Gross Things I Have Eaten

[docB]

Now that's a great name for an EM thread!

It occured to me when I was lurking in the nutrition room at 2 am last night. The cafeteria was closed, vending machines broken, no box lunches left. There was, however, a dried up, old piece of pizza in a box on top of the fridge that I'm pretty sure had only been there 1 or 2 days. It actually wasn't that bad with some squeeze packs of mustard and cold coffee. Don't judge me! You've all been there!

So what's the lowest you've sunk to? Extra points for eating off a patient's tray.

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[DrQuinn]

When I was a bus-boy at the Olive Garden, they never gave us breaks, and I always forgot to eat before I came into work. I have, on more than one occasion, scarfed down a chicken parmigiana that a patron never ate.

Q

 

[Chronic Student]

Mike hangs head.

I will admit that on one of those marathon trauma call, choppers won't stay on the ground kind of weekends, that I surrepitiously [sp?] took a sandwich off of the nutrition cart which was in the hallway up on one of the floors.

I even totally got busted by one of the dietary people. Luckily, she just smiled and didn't say anything.

Look, we had been operating for about 16 hours more or less continuously and were about to head back into the OR for another case.

I'm not proud of it but, in all fairness, the sandwich sucked.

BTW, how do you screw up a sandwich. Do they have some evil device that steals all the flavor molecules or what?

-Mike

 

[Apollyon]

BTW, how do you screw up a sandwich? Do they have some evil device that steals all the flavor molecules or what?

-Mike

When I was a resident, we were noted for our turkey sandwiches - but it was a one-trick pony - in the vein of the "Henry Ford - 'any color as long as it is black' " motif. No other options. As it was, I never - ever - had one.

Now, as an attending, my qualms against raiding the beverages and sandwiches are all gone (and, also, beyond graham crackers, we also have the Smuckers peanut butter now - score!), and I hit it with gusto. When I was sick, I needed to continuously hydrate, and, since I didn't/couldn't have champagne at work, on Sunday morning, I made "mini-mosas" - ginger ale and orange juice. Tasty. Add some cranberry juice for variety. As for the sandwiches, they all have either mayo or cheese on them, except for one - the PB&J. Although there was a quality control problem (in re: variable amounts of PB and J on each one), still, these were tasty, tasty.

I've never - so far - had the galley be empty, and the machines devoid of stuff. (Knock on wood/my head.)

 

[FoughtFyr]

When you are really craving something sweet I've heard that a packet or two of non-dairy creamer mixed into a packet of hot chocolate with a little bit of water comes pretty close to a chocolate pudding. {Not that I would know! }

- H

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I made "mini-mosas" - ginger ale and orange juice. Tasty. Add some cranberry juice for variety.

The addition of cranberry juice would effectively make it a virgin Tequila Sunrise.....

So what's the lowest you've sunk to? Extra points for eating off a patient's tray.

I actually asked a patient "Are you going to eat that?" in regards to a cellophane wrapped BBQ pseudorib sandwich on his tray that he had pushed to the side. In my defense this was during a snowstorm and I had been on duty for 20+ hrs.

 

[spyderdoc]

I lived off of Ensure during my MICU and SICU Q2 call rotations. Man, I sure get flashbacks when I go to Costco and see that stuff being sold by the case....

Can't count how many saltines and graham crackers I've eaten....We always seem to have boxes of those things laying around all the time....

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I lived off of Ensure during my MICU and SICU Q2 call rotations.

I'd rather resort to cannibalism. That stuff is nasty.

 

[Apollyon]

I'd rather resort to cannibalism. That stuff is nasty.

On my trauma rotation as a resident, I was on with a surgery resident. He would put vanilla Ensure over ice, and thought it was the cat's pajamas. The guy had the highest ABSITE (Surgery inservice) score at Duke - overall, all takers - as an intern and as a second year, so he was doing something right.

 

[Chronic Student]

Cats wear pajamas!

Who knew.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

On my trauma rotation as a resident, I was on with a surgery resident. He would put vanilla Ensure over ice, and thought it was the cat's pajamas. The guy had the highest ABSITE (Surgery inservice) score at Duke - overall, all takers - as an intern and as a second year, so he was doing something right.

Maybe if I mixed it with something but it reminds me of liquid antacid in taste and texture.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Cats wear pajamas!

Who knew.

Yes, but the hard part is getting them on said cat. If not careful one can wind up in the ED in need of a tetanus booster and multiple stitches.

 

[MirrorTodd]

I've eaten some questionable M.R.E.'s before, not to mention the local Iraqi food where you find goat hairs and god knows what else in there.

 

[a_ditchdoc]

I have to admit that I have had lung soup, and grilled lung (unknown animal)and onion on Pita bread. Likewise, I think I may have eaten a primate before... When you are hungry, you are hungry.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I have to admit that I have had lung soup, and grilled lung (unknown animal)and onion on Pita bread. Likewise, I think I may have eaten a primate before... When you are hungry, you are hungry.

*waits patiently for a_ditchdoc to develop CJD*

 

[Wackie]

I once had some green vegetables.

:shudder:

 

[Apollyon]

Cats wear pajamas!

Who knew.

Well, aren't you the "bee's knees"? You must be over the moon!

(I have more idioms in reserve.)

 

[beyond all hope]

I have taken meals from intubated patients' trays...after all, they won't be eating that scrumptous barbequed chicken.

As for disgusting, I've raided the ICU fridge at 3 am and eaten...anything. Old donuts, old pizza. I once rammed down a block of cheese. Urggh.

I have eaten a sandwich while watching a thoracotomy. I've eaten several sandwiches on the way to the trauma bay. Considering that's only forty feet and I have to get into gown/shield/booties at the same time or so I'd call that an accomplishment. Slurp.

 

[beanbean]

Well, aren't you the "bee's knees"? You must be over the moon!

(I have more idioms in reserve.)

Not to divert the thread, but my 96 yo great-aunt used to call anything that was a particularly nasty color "goggrum gray: that's the color of a cat's ass after midnight" Probably describes a fair amount of the food items eaten in the middle of the night on call.

 

[FISKUS]

During my intern year, The VA food servive always seemed to be the last to know that a patient had died until the next day. All you would have to do for a free dinner or lunch tray is find out who died that day and go to their unit kitchen

 

[docB]

During my intern year, The VA food servive always seemed to be the last to know that a patient had died until the next day. All you would have to do for a free dinner or lunch tray is find out who died that day and go to their unit kitchen

Bad karma!

 

[Chronic Student]

During my intern year, The VA food servive always seemed to be the last to know that a patient had died until the next day. All you would have to do for a free dinner or lunch tray is find out who died that day and go to their unit kitchen

That is sooo wrong!

Mike taps foot, waiting on the lightning bolts

-Mike

 

[glitteringfairy]

When I worked in a pizza shop, I used to make the most disgusting concoctions possible to stop my family from stealing slices of it after I took it home. My all-time favourite? Prawns, mushrooms, egg (its an Australian thing, lol) and chilli flakes!

 

[Dr. Dukes]

In the middle of a very very bad snowstorm (one ambulance ran out of gas going to/from hospital and highways) I was forced to, on one occasion, take a bag of powdered hot coco and eat (?) it without any liquid. I've also resorted to dissolving said hot coco in diet sprite and stirring it with graham crackers. The former is just weird, and leaves your teeth a little brown (weird looks from patients who's car you just mutilated with the jaws) but the latter is actually quite scrumptions given the circumstances.

 

[SoCuteMD]

In the middle of a very very bad snowstorm (one ambulance ran out of gas going to/from hospital and highways) I was forced to, on one occasion, take a bag of powdered hot coco and eat (?) it without any liquid. I've also resorted to dissolving said hot coco in diet sprite and stirring it with graham crackers. The former is just weird, and leaves your teeth a little brown (weird looks from patients who's car you just mutilated with the jaws) but the latter is actually quite scrumptions given the circumstances.

When I went to summer camp we were there for 7.5 weeks, with just one visiting day (parents) in the middle. If you were 12 or younger, you almost never got to leave the camp grounds and go anywhere that involved a grocery store. My first summer I was 12, and my parents and I believed the whole "Do NOT bring food, cash, or anything" line. So I had no food and no money for the rare occasion that we convinced our counselors to let us order pizza, and never got a chance to get anything until visiting day. When my parents came for visiting day they brought lots of snacks and some hot chocolate powder (mornings are cold in Maine, even in the summer). I would make myself hot chocolate with breakfast most AMs. In a few weeks I had run out of everything but the hot chocolate powder, which my bunkmates taught me to eat straight out of the packet. It's an acquired taste, but will satisfy a desire for something sweet. We also used to eat lemonade mix straight.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Hell, the powder mixes in MREs are the best part, even without mixing them into anything.

 

[EMT2RN2MD]

Crow.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Crow.

Chipmunk.

 

[EMT2RN2MD]

Crow.

Figuratively.

 

[Seaglass]

I once drank some orange juice from the peds fridge in the ED; apparently orange juice is not as popular with the kiddos as apple juice or fruit punch. I should have known something was up when it exploded as I shook it up - I just assumed I was squeezing it too tight. Lets just say wild orange juice fermentation does not result in a tasty product. I could only drink two.

 

[wrested]

During my year as a foreign exchange student in Mexico I tried tacos de seso ... brain tacos (pig, I think). Mmmmmm. I'm still waiting for the CJD to kick in.


I don't happen to think that hot chocolate powder could possibly be considered "gross". It's still a "normal" food, just a bit dehydrated.

 

[Jeff698]

Yeah, but have y'all snorted your dad?

Take care,
Jeff

 

[Tired Pigeon]

A personal low point came for me during gross dissection: a stale, funky cream-filled donut from my locker, held in my left hand, while digging fat out of the ischioanal fossa with my right hand.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Chipmunk.

Literally.

 

[crewmaster1]

I've had the great brain tacos at some small "taco bus" located in the Hispanic area of my city. They also serve some great tongue and cheek tacos, pretty tender.

Just got back from South Africa where I had the chance to eat some worm/caterpillar looking things. And they sure love tripe (intestine) down there.

With regards to the graham crackers...crumble them up, pour them in a cup and then add some chocolate milk. It's pretty darn good, a great pick-me-up on a long call night!

 

[wrested]

They also liked tripe in Mexico - I think I blocked that one out. I also had chile-coated roasted grasshoppers in Oaxaca... pretty good, actually. I happen to think that mole is pretty gross - chocolate + tomato + chiles + ?? + chicken.

Anatomy lab always made me really hungry, but the worst was trying to eat a roast beef sandwich from the cafeteria (complete with veins) right after one session early in the course. I soon got over even that aversion, though. Can't say I ever ate during lab, though - that's brave.

 

[SolidGold]

Some Asian cultures like tripe too. It's not bad when it's spicy.

As for me, the worst thing I ever ate was an old opened Snickers bar that was in my white coat for about a week I think.

 

[Dr. Will]

I ate a cough drop that was sitting in my gf's abyss known as her "bag" for who knows how long, yesterday. It was cherry flavored, so red in color but had this mysterious white coating on about 1/4 of it. While my cough has improved, I have yet to develop either renal or hepatic failure. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Dr. Dukes]

I don't happen to think that hot chocolate powder could possibly be considered "gross". It's still a "normal" food, just a bit dehydrated.

Thats what I tried to tell my partner, but she wasn't buying it...

 

[wrested]

I ate a cough drop that was sitting in my gf's abyss known as her "bag" for who knows how long, yesterday. It was cherry flavored, so red in color but had this mysterious white coating on about 1/4 of it. While my cough has improved, I have yet to develop either renal or hepatic failure. I'll keep you posted.

Was it wrapped or naked in "the abyss"? Bonus points for the latter...

 

[polygonal]

My wife still makes fun of me for eating BBQ chicken feet at a dim sum place. I thought it was pretty good. Not a lot of meat on them though.

 

[lucky_deadman]

possum, hog brains and scrambled eggs, squirrel brains and I'm sure I've eaten some other stuff too. Not in the same meal either have you.

 

[doctawife]

On a similar, but side, note - I ran into an a second year resident who hadn't yet figured out how to steal food from dietary. WTF had she done during intern year? Actually gone down to the caf every time she got hungry? Yeah, not.

I took her aside and schooled her in the subtleties of 1234* (the door code), the fun of the diet Coke and PB&J sandwiches, and the joy of the chicken broth.

Silly, silly resident.

 

[ElZorro]

nutria rat- for those that don't know this is like a nasty cross of rat with beaver, they come out to about 15 lbs and look just like a rat. I killed it, skinned it, and fried myself. Perhaps I didn't not reach the proper cooking temp, or perhaps that paticular animal should never be eaten....but the fun I had for the next 48 hours! Explosive diarrhea while camping will put a damper on your wilderness adventure.

 

[sleepymed]

One time I ate a plastic fork

 

[EM2BE]

One time I ate a plastic fork

How did that work out for you?

 

[sleepymed]

Well I was having salad at the cafeteria and using a plastic fork and the salad was especially crunchy so i didn't realize i had eaten the fork until I went to take another bite and realized that it now looked more like a spoon than a fork. I am sad to say that that was not the only time that happened to me; I apparently eat with a lot of gusto!

 

[EM2BE]

Well I was having salad at the cafeteria and using a plastic fork and the salad was especially crunchy so i didn't realize i had eaten the fork until I went to take another bite and realized that it now looked more like a spoon than a fork. I am sad to say that that was not the only time that happened to me; I apparently eat with a lot of gusto!

wow...that had to have been a crunchy salad to not notice the difference...and yes, it would take a lot of gusto for that! So...does the GI tract have the ability to digest it? And this is so that I can tell parents to worry/not worry if their child does the same.

 

[geogil]

ok, so this isn't a personal experience, but I have a friend who ate toad stroganoff in Brazil. That was after the grasshopper appetizer. I kid not.

 

[LaCirujana]

I lived off of Ensure during my MICU and SICU Q2 call rotations. Man, I sure get flashbacks when I go to Costco and see that stuff being sold by the case....

Can't count how many saltines and graham crackers I've eaten....We always seem to have boxes of those things laying around all the time....

Sounds way too familiar. On trauma my intern year, I took a pretty steady diet of Boost/Boost Plus--only the chocolate is at all palatable, and only over LOTS of ice. The vanilla works if you also steal one of the little cups of orange sherbet and make a "creamsicle." The strawberry is toxic no matter what you try to do to it.