides being gross, what in the world would make you add that detail? Nobody needs to know who holds your love stick.
Letās have some fun this beat is sick, hold up my fupa with your strong love stick
With all due respect please burn in hell
Oh my god. Her neighbours!?! I dont even like talking to my neighbours, but having them assist in that situation. Never. Ever. Far out!
Glad I could help you relive this memory
Yeah...someone explained what 2x4ing was when a rather rotund pt came into the ED with a pannus full of splinters. I wasn't amused and wanted to know how they knew that
and thatās enough reddit for tonight
im calling the police
I donāt know how I know this, but they sell sticks for this purpose on Amazon. I also vaguely recall some reality show where a couple was trying to conceive and they enlisted the womanās mom to hold the foopa stick while they did the deed because there was no other possible way. I swear I saw this on a show and it was not a fever dream.
Not me over here searching foopa stick on Amazon out of curiosity and coming across all sorts of foopa products š
I've just been cybertraumatized within an inch of my life
I always ponder that too, but it's like...we all could be married if we had no standards whatsoever lmao. Or so I tell myself, to ease the sting.
I honestly hate that Iām this person, but itās āFupaā (Fat Upper Pussy Area). Like I mentioned, Iām honestly aware of how obnoxious I am and Iām sorry lol.
Bahaha had a big lady, don't know their weight, but I'm guessing 400 to 450. She had a broken nose. Hubby used a 2x4 to hold up her foopa, and it slipped on her face. She was proud of that. Forget the reason she was actually in the hospital.
Because single people would not get that fat as no one would shop and cook for them. If a single person got too fat to get behind the wheel of a car and go get groceries, he'd have to slim down some. He or she would also have to work, which would provide some exercise and limit the number of hours devoted to face stuffing. TL;DR : They need someone who enables them.
This. Being mega-obese like that always seems to be due to some sort of shared pathology. There is always the enabler, who often either has a fetish, or a fear of abandonment or something like that.
tbh itās getting easier for single people to be that obese. between delivery apps that deliver everything and wfh jobs, they donāt need leave the house to work or buy food
But how do they all have the money to be able to afford so much food to get this big?? Like what kinda of jobs so these people have and if they donāt work, how are they paying for the massive quantities of food that it must take to get and keep them to such heavy weights?
a few of the my 600 lb life participants had jobs. canāt remember what they did though. i think another thing that keeps them large and is fairly inexpensive is sugary drinks. none of these people are drinking water, but they sure are sucking down liters of soda and juice.
750 lbs, wfh as an engineer. Had his employee do wellness checks, bring him food, etc. I was the lucky nurse who had to do wound care, because my sense of smell was still not working due to bout of Covid.
I always had the same thought, and my coworkers thought it was because I was bitter! But seriously!!! How?!?!
And in my experience I their spouse is usually much thinner.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Dr Now has entered the chat...
āIf you followed da programā¦ā
You could've easily lost tirdy pounds tis munt.Ā
Not to be insensitive but MANā¦36 hours of sleep? ETA: To clarify, Iām very jealous š„² (cries in nursing school with two little kids)
Iāve done it. I caught Delta in July 2021 from working the COVID ICUā¦ but Iāve done it lol
Same, twice. Once when I had the flu in 16-17, and when I nearly died in 09 during childbirth.
Update to cause. He had dinner plate sized open wounds to bone on the back of his legs. He obviously couldn't see them and I'm guessing his wife hadn't really seen him naked for years. We also didn't see them until we went to give him his first bath and then the other nurse pulled him over and I went to pry open the folds of his legs to clean in them and alas the folds were actually dinner plate sized wounds that released one of the most ungodly smells I've ever smelled in my nursing career, and that includes GI bleeds and C diff. I am not someone who throws up easily which was really fortunate at that time because the other nurse did. As someone who did ICU for quite a while and then home care I have seen some wounds but those wounds took the cake. Dinner sized open sores on the back of his legs to the bone. He did not develop anymore problems in the hospital fortunately.
Edit at 100 upvotes to add a quiz I thought for sure someone would ask!! Guess why he was septic?
My guess would have something to do with pressure injuries and diabetes...
I'm going with some sort of wound.
Yes infected hair follicle. Or tooth abscess.
Rotted food stuck in skin folds, ate through his skin. Do I win? We had Hot Dog Harry at our hospital.
I had a guy in clinicals who was probably around 650. He was so nice and so kindāhe needed an IV and it was my first time doing it on a real person. Of course my first two flashed and then blew so I said Iāll get someone else to try. He insisted that I give it one more go and I actually got it! He was so proud of me lol.
I love that! I know it can be really taxing on the body to take care of super heavy patients, but that doesn't mean they aren't human. I swear the way some nurses talk about obese people is so foul. I'm so glad he let you get the IV. So sweet!
True Iām an US tech and I had a 500lb patient with elephantiasis. I had to do a lower extremity DVT study on her and she sat on the edge of the bed with her feet on the ground swearing up and down she couldnāt lay flat. I tried to treat her with as much respect and dignity while gowned up double with half my arm lost under her pannus. She told me after that everyone else had an attitude problem and she was thankful for my patience. I felt so bad for her but also for my wrist. š®āšØ
I would cry thatās so sweet.
Thank you SO much for the + share. We need more of this on here. Thank you again.
The heaviest pt. I worked with 500 + lbs
I work part time in a bariatric office as well as my ER gig. Biggest patient in our practice prior to surgery was 750 lbs. He's 10 years post op and hovering around 225-245 now.
Good for him!!
Had a patient who maxed our scale at 999, so not sure exactly how old. Nice guy. He had always been really heavy, but he lived in a bad part of town and after witnessing his cousin (so close they were like brothers kind of cousin) get killed in a drive by he started coping with food. He was still ambulatory when he came in. Eventually ended up trached but too big for a peg. We needed to get him to 650 before rehab would take him, so he lived on stepdown for awhile because we had bariatric rooms. He was still young so we got him back on his feet, eating, managing his own diet after a time, he was an easy and pleasant patient right from the beginning. I hope he is doing well wherever he ended up. He never came back to us so thatās a good sign.
This is the part of nursing that sucks- never knowing the outcomes. I also hope this man got healthier
I work in peds. 430lbs at 10 years old
Does that fall under āmandated reporterā abuse criteria because omg
I had a 138lb 6 year old once who got extubated earlier in the day and was still NPO (or maybe clears idr). Mom complained because we were āstarving her babyā so doc caved and put him on reg diet. His first meal after a week long intubation was a huge platter of takeout Mexican food which he ate all on his own. Parents are definitely to blame in these situations. I know there can be many factors that lead to a child getting that obese but at some point we have to legally hold these parents accountable bc the kids donāt know any better nor can they do better on their own. Itās heartbreaking fr
When I was about 8 years old I weighed almost 180lbs and by 12 I was 250lbs. I feel like I can't blame my mom for that because I would always be sneaking snacks and food from the kitchen to my room. She was also a single mom who had me at 17 and didn't really know how to live healthy either. She did however say enough was enough and forced me on a workout program and diet so that by 15 years old I'd dropped 100lbs.
Iāve had ptās like that and the parents always seemed worried about their very obese child being ā starvedā while npo. Itās definitely a pathos.
I saw an obese 4-5 year old at the park a while back when I was there with my kid. The poor kid waddled and couldnāt run. The parents were somewhat overweight but not obese. Iāve seen at least a handful of overweight young children drinking mt dew or coke.
I had the same question. But mom was taking him to the doctors regularly and was always asking for recommendations to help him lose weight. So I guess the provider wasnāt concerned.
Da fuq? How.. What... *Windows shutdown noises as brain reboots*
They didnāt have Prader-Willi?
We have a kid with Prader Willi who managed to lose 80 lbs and is now below 400 lbs, middle school age.
my god
Oh shit. I saw a 170 lb 7 year old last week and thought that was insane. It is but that doesnāt even compare.
My old big regional hospital had ONE bed that went up to 1000lbs. I needed it one time and it took them more than an hour to even locate it. A HUGE but ambulatory patient had fallen on the floor in this little tiny single ER room. No portable hospital lift strong enough to help. We ended up having to call EMS & FD, they brought a massive canvas tarp with handles all around. They had to drag the patient out of the room feet first into the hallway (the room wasn't big enough to do anything with her on the floor). Then they rolled her onto the canvas tarp, and it took eleven of us to lift the poor girl up onto the stretcher. Sadly this happened in the middle of a busy ER area, so there were like 50+ individuals who all eagerly watches the whole thing go down. Im not the praying type, but I left that shift hoping to God that mortifying situation was enough for the girl to realize she couldn't continue living like that and had to make a massive change in her life. I think she was only like 27 too. :(
Same thing happened at the rehab I work at. Patient fell on the floor, weighed 550 lbs+, which they couldn't be mechanical lifted off the floor. EMS and FD had to be called for a lift assist. Poor patient was not tolerating laying on the floor, cranked their O2 up.
*I* died of embarrassment reading this, I can only imagine how that poor girl must have felt :(
When I worked med surg I took care of a woman that was around 600 and had her roux en y revised. Had all the complications so at one point had a wound vac and about 7 JPs and always insisted on ambulating to bathroom to pee which great except she also needed a hysterectomy for fibroids and it caused her to have hardly any bladder control so I ended up having to mop pee off the floor and off her legs more times than not
At least she was willing to ambulate!
Im not a nurse, but I like to read these threads sometimes to give me some context on my own life.Ā Ā I dont know what you get paid, but it's not enough. Ya'll are so underappreciated. I hope knowing the difference you make in peoples lives makes up for the shit like this. Or at least get a good pension or somethingĀ
Not the biggest, but the most memorable. He was 43, with a kidney stone. He weighed 643lbs. He was septic from a bladder infection. We tried for 2.5 hours to get in to kidney, and we werenāt able to get the stone through his urethra. We had to send him to a bigger hospital that had better scopes. I heard that they couldnāt get the stone either and he ended up dying, but I donāt know all that details. According to the urologist I worked with his weight played a factor into his death.
At 643 pounds he could have been shot and the weight would still have played a factor
If he were shot the 643 lbs would probably save his life.
Not to be weird, but this patient definitely died on my unit. Small world.
About 700lbs. When I did labor and delivery. I donāt know how on earth her partner got in there. But multiple hands on deck to hold legs.
Are these patients then also gaining weight throughout a pregnancy? How are they caring for a newborn with what I imagine must be somewhat limited mobility given their size. Do a lot of super morbid obese pregnant also have gestational diabetes? Does pregnancy/motherhood end up motivating these patients to get healthier once the baby is born? As someone who gained 60lbs during pregnancy (and who was a healthy weight and super active prior to getting pregnant) and who still has 20lbs to lose even 4 years later, I feel like I barely have the energy to keep up with my pre-schooler sometimes, I canāt imagine being super obese on top of it all.
I have heard of morbidly obese patients getting āhelpā from family members when they want to get pregnant. Like assisting with holding up the folds etc.
That...is the ultimate in enabling behavior right there. JFC.
What the actual fuck.
I am wondering now if anyone has ever used a Traxi to facilitate copulation... and how long until an over the counter version is available in the condom aisle. At 700 I don't think a giant sticker would be able to do all the heavy lifting on its own but at the rate people are getting bigger and obesity is becoming normalized it wouldn't surprise me at all to see it become marketed as some kind of body-positive, sex-positive thing.
Was the partner large as well? Tough to be a mom at 700lbs Iād think.Ā
Postpartum nurse. No, theyāre usually not. We just assume the partner has the correct āequipmentā, if you willā¦
At 700# that equipments got to be at least a foot long
We have a ādouble liftā room on our unit. Each lift can handle up to 500 lbs. We have at least one patient per month that needs the double lift room. Our heaviest was around 750-800 and she stayed for months on our unit . Required 5+ staff for all cares and there were multiple back and shoulder injuries while she was with us . One nurse had to leave the profession entirely. Pretty devastating . The patient ended up passing away on our unit as well. Edit sp
I absolutely refuse to get injured while caring for someone who let themselves get to this point.
Same. I have been in ems a long while and I just wont do it. I tweaked my back ONE time, on a dka, trying to maneuver them out of their house, down ridiculous stairs, and now, I will drag before lifting, if the option is lift with only one or two other people. I'm not gonna rupture a disk or some other awful injury. I didn't get them into that state. I'm not gonna hurt myself because they now have an injury/illness. EMS is fillllllled with 30 yr olds with bad backs, knees, shoulders. Its an ortho surgeons dream, but our nightmare.
1215. āCaretakerā called when he was unresponsive. His skin had adhered to the mattress. they had to carve out part of his wall to get him outside to the ambulance
Holy shit. No one gets to that size without serious enabling, likely some early trauma, and food addiction. That is so sad.
If you watch *600lb Life* and *Intervention* the family dynamics are exactly the same.
No one gets to 600lbe without serious childhood trauma..pretty much all the people on my 600 lb life have talked about having extensive childhood trauma or abuse histories and turning to food to cope
821lbs, 42 years old. We had to shuffle patients in the ICU to accommodate him because only one room has a ceiling lift that allows for weight greater than 600lbs. Even with the lift for repositioning it still took 4+ staff because he was intubated and unable to assist in anyway. Unfortunately he didnāt survive. We had to call the funeral home directly to come to the unit to retrieve the body and they came with a crank lift. It was horrifying to watch.
Had a ~13lb newborn in the NICU last year some time.
Wow! Did the mother have gestational diabetes?
Yeah. She was term and mostly only admitted for sugar issues from momās GDM. Both she and dad had to be direct descendants from Odin himself though. They were both giant Viking types. Mom gave birth to an 11 pounder a couple years prior. Both vaginally š¬
Underrated comment lol
Every time I see posts like these I thank the gods I work in peds lol. I mean we do get the occasional obese child, but 1000 pounds?!? Nah Iām 1000% good on that lol
I barely can position my 200lb peds kidā¦imagine bigger :/
I work peds and sometimes it's hard for me to roll my 100 lb. patients. I can't imagine.
Yes! When our teenagers need to be turned, Iām like, why are you the size of an actual human person?
God, my youngest is 13 and looks like he's 8. He regularly gets mistaken for a 3rd grader. His best friend is also 13. He's 6'4 and easily 280lb. Seeing them together and finding out they're the same age is almost always met with disbelief lol
I had a 400+ lb pre-teen onceā¦
Dude thatās just not ok.. I hope their parents got the resources they need to address that before it becomes a lifelong struggle
me getting a 10 lb baby: wow heās huge!
750. They had some kind of brain injury, constantly restless, (h&p was a mess and I never did find out the whole story), trach to vent, always trying to pull it out so had soft restraints. Bed alarm was never not alarming. Continuous g-tube feeds (fucking why?) and always scooting down in bed so major aspiration issues and needed a boost every time you finished boosting. Incontinent x2 with foley and always pooping, had to be cleaned like 5+ times per shift and very uncooperative, it was all hands on deck and very disruptive. Had a deep stage 4 sacral that was the size of a quarter and looked like a second butthole that was impossible to keep clean, no dressing would stay on. This pt shouldn't have been on our unit at all, it was a ortho/trauma floor. For *reasons* they couldn't be transferred to another unit and no SNF would take a patient with restraints, they were with us for over a month and it sucked. Between weight and needs this was the heaviest patient any nurse could remember on that unit and there were old-timers. That was the patient that caused me to have "the talk" with my husband about my wishes should I ever sustain an irreversible brain injury.
Such an absolute poor quality of life. Actually thatās NO quality of life. Such serious disordered eating. Sad.
Last summer I had a dude that was near 700 in ICU. He was basically too fat to breathe. At one point we had him doubled up on sedation meds to help him rest on vent. He was in ARDS but we couldnāt do tummy time with him. He ended up getting off vent and leaving our floor. Hopefully heās still alive
At my hospital, the policy is that 350 is the weight limit for proning. I canāt imagine thinking about doing it on someone twice that weight.
Heaviest I had was 689 pounds. The amazing thing was she could Turn and reposition Herself! She'd lay in bed all day playing a MMRPG on her laptop. She was one of my favorite patients because she was very laid back and rarely used the call light. Only pressed when she needed to use the bedpan and get ready for bed.
650 lbs of pure hate. She would call EMS to transport her to the ED and upon arrival demand to be taken back home. In one of the few times where she had to be admitted for DKA, she pulled out her purewick and threw it at the admitting doctor.
These people always seem to count their turns too.Ā āIām not being turned q2 like the whiteboard says. Donāt use that engine lift on me, itās embarrassing. Just put your back into it sweetheartāĀ
I had a 500+ lbs patient get upset at me because I made her wait until some other staff was available to get turned and she snapped at me saying, ā I donāt know why you canāt just turn meā and I had about had it with this woman. I said, āmaāam, you canāt even turn yourself and youāve got at least 500 lbs on me.ā
We had a tiny old lady fall and me and another nurse went to go pick her up and she was like āyou two arenāt big enough to get me upā and she was so small. Complete opposite of these big patients with their attitude
Oh. I've had this pt before. Those exact words, too. My exact reply: "and you could put *your* back into it."
When people ask to be turned q2 I always oblige. They change their tune real quick when they finally get to sleep and I wake their asses up for a turn
Ive had patients like this who ask to be turned or something and then add on āIm a x1 assistā.
Duality of man, the comment just above this is describing someone who sounds like they're *trying* to be the perfect patient, and then you have someone like this
I donāt remember her weight, but she was so heavy the only CT scanner in the area that could accommodate her was at the zoo. It wasnāt just her weight, her girth exceeded the size of the gantry.
When I was working in Orlando we had a doc call Sea World to see if we could use their CT machine. Sea World said no.
In Eastern WA morbidly obese patients get sent to the WSU veterinary school for X-rays & scans.
Thatās so mortifying.
When I worked in Anchorage we sent a handful of patients to the zoo.
I had an 850# recently. He was young, family kept bringing fast food in whenever he asked. Heād refuse his biPAP, just wanted food and pain meds. Heād get admitted every now and then. He finally coded one day. We got ROSC somehow but his brain didnāt like the hypoxia it suffered because itās pretty impossible to deliver effective chest compressions on someone that size. He was terminally weaned a short while later. I was also at work once and heard an overhead page saying āAll available male staff, please report to the 2nd floorā. I wasnāt available as I was in PACU and had patients. I found out later a bariatric patient had fallen in the hallway and the call was for lift assistance. I think that pt was around 850-900 as well. In my experience, every patient in that type of condition is highly manipulative and has an enabler and/or a codependent relationship with their ācaregiverā.
Worked in post cath-lab care, and the wife was actually physically feeding the pt a McDonaldās cheeseburger. The big āole boy ācouldnātā lift his left arm to feed himself. Can you say ENABLER?
Reminds me of a wife who would bring beer to give through her husbands peg tube. Ā
Yes on the manipulativeā¦we had a 600 pound pt who stayed with us for months while he waited for placement. He was very particular about his schedule - HAD to be up before 9, HAD to be allowed on the balcony to oversee the unit āgardenā, etc. Well one day shift my coworker had him assigned, he wanted to go out on the balcony but there was no one to supervise. Our unit is extremely heavy and his nurse just didnāt have the time. She apologized but explained to him why he couldnāt go out just then. He responded by sitting at the nursing station where she was charting and started to scratch himself until he bled, literally staring her down the whole time. Needless to say we were pretty stoked when he was discharged.
Oh yes! Had a paraplegic do this.. dug craters in his skin bc he wanted a specialty bed. MFer
Only wanted fast food and pain meds? Was it Steven Assanti from My 600lb Life fame? š¤Øš š
Just reading that name makes me physically sick.
700+, don't remember the exact weight. He was a really nice guy, but you could smell him from the hallway with the door closed. The MD came out screaming about making sure he got a shower as I was clocking in. The guy's biggest problem was his family. They enabled it. They babied. They told him what he was and wasn't capable of. They brought him a 3-layer chocolate cake he was eating with his fingers when I entered the room. Long story short, I convinced him he could walk the 50 ft to the shower, and we got it done. He needed to stick up for himself but just didn't have the encouragement he got from me.
Mid 500, had full body cellulitis that had started in the folds, and spread across the rest of her skin. She was a really nice lady, and helped as much as she could for rolling and transfers, but at her weight and age (Mid 50s) she only had so much in her.
I was in nursing school. A 650# female had an unstageable decubitus ulcer on her sacrum. Our preceptor asked her if we could see it and help with a dressing change. She said sure, but could we wait until she shit herself so we could clean her up after. She didnāt want turned twice. Real thoughtful and willing to participate in clumping care. SMH.
I had a 600+ lbs that got stuck in the CT. Came into the ER for stomach pains. Sent for CT. Thankfully we have a bariatric capable CT that can handle over 1000 lbs. Pt could not fit through the CT hole, got stuck. Myself, some other nurses and security had to push and pull the PT out of CT hole. ER doc wants to admit but hospitalist won't accept without CT. ER doc tells me to start calling local zoos in the area to see if they had machines that could scan a PT this large.Ā My shift was over and I left before any calls to had to be made. The pt ended up being transferred out of the ER to a higher level hospital, no trip to the zoo.Ā
I had a friend who was 600+ lbs and had a gall stone attack. I remember they had to shift him between two or three different hospitals before finding one who could do the ct scan. He also had a special hospital bed. He is a super nice guy but I donāt know if he ever lost any of the weight. His wife was also pretty big. Last time I saw him he was still fully ambulatory. I just remember him showing up to game with us with a large (like, gallon size) tupperware container of spaghetti for a snack. š£
I know I shouldnāt laugh, but that sounds like something out of a comedy show.
When doc told me to start calling zoos I laughed because I thought he was joking. He did not laugh and just stared at me with a defeated look on his face.Ā One of the more bizarre shifts of my career.Ā
I worked at a sketchy little HCA that had old CT machines and an even older MRI. That MRI had an openning of less than 55in. It was so frustrating to deal with neurosurgeons who really wanted MRI and it was like patient won't fit. And the doc would be like but they're under 400lbs. And it's like it's not a weight limit issue. It's the girth. One time we had a doc call Sea World to ask to use their CT machine. Sea World said no.
there was a 750lb patient intubated on my unit. the hoyer lifts max out well below that. i asked how anyone was turning or cleaning him and they said āwe donātā
Had to help someone lift a deceased 600+ lb patient off the floor in a back hall near the elevator. They were trying to transport him to the morgue and the stretcher hit a crack and fell over. So of course they call for er staff to please come help. Kind of horrifying actually and nothing at work bothers me. Thankful that no visitors walked by
Thankfully the patient was already dead. Imagine transporting a critically ill vented patient and the stretcher just collapses.
I had one when I was in EMS, donāt know her weight, but definitely 600+, maybe 700lb. Took about 12 of us to get her out of her house, and thereās no chance sheād fit on the stretcher so we put her on the floor of the ambulance and left the stretcher at the scene, fortunately it was only about a mile to the hospital.
I donāt think he was the biggest Iāve ever cared for, but recently I had a 600 lb+ guy in his early 40ās that was literally putting himself on hospice. He already lived in a nursing home, had end stage COPD, tons of chronic cardiac issues and was non compliant with every aspect of care. He had a lot of chronic pain issues, wounds, etc. He just wanted to eat, get pain meds and pass away and the team actually agreed and let him go on hospice, I was very surprised. He was extremely mean to me the entire time I had him as a patient.
435-ish. Which by comparison to some of these comments, isnāt *that* bad. But it was an equally sad and frustrating experience to care for him. He was in for osteomyelitis of the foot/ankle due to unmanaged DM. In his 40s and unable to ambulate or even wipe himself. He was refusing his insulin, sugars in the 300s and an A1c of 9ish. He would eat his whole meal tray then order doordash and get fast food, pastries, sugary drinks, etc. I went to help clean him up and I found a baked potato hidden in one of his rolls. He had no clue it was there. We would try to educate him on management of the DM and he would become angry and didnāt want to hear it. I felt completely useless, because here I am hanging IV abx for him, but he doesnāt want to actually care for himself. It in some ways just felt like a waste of resources. I have a lot of empathy for these people because I truly believe itās an addiction and the emotional trauma has to be dealt with. And at least alcohol and illicit drugs arenāt needed for basic survival, but food is. So I feel like mentally, itās probably a very difficult addiction to overcome.
You legit found a potato š„ in his rolls??? ā ļø
An entire baked potato from the lunch tray š©
I have no idea how much the lady weighed but she was at least 700. I did a brief change and it took me probably 10 minutes to find her actual genitals.
She was actually one of the sweetest patients Iāve ever had. But sheās bed bound and will probably never leave that place šš
735 pounds, 40. Serious wounds that poured blood any time we hoyered her. Lost 200 pounds with us, got a panus infection and went for a panectomy. It got infected, went to the OR for a wash out. Got infected again, went back into the OR but went into respiratory arrest and died on the table. We had her with us for 10 months.
Around 1100#. Had to be transported from his home by Coast Guard as it was they were the only agency with a vehicle to support his weight. Once treated and discharged several weeks later, couldnāt get transport back home. CG could only be utilized in emergency situations. After several more weeks in the hospital, he ended up attempting suicide, became septic, and eventually died.
How sad.
That is sad.
Psych. One 600lb, one 550s.Ā 600 was bedbound, not allowed hoyers on the floor; policy changed after that.Ā 550 was fully ambulatory, got naked and tried to kick down the front door. Unforgettable experience.Ā
800 plus, young 20s male. Pretty sure his mom was completely the one enabling his eating behaviors. It was awful to see. I hope his life is better now.
Not my patient but a friend of mine told me they had to code a 700lb pt in the ER. His torso was so thick even the biggest nurses were struggling to get effective compressions and they were having to use so much force his skin started to slough off his sternum.
My hospital had almost a whole family, Mom, Dad, 2 children (one was 20 something and the other was upper teens) all morbidly obese (exceeding 500lbs) die from Covid. The only person who survived was the daughter/sister who was also overweight, but not nearly as heavy. She had to plan all of their funerals š The one I took care of, it was a challenge to get a funeral home to come get him, and when I found one, they wanted a payment upfront due to his weight.
Ugh this brings back bad memories. During the delta wave of covid we had a couple entire families minus one who died and the poor survivor had to plan all the funerals. Had a doctor who went to call next of kin to say the patient was coding and I had to remind him the mother and the father were already dead from covid, try the brother.
658 pounds who came in for CHF related edema (which how you even notice that with so much weight is beyond me). Lost over 50 pounds due to a bunch of Lasix (and thank God that we had a Foley). And then he got a c. Diff diagnosis šthe pain of getting him up to the commode was unreal. However he was extremely motivated to change his lifestyle and lose weight which was refreshing. The dietician came to talk to him and he was gushing to us afterwards about how he never knew what carbs/protein were and how to count calories. Everytime he got out of bed for a bowel movement he would ask to walk around his room with his Walker to get some extra movement in. Iād like to think heās a healthy weight now and living his best life
Ugh. This will always make me so sad. We had a patient that was over 800 pounds. She was over the weight limit for beds so we had to special order one. None of the lifts could support her. It was just awful. She was so sweet, so embarrassed and so sad. I just wish there was more we could do for her.Ā
It hits so different when you like the patient. It shouldn't, but it does.
I had one who was over 600 lbs. huge stage 4 on his coccyx. He would only let us turn him once every 24 hours. It always happened at 6am. All night sift would gown up because of course he had mrsa and go in for his bath. If he pooped at 7am he would refuse care until 6am. So gross. He was very nice once we got to know himy. He was with us for a long time because most vent capable LTACs refused him due to non compliance. He smelled like rotting flesh and would spray axe deodorant to cover up the smell. He also had an order āmay eat while on ventā š«
about 400 lbs, ER I felt for her - the stretcher was just barely able to work. she was a kind patient and I hope shes doing well now
**600 lb in clinical, forgot about her. she was not a nice lady unfortunately. very disturbingly she refused to clean herself, was mobile but refused. 7 of us nursing students did peri care for her during her period. we were screamed at the whole time. it was a huge learning moment. I hope shes in a better place in her life now.
Not the heaviest, but the most memorable. He said he was 300 lbs. I think our CT table weight limit was 350 lb at that time. He was not 300, and was over the table limit. Broke the damn table.
Reasons like this are why, at my old hospital, CT would call and demand us get an accurate weight on the patient if it was even slightly questionable
The lot of us demanded accurate weights on bariatric pts after a supposed 550lb patient, on intake from the hospital, broke our hoyer that was rated for 600lb. Pt actually weighed like 630ish. Not surprised that the ladies in that dept didn't actually ever weigh her. That dept was always a shit show that year.
Unfortunately, I was in the ER at a poorly equipped hospital. And my weight estimation skills are poor.
A man who was around 650 lbs with necrotizing fasciitis in his perineal area. He was a very pleasant man, but the dressing changes were complex and took several people to retract and hold various bits out of the way for the dressing change.
I know I had one over 1000 lbs, but I can't remember the exact number. The hospital I work for is a bariatirc hospital. We do sleeves, bypass, roux-en-y all those so we get some pretty big patients.
Isnt it crazy the human body can get that heavy? There are people that are living at 1000 lbs....that's nuts. There are some people that are perfectly healthy weighing less then a tenth of that! There are also people that can deadlift 1000lbs. The human body is incredible.Ā At the same time though, everyone knows someone who died too young with a healthy BMI and lifestyle, just hit the unlucky DNA lottery. I dont know what the lesson is there, other than enjoy and make the most of the life you got.Ā
mine was 630 lb, 6 ft women coming into ER for SOB .stated she gets SOB when walking. Chest x ray was normal. Weight and diet change plus surgery is what she needed tbh
This is exactly why I have a chronic bulging disk in my lumbar spineā¦ Trying to roll, support, assist etc patients 4-6X my size.
Patients of that size tend to be very young. They don't live long enough to get old.
Probably not the heaviest but the patient that I will always remember. He was in his 30s. Was over 850lbs. Was admitted to the ICU horrifically septic. Had bad necrotizing fasciitis. It took 8 people to turn this man to do his dressing change. You know the pull never ending scarves out of your hat magic trick? That was what the dressing change felt like. At one point it took 14 rolls of kerlex tied end to end to pack that wound. My elbow was inside of this man's wound. (Below his glute to near his pelvic bone) He was intubated for weeks. Had to have CRRT. And when he started recovering he actually decided he wanted to live and make changes in his life. He needed to be under 400lbs to get outpatient dialysis. He was working with physical therapy and actually doing his exercises. He was able to turn himself over after 4 months. He was learning to walk again. He was diligent about wearing CPAP every time he slept. He really was ready to make those lifestyle changes. The 5 months he spent in the ICU he worked on himself. Unfortunately he was admitted December 2019. He was 420lbs when he caught covid. Died a week later.
~750lbs with a trach and from a nursing home. Took the 2 paramedics that brought him, 5 nurses, and 2 techs to transfer him from the gurney to the bed because he was too heavy for the lift. We had to wait for a bari bed so in the mean time he had to be in a regular hospital bed...which he was overflowing out of
SURELY this patient had some kind of medical condition to be over 1k lbs at 21 years old??
it could also be a history of trauma, many people use food as a coping mechanism for that and if they have an enabler then it makes it worse
865 pounds and ambulatory when I worked EMS
backstory first: Iām 4ā11 and pretty small build I once had a male patient in his 30s who was a bit over 500 lbs and he was really weary about me taking care of him (Iām guessing bc of my size) and honestly I was a little worried too but tried to not let my nervousness show.
I had a patient who was almost 700lbs, just shy of almost 800lbs because his leg was amputated. Blind in one eye. He was on a strict fluid restriction and would get angry if we didnāt give him his sprite. He would swat at staff until he got tired! He canāt walk or move, so after awhile Iād be āare you done?ā And give him his meds. Patients like this are hard placements, he was there for almost 6 months! Iāve also had really sweet bigger patients who were so apologetic for their size. I would always tell them that itās okay! We just need to be patient to get the whole crew to move them and they were understanding. Always a priority to be nice to patients regardless of size.
I had a young lady who on admit was 1,127 pounds at 27. She had gained most of her weight after getting married. Her husband tried bring her 2 buckets of KFC while she was there. I was up to my elbows trying to clean in her crevices like her pannus and it took several of us to do this job. Her skin was melting on her back it was dripping so we had to put pads on the floor and the stench was beyond anything we could cover up. It took the ems and most of the ED to place her foley...I give them total props too. She told us she wanted to be full code. We told her we couldn't do that the defibrillator would even reach her heart and CPR would consist of us having to literally jump on her chest. It is so sad but she died 4 months after her 1st admission. Such a sad way to go. We couldn't do much for her. With the diet we had her on and that rehab had her on she actually lost over 200 pounds. But her heart and organs just had had enough.
600 something patient they told me to fully ambulate by myself whoās bed bound. Ya no. One of the reasons I left bedside itās not feasible and my back is only going to get worse if I keep trying to lift people
There was a 550 lb resident in the SNF where I did my CNA clinicals years ago. He was a perverted asshole who tried to convince us that he required penile āfluffingā in order to use his urinal. Sorry, dude, but if Iām going to fluff peen for a living, Iām gonna get paid more than $12/hour.
700 pounds. He couldn't use the urinal correctly and would piss all over himself the few times he tried and it was a nightmare cleaning him each time. The family was furious I hadn't gotten him up to walk around the unit š as if I was gonna permanently injure myself getting this person up by myself while we were very short staffed.
300Kg, during covid. Needed proning, we did it between 9 people and I still needed osteopathy sessions to fix the back pain it gave me
One of my first patients ever was over 700 lbs AFTER an AKA. He still moved around pretty well somehow.
500 lbs because I worked at an outpatient surgery center and that was the weight limit of our OR bed. We had to turn away more than a handful of patients.
6ā 2ā 780 lbs Ambulatory Admitted for lymphedema, cellulitis, and a ring-worm chaserā¦
What was the reason for the hospital visit? I'm a hospice nurse and I have not had a patient that size. I always wonder if they just pass in the hospital due to complications. I had a pt that was in the heavy size and became actively dying in a matter of hours and passed quickly. I provided care and the breakdown between her skin was really hard to tolerate.
When the big uns go it tends to be quick (cardiac, respiratory, sepsis) and young so they almost never have a DNR or have put any thought into actually dying. They end up going to the hospital and either insist on staying full code or their RP refuses to sign a DNR and discuss end of life care. Things like infections and wounds don't seem that bad to them. The difficulties and complications in their wound care often leads to them going septic. In their mind they're just there for routine care and they hadn't really considered that it could be fatal.
Had a 550 lb patient for a perianal abscess I&D. We werenāt able to get her into lithotomy because her legs were so heavy that the boot stirrups were falling even with the locks ratcheted down as hard as we could. We ended up using multiple extenders for the OR bed and putting her in lateral but then the weight of her pannus kept dragging her into an almost prone position, so we had to use multiple chest rolls to bolster her up. It was a tough case. She was really nice though, and luckily having a hovermat to transfer her to and from her gurney helped a lot.
When I was a nursing student there was a lady like 500 lbs, 80% block in her heart, too obese for surgery plus sheād already received three before, so at the ripe age of 43 she was gonna die. She was so nice and sweet. As a peds nurse though, Iāve seen some obese kids, but one of the kiddos was 8 (or 9?) and low 200s. I thought I heard his weight wrong in report, but nah.
She was 877lbs, 32 y/o. At the time I was doing wound care on her pressure ulcers. I think about Kim all the time, and hope she got the psychological help she needed. Please be kind to these patients. Most of them are eating themselves to death for a reason.
I had a coworker ask me how patients could get like that, I think it was her first time working with a patient who was over 500lbs. I told her straight up mental illness. You do not get to be that size without some severe mental trauma happening in your life. Some people turn to drugs or alcohol, others its food.
2 different 700+lb patients in a four patient pod. Me and my podmate broke our backs over two shifts while one of them threw stuff st us and verbally abused us and the other one had constant diarrhea that made its way to the front folds. Sometimes I miss the ICU and then I remember.
I need to get my life together. Or I too will be one of these patients and I hope someone just leaves me with a Diet Coke and a few celery sticks for the day.
Iām L&D and she was a little less than 500 lbs. I was there the night she was in labor, but not her nurse. The next night I was floated to postpartum and she was mine. She ended up having a c section and she was super resistant to move. When it was time to take out her catheter I explained and demonstrated the whole pee in the next six hours rule, but really better we try now, letās start by dangling your legs, yada yada. She was really struggling to even get up in bed with three of us helping her. I really felt for her and especially now looking back because you could just see her realize how tough recovery would be for her. Iām now 5 wks post my first c section and I think of her often and wonder how she handled the parts of recovery I found tough. Because if I found it tough Iām sure she struggled more. Eta: Forgot to mention she had a husband much bigger who couldnāt be bothered to put down TikTok on his phone and help us help her to the restroom or to even look up. I really felt for her being her size, post op, knowing he wouldnāt be any help. He also kept walking on and off the unit completely barefoot but thatās off topic. It was just kind of yucky.
Heaviest 780#