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Student Nurses Reveal The Craziest Thing That Ever Happened To Them During Training.

1. Once I went to go check on an elderly woman in a nursing home and I walked in on poop completely smeared on every wall in the bathroom and all on the floor. She was sitting there smiling. Welcome to nursing!

monica_geller

2. I was taking care of a patient with late stage parkinsons disease who was bedridden. He suffered from really bad contractures which means his arms were rigidly immobilized and he barely had use of his legs. The facility had him in a brief (aka an adult diaper) and my fellow student and I were in charge of changing him after he pooped all over himself that morning. There was feces everywhere, and it seemed to take forever to get him completely cleaned up. Just as we thought we were finished, the man stopped us. He asked if we would put lotion on his testicles and pull down his foreskin over his penis before we finished. The other student and I looked at each other in panic, but we had no choice than to do what he said because he obviously couldnt do it himself. Thanks to nursing school, I can now say I have lotioned up an elderly mans balls and wrestled his foreskin into submission all in the name of learning.

kati471316fa9

3. The bullying and the way student nurses are completely ignored. My first ever placement my mentor didnt even talk to me for the first 2 weeks. Many days didnt even stop for a break during shifts. Nursing in the UK is in a really bad place, we need to protect our student nurses and stamp out the bullying. Not many students are making it to graduation between money and conditions. We should all be very worried for what the future holds for nursing care in the NHS.

omegawolf8

4. Hello I am a third year nursing student!

Well for starters, every day is crazy. But this one time I was caring for an elderly patient who did not have much control of her bowels.

With a little help from another nurse, we lifted this patient up in an overhead sling to provide some cleaning to her bottom. This is normally a time when patients do have a bowel movement due to the more upright position that they are in. Just as we are about to lower the lift I hear a rippling sound come out of her backside and quickly step out of the way just in time to (Continued)


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dodge the missile of [poop] that came shooting out of her rectum. Of course, I kept composed and did not laugh or make any rude gestures towards her but I was dying on the inside, like literally dying.

Kaileydodd

5. On my first day on my first placement as a student nurse, I was looking after a dementia patient, and no one told me he had a fake eye. I was horrified when he pulled his eye out of its socket and rolled it down the corridor. I went running after it to give it back to him he washed it in his orange juice and put it back in his socket while I stood there in surprise. Later that week, the same man threw a bowl of soup at me. It was still hot. My reflexs got a lot better after that.

Laurenc4f2c3d039

6. A confused elderly lady once cupped my balls, kissed me on the cheek, and giggled like a school girl while I checked her back and bottom for pressure sores. I couldnt face what might happen if I did an ECG so had to beg another student to do it.

stephenj48c7e7e31

7. Had a cellphone shoved up my bum hole while i was changing his plasters from surgery. i was the one who needed surgery after that.

nipple

8. I answered a call bell pressed by a patient I had assisted onto a commode thinking he was finished, instead he said he needed some help and asked me to massage his poo out for him.

ronandex

9. I once had a patient who was a 10/10 for pain. When I asked if there was anything else I could get for him, he said you could slap me on my ass and get me going! 10/10 pain my ass.

kfunk

10. One day when I was on my endoscopy rotation we had a patient who had radiation proctitis as a result of prostate cancer treatment and required a procedure about once a year to alleviate the symptoms. (Continued)


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Anyway, he has the procedure and is wheeled back to post op. He tells me he needs to poop. I reassure him, and tell him its just the air they pumped into his colon for the procedure. (Id been in the room with him for the procedure and his colon was definitely empty!). I hooked him up to a monitor and head off to check on someone else. About 15 min later the buzzer in the toilet goes off. As I head down the corridor, I notice that this guys bed is empty. Opening the door to the toilet, Im greeted with bloody fluid all over the floor, up the walls, and into the centre cubicle where my patient is sitting on the toilet looking a bit sheepish. Sorry Nurse, I seem to have made a bit of a mess!

It took us half an hour to clean up. He was ok too, nothing major had happened - he went back for a rescope and was kept in overnight for observation.

esmebium

11. We were learning how to do dressing changes at a local nursing home. Mr. Smith had a non-healing skin lesion on his chest that turned out to be skin cancer. It ended getting so bad that his chest wall, skin, muscle tissue, and sternum eroded away. Essentially he would sit in the corner of his room and you could see the pulsation of his heart through the big, pink hole in his chest. Our brilliant nursing instructor tried to teach us how to change a dressing, but forgot to dilute the cleaning solution before switching out for the new gauze. She essentially soaked gauze in undiluted bleach and stuffed it onto his heart. He lived. She got fired.

jennyh2

12. Just a little background, if placement where I am isnt NHS they can be a bit funny about leaving you on your own because they dont think our trainings good enough, so we usually dont get left alone, particularly with patients with challenging behaviour.

I was sat with a patient having lunch surrounded by staff and other patients, this particular patient wasnt very happy with their options, cup and plate went flying, staff scattered, no one presses the alarm and I get punched and scratched in the neck while the patient grabs my top. Im left being held by the top, looking like Ive wet myself covered in their drink and trying to find a member of staff to help me out. No one turned up and Im still being held so I decided to strap in and deal with the situation myself, by the time a member of staff shows up to help; the patients calm, Ive been released, were chatting, my legs are feeling very cold and I get told off for being alone with a patient.

Shiftsgotmetired

13. My patient rang his bell saying he needed the toilet. As soon as he stood up (Continued)


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the floodgates, front and back opened. Luckily I had a pad on me, what I didnt know as a student was that pads werent designed to capture free flowing liquid straight away. At this point I was on my knees panicking and praying it wouldnt get on my face because it kept going and going and going. Lets just say my late shift couldnt have ended any worse.

katrinaa47dd0dc38

14. Whilst doing the morning wash round, an elderly gentleman asked me for a wash bowl and a razor. I thought this was pretty weird as he didnt have any facial hair but gave him it anyway. A few minutes later i popped my head in to ask if everything was okay and to my horror he had one knee up to his shoulder and was shaving his balls. He just carried on and started a conversation like it was nothing.

Thunderkitten

15. I trained as a midwife so slightly different, but I was once performing a vaginal examination on a client at the exact moment her membranes ruptured (waters broke).

It was like a log flume, my clothes were soaked through- right down to my underwear! I had to change into some highly attractive paper pants we give to women postnatally?

aimeeh4d991477b

16. Used to be a student aide in a nurses office in a middle school. One of my kids hands me a bag with his clothes in it and asks me to carry it around for him while I was chaperoning him for the day (he had seizures). Well, I started smelling crap. It was not from the common core crap they have now I asked him did you have an accident in your pants bud? He said no, in the clothes you have in the bag I did though. I about died. Ill never hold a bag for another kid again lol.

dycinsmommy830

17. I was looking after a child who had been putting push pins into a nerf gun and using it to pop balloons. I guess one of the pins got stuck so he turned it round to look down the barrel and Yeah. Pin in the eye.

tammyf10

18. I was on ward round on a urology Ward. They doctor told me prior to going into a patients room that the patient actually had a (Continued)


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hydrocele (sack of fluid that firms around the testicular area). I had no idea what this was but nodded along politely and when into the room. The patient whips his pants down without a being prompted and revealed that I can only describe as a space hopper between his legs. I was in stunned silence and dont know where to look. Reminded me of Randy Marsh in that South Park episode!

jamesh4143d3ae2

19. There was a physio on the ward and doing exercises with a patient; specifically squats and this lady just took a massive dump in the middle of the ward. All the other patients got up and left the ward space.

annamerisf

20. As a student you are expected to do a community placement, I was with the district nurses (nurse who come to your house if you are unable to reach your gp surgery) from November to Febuary.

In the 2 weeks before christmas the whole nursing team bought the same christmas jumper and worse tinsel in their hair. My mentor and myself adore christmas and strung fairy lights in the car as it was our office and the regular patients we saw we couldnt resist the temptation to sing christmas carols as we knocked on their door before going in to treat them. We got so many mince pies and chocolates in those few weeks! Yum yum!

charliloubear

21. I was once placing a urinary catheter in a male patient with dementia. Halfway through the procedure, he raised his hand, put a hand on each boob and left them there. I asked him to let go but he wasnt complying. I could do nothing about it as I was gloved up at the time with lubricant all over my gloves, and there were no other nurses within calling distance. So I spent the next ten minutes finishing off the procedure, with his hands on my boobs.

stephr4a808c006

22. When I was a student nurse I worked on a long stay ward for people with learning disabilities who had mental health problems. One afternoon I was charged with dishing up dinner. Every other day there had been gravy to go with the food but on this particular day there wasnt, instead there was a (Continued)


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creamy sauce. There was no dessert either

I dished up and poured the sauce on the food. Half way through, one lady said I dont like semolina Turned out, Id put the semolina dessert all over the cauliflower bake!! Oooops.

knebworthkate

23. My strangest delivery (I was a student midwife) was dealing with a concealed pregnancy where no one in the family knew the girl was pregnant. The girl had gone to A&E with her mum after telling her that she had twisted/broken her ankle but she was actually in labour. The whole time in the delivery room, the girl was in denial and her mother was crying. It was by far the strangest and most awkward experience of my life.

nataliedun

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.