Where do I begin in today's blog...well perhaps I should say, Happy Halloween because it is Halloween...even though it does not feel remotely like Halloween to me.
As I had mentioned in my previous blog, Jim and Jack both lost their mother last week. Her visitation was this past Monday and it was extraordinary. There were flowers everywhere, and the line was out of the North chapel snaking into the South! I had to stand in line for over 30 minutes just to say goodbye and pay my final respects. I unfortunately had to miss her actual funeral mass because I was in school, but was invited to go to lunch, which was great; love Polish food!
Since the days surrounding the visitation and funeral were fairly quiet , i.e. not a lot of removals; it makes perfect sense that yesterday we were slammed. We had gotten three removals Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, and another two removals during the day on Thursday and one more Thursday night. (I had literally just gotten home and into my PJ's when Kevin called saying we had a house call). So in total we had six that day...six.
Yesterday marked day one on my five day stretch on being on call since I am taking over for Caleb this weekend. And this week marks week two of three that I will be working every. single. fucking. day. To say that I am just a little home sick is an understatement. If there is anything truly difficult about being an apprentice it is the fact that I can not see my mom and friends back home as much as I would like.
Thankfully Caleb will be taking my weekend next week so I can go home for my cousin's baby shower, and I should even be able to leave early on Friday provided the apocalypse doesn't happen...
The nice thing about having so many bodies come in, all the apprentices got an opportunity to get in an embalming. Two out of my 25 needed embalming have now been documented. (I know that I have worked on more than just my two, but have not had the chance to document them and recalling an embalming from a month ago is really hard).
One interesting fact that I learned the other day was that if you own a crypt chances are that you will have to be embalmed. Now in our state of Wisconsin, (or really any state in America for that matter), you are not required by law to be embalmed, however cemeteries may make some stipulations....such as if you have an above ground crypt. The reason for this being is that when the body starts to decompose there are a lot of fluids and gas buildup and will eventually seep from the cracks within the crypt causing a horrible odor and lots of flies to congregate.
So what I have learned this week:
- if someone related to someone who works in the death industry dies; expect a massive turn out
- I do not do well working for three weeks straight not being able to go home and see my mom
- Crypt owners should expect to be embalmed when they die
Until next time...
Friday, October 31, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
What Do You Mean It's Not Water Proof?!
Let me start off this post by taking a moment to say that just because I work in the death industry, does not make experiencing a personal death any less hard or tragic. Today my bosses Jim and Jack lost their mother, and even though I never had the chance to meet her personally, my heart is still heavy.
By working in a funeral home, you become family with everyone you work with, just because you see them literally every single day. So when someone goes through a personal tragedy, it effects us all....needless to say, the next few days, weeks,...hell even months, will be hard on us all.
Now to transition from that, to what I did today. After getting back to The Home from working a funeral with Michelle, I was told that I needed to take the remains of Mrs. S to the M.E. and to take Steve with me since he hasn't done this before. Mrs. S was the house call that Kevin and I did, where we found out after the fact that she had fractured her hip 6 months prior.
So Steve and I go to the M.E. and it goes smoothly, and we come back. I am pushing Mrs. S up to the prep room to transfer her back to a table, when David says, "Good, You're back, and you'll be going back to the M.E."
I pause a moment and ask, "Why? I hope I didn't forget anything,...I mean I have Mrs. S right here..." David said, "No...we have a removal from the M.E."
"Oh, can I take Steve with me again? He hasn't done a removal from the M.E. before"
"Sure, just hurry back"
Back to the M.E we went! This time I made sure that I had my apprenticeship license on me so I could sign off on the paperwork. As I have mentioned in previous posts, whenever we go to the M.E. to do a removal we make sure that we always have a Batesville casket liner so we can transfer the body bag onto the gurney. The transfer went as well as could be expected. I signed off on paperwork and we transferred the body onto the gurney, the body was fairly large, but nothing extremely huge. What was large though, was the sack of clothing and amount of money this individual had on them prior to death. Thankfully we got an inventory sheet and were able to head back to The Home.
Once we got back, I made sure to give Dani the small bag of valued goods so that it could be documented and locked away, she then asked who was going to help David with the embalming.
Embalming you say? I eagerly raised my hand, stating that I would love to do this so I could document my first autopsy embalming...plus Steve and Caleb both wanted to go home since they were not on call tonight or this weekend.
Changing into my scrubs I put on the 'Smurf Suit' which looks like this:
The only exception being that I don't wear the face shield since I wear glasses and we are not required to wear a hair net....and also the casket is never in the embalming room...(This photo was taken from Google).
The body was fully opened and the breast plate was taken off so we could get to the bag of organs to treat them. When embalming a body that has been autopsied, we have a special pot, or kettle, that we use to put them in. First we place a red hazardous materials bag inside the kettle, then we place the organ bag. After opening the organ bag we dumped two bottles of chemicals that would help preserve the organs, once done we replace the lid and proceed on with the embalming.
Really wish I could have taken some pictures on what I was doing because the human anatomy is really interesting! With everything removed you can see the spinal column and all the layers of fat, muscle, and skin. Since the body cavity is wide open, it makes finding the arteries for embalming (supposedly) a lot easier. Thankfully I didn't have to find them, instead David went digging (literally) around in search of them. The femoral artery, found in the legs near the groin, were fairly easy to find, but the axillary artery found in the arms near the armpit were very difficult.
While David was running the embalming fluid through the body, I had to take the special autopsy aspirator and suck up all the fluids that were pouring inside of the body cavity. Once we were done running the lines down the legs and down the arms, we had to run the line up the axillary so it would go into the face and head. Now let me remind you that during an autopsy, the skull is opened so the brain can be examined, meaning the head is now just a gaping hole. When we run the line up into the head, there is a place (and forgive me, but I can not remember what it's called) that we must pinch to prevent us getting sprayed with embalming fluid.
Once that was all done, and all the extra liquids were soaked up, I got to stuff the neck hole and work on setting the features...it was really weird to see into the mouth and not see a tongue! This time placing the eye caps proved to be really difficult because the eyeballs were basically caving in. So we finished setting the features and I was (of course) given the task of removing the organs from the kettle and layering them inside the body....joy.
In order to create our 'Satan's lasagna' ...as I so affectionately named it, we first must start off with a layer of Viserac, a powdery substance that looks like saw dust but contains formaldehyde. After a layer has been spread inside the body cavity I then began the disgusting task of bobbing for organs. I took a few deep breaths, and then a few more; psyching myself up for the disgusting adventure that I was currently embarking on.
Reaching inside the bag I began to hum loudly to myself, a tactic that I use to distract myself from something either very painful, or now, very disgusting. And I must say, it kinda worked. I grabbed a hold of a slippery mass, of what I really can't say because everything was dissected from the autopsy, and then placed it inside the body cavity. When it was layered inside I sprinkled in more Viserac, and then added in more guts. I was up to my elbow in blood and guts, and beginning to worry that there wouldn't be enough room in the cavity for everything. I asked David if the gowns were water proof because I was beginning to feel some wetness creeping up on my forearm...the answer David gave me was less than satisfactory... "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT WATER PROOF?!" seriously!!! Out of everything that should be water proof...or at least resistant, you'd think that our embalming gown would be!
Now that Satan's lasagna was finished, I was now able to suture up the body. I got to about the navel before David kicked me off of the struggle bus and took over finishing the body. If I ever felt like a failure...it was here. Where as I was struggling just to pierce the skin with the needle, David made it look effortless.
While he was finishing up suturing the body, I began to give everything a thorough cleaning and spray down with bleach. Did you know that when blood is sprayed with bleach it turns a horrible brownish green color? Once we were done (shortly before 6), we both got out of our Smurf outfits so we could change back into our work clothes.
I should say that I was not surprised, but I was, and thoroughly disgusted. After taking off my blue smock, I could see that my right forearm was covered in blood. Oh joy. Oh rapture, Oh happy day!
Needless to say, I gave my hands and forearms a deep clean and took a nice hot shower once I got back to my dorm.
So that is my story for the day. Tragic and bloody. More about the events of the funeral for Mary and the cause of death on Mr. Bloody in the days to come.
Until next time.
By working in a funeral home, you become family with everyone you work with, just because you see them literally every single day. So when someone goes through a personal tragedy, it effects us all....needless to say, the next few days, weeks,...hell even months, will be hard on us all.
Now to transition from that, to what I did today. After getting back to The Home from working a funeral with Michelle, I was told that I needed to take the remains of Mrs. S to the M.E. and to take Steve with me since he hasn't done this before. Mrs. S was the house call that Kevin and I did, where we found out after the fact that she had fractured her hip 6 months prior.
So Steve and I go to the M.E. and it goes smoothly, and we come back. I am pushing Mrs. S up to the prep room to transfer her back to a table, when David says, "Good, You're back, and you'll be going back to the M.E."
I pause a moment and ask, "Why? I hope I didn't forget anything,...I mean I have Mrs. S right here..." David said, "No...we have a removal from the M.E."
"Oh, can I take Steve with me again? He hasn't done a removal from the M.E. before"
"Sure, just hurry back"
Back to the M.E we went! This time I made sure that I had my apprenticeship license on me so I could sign off on the paperwork. As I have mentioned in previous posts, whenever we go to the M.E. to do a removal we make sure that we always have a Batesville casket liner so we can transfer the body bag onto the gurney. The transfer went as well as could be expected. I signed off on paperwork and we transferred the body onto the gurney, the body was fairly large, but nothing extremely huge. What was large though, was the sack of clothing and amount of money this individual had on them prior to death. Thankfully we got an inventory sheet and were able to head back to The Home.
Once we got back, I made sure to give Dani the small bag of valued goods so that it could be documented and locked away, she then asked who was going to help David with the embalming.
Embalming you say? I eagerly raised my hand, stating that I would love to do this so I could document my first autopsy embalming...plus Steve and Caleb both wanted to go home since they were not on call tonight or this weekend.
Changing into my scrubs I put on the 'Smurf Suit' which looks like this:
The body was fully opened and the breast plate was taken off so we could get to the bag of organs to treat them. When embalming a body that has been autopsied, we have a special pot, or kettle, that we use to put them in. First we place a red hazardous materials bag inside the kettle, then we place the organ bag. After opening the organ bag we dumped two bottles of chemicals that would help preserve the organs, once done we replace the lid and proceed on with the embalming.
Really wish I could have taken some pictures on what I was doing because the human anatomy is really interesting! With everything removed you can see the spinal column and all the layers of fat, muscle, and skin. Since the body cavity is wide open, it makes finding the arteries for embalming (supposedly) a lot easier. Thankfully I didn't have to find them, instead David went digging (literally) around in search of them. The femoral artery, found in the legs near the groin, were fairly easy to find, but the axillary artery found in the arms near the armpit were very difficult.
While David was running the embalming fluid through the body, I had to take the special autopsy aspirator and suck up all the fluids that were pouring inside of the body cavity. Once we were done running the lines down the legs and down the arms, we had to run the line up the axillary so it would go into the face and head. Now let me remind you that during an autopsy, the skull is opened so the brain can be examined, meaning the head is now just a gaping hole. When we run the line up into the head, there is a place (and forgive me, but I can not remember what it's called) that we must pinch to prevent us getting sprayed with embalming fluid.
Once that was all done, and all the extra liquids were soaked up, I got to stuff the neck hole and work on setting the features...it was really weird to see into the mouth and not see a tongue! This time placing the eye caps proved to be really difficult because the eyeballs were basically caving in. So we finished setting the features and I was (of course) given the task of removing the organs from the kettle and layering them inside the body....joy.
In order to create our 'Satan's lasagna' ...as I so affectionately named it, we first must start off with a layer of Viserac, a powdery substance that looks like saw dust but contains formaldehyde. After a layer has been spread inside the body cavity I then began the disgusting task of bobbing for organs. I took a few deep breaths, and then a few more; psyching myself up for the disgusting adventure that I was currently embarking on.
Reaching inside the bag I began to hum loudly to myself, a tactic that I use to distract myself from something either very painful, or now, very disgusting. And I must say, it kinda worked. I grabbed a hold of a slippery mass, of what I really can't say because everything was dissected from the autopsy, and then placed it inside the body cavity. When it was layered inside I sprinkled in more Viserac, and then added in more guts. I was up to my elbow in blood and guts, and beginning to worry that there wouldn't be enough room in the cavity for everything. I asked David if the gowns were water proof because I was beginning to feel some wetness creeping up on my forearm...the answer David gave me was less than satisfactory... "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT WATER PROOF?!" seriously!!! Out of everything that should be water proof...or at least resistant, you'd think that our embalming gown would be!
Now that Satan's lasagna was finished, I was now able to suture up the body. I got to about the navel before David kicked me off of the struggle bus and took over finishing the body. If I ever felt like a failure...it was here. Where as I was struggling just to pierce the skin with the needle, David made it look effortless.
While he was finishing up suturing the body, I began to give everything a thorough cleaning and spray down with bleach. Did you know that when blood is sprayed with bleach it turns a horrible brownish green color? Once we were done (shortly before 6), we both got out of our Smurf outfits so we could change back into our work clothes.
I should say that I was not surprised, but I was, and thoroughly disgusted. After taking off my blue smock, I could see that my right forearm was covered in blood. Oh joy. Oh rapture, Oh happy day!
Needless to say, I gave my hands and forearms a deep clean and took a nice hot shower once I got back to my dorm.
So that is my story for the day. Tragic and bloody. More about the events of the funeral for Mary and the cause of death on Mr. Bloody in the days to come.
Until next time.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Why Am I Doing This Again?
Today is a perfect example of me constantly asking myself, "Why the hell am I getting into this field?"
Last night, or really in the wee hours of this morning my partner Kevin called (1:30 am) to say we had a removal. I tell him I'll be there as quick as I can and get dressed. For someone who needs a good 8 hours to just function, trying to work on only two hours of sleep can be very difficult, plus I get really sick with not getting enough sleep. It's like your stomach wants to void itself, but you're really hungry, but really you just need a few more hours sleep and you'll be just Jim Dandy.
Driving through Milwaukee at 1:30 in the morning is a special kind of treat. There really isn't a whole lot of traffic and a lot of the stop lights are in their hazard flashing mode. While I was on the highway, I saw Kevin speed past me, I laughed that I was able to spot his car on the highway going 55+ mph.
We arrived at The Home and Kevin called getting more information about our removal. The person who originally called to notify us worked for a hospice. We were given the address and headed out, neither one of us totally familiar with were we were going. When we arrived to our destination Kevin and I were both royally pissed. Not once, during the informational call back, did Jim mention that this would be a house call. He told us hospice, so we all just assumed that we would be going to a hospice care center.
Since we didn't know it was a house call, we also didn't bother to bring the hugger or our house kit; and get this, this house had a three level ramp right in front of it. So Kevin and I take a moment, walking up the ramp just trying to figure out if our gurney could make the sharp turns. We then enter the home and the home hospice nurse along with the grandson and a neighbor are all there. I take a moment to introduce myself and give my condolences and the grandson, who really didn't seem much older than me, gave me a hug. I was taken aback by this gesture, but figured grief and loss makes people want to be closer to other, even if they are a stranger.
So we fill out all the necessary forms and get basic information about the deceased and the next of kin who isn't there. Kevin and I realize that neither one of us have an information brochure to give to the family so they can fill it out and bring it to their arrangement. Not the worst thing in the world but still mildly annoying.
Kevin and I were able to maneuver the gurney up the ramp and into the house, but were unable to get it inside of the room. So we had to lower the gurney onto the ground and after carefully shrouding the body, we physically carried the deceased to the gurney and strapped her in. Thankfully she was thin and frail, which made her easy to carry.
Going back down the ramp proved to be a bit difficult but we managed. Right as we are about to leave the nurse informs us that the deceased suffered a fall about six months ago, but it did not result in her death. This sent up red flags to Kevin and I because we both know that the M.E. needs to be informed of any falls, fractures, or breaks, even if it didn't result in death....and how apt that the "No" box for notify the M.E. was checked.
So as we are pulling away from the house, Kevin gives Jim a call asking if we need to make a late night trip to the M.E. to get her checked. Jim says that it can wait until morning...or until we double check the length of time from fracture, obviously if it happened a year ago we wouldn't much care. Jim also mentions that we are to be expecting another removal once we return.
After arriving back to The Home, we proceed to undress and document the body. Jim gives me a call saying that we forgot to give the hospice nurse some paperwork. I apologize profusely and tell him that we will deliver it once we are on our way to the second removal. I take a quick look at the paperwork and realize that we forgot to have the nurse sign our own internal document that we use for 'chain of custody', so it's a good thing that we are going back; and now we can give the family the informational brochure.
Kevin gives Jim a call to get the information on our second removal, and this time it's at a hospital. Ironically it is also the same hospital that Jim and Jack's mother has been staying in for the last few weeks. Their mother has been in and out of the ICU for a while now, and she was suppose to be coming home the other day, but we are all thinking that her time with us will be very limited. We got this call courtesy of Jim and Jack talking to this family who had their loved only a few rooms down from their mothers.
This removal was pretty straight forward, in and (waiting) out within a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately I didn't get home until 4:45 am and had to be back to work at 8:30. Waking up for the second time was brutal and I really started to question my sanity.
I was able to help run a funeral service at our other location, but because I didn't get much sleep, and didn't eat a decent breakfast I was getting pretty sick with low blood sugar. I didn't leave the second location until 2:30, meaning that I didn't get to eat my lunch until 3. I was not a happy camper.
That is until Mitch came in and said that he was just about to do a stoking next door!
Guess I will leave you with that just burning in your mind -cue rim shot-.
Until next time.
Last night, or really in the wee hours of this morning my partner Kevin called (1:30 am) to say we had a removal. I tell him I'll be there as quick as I can and get dressed. For someone who needs a good 8 hours to just function, trying to work on only two hours of sleep can be very difficult, plus I get really sick with not getting enough sleep. It's like your stomach wants to void itself, but you're really hungry, but really you just need a few more hours sleep and you'll be just Jim Dandy.
Driving through Milwaukee at 1:30 in the morning is a special kind of treat. There really isn't a whole lot of traffic and a lot of the stop lights are in their hazard flashing mode. While I was on the highway, I saw Kevin speed past me, I laughed that I was able to spot his car on the highway going 55+ mph.
We arrived at The Home and Kevin called getting more information about our removal. The person who originally called to notify us worked for a hospice. We were given the address and headed out, neither one of us totally familiar with were we were going. When we arrived to our destination Kevin and I were both royally pissed. Not once, during the informational call back, did Jim mention that this would be a house call. He told us hospice, so we all just assumed that we would be going to a hospice care center.
Since we didn't know it was a house call, we also didn't bother to bring the hugger or our house kit; and get this, this house had a three level ramp right in front of it. So Kevin and I take a moment, walking up the ramp just trying to figure out if our gurney could make the sharp turns. We then enter the home and the home hospice nurse along with the grandson and a neighbor are all there. I take a moment to introduce myself and give my condolences and the grandson, who really didn't seem much older than me, gave me a hug. I was taken aback by this gesture, but figured grief and loss makes people want to be closer to other, even if they are a stranger.
So we fill out all the necessary forms and get basic information about the deceased and the next of kin who isn't there. Kevin and I realize that neither one of us have an information brochure to give to the family so they can fill it out and bring it to their arrangement. Not the worst thing in the world but still mildly annoying.
Kevin and I were able to maneuver the gurney up the ramp and into the house, but were unable to get it inside of the room. So we had to lower the gurney onto the ground and after carefully shrouding the body, we physically carried the deceased to the gurney and strapped her in. Thankfully she was thin and frail, which made her easy to carry.
Going back down the ramp proved to be a bit difficult but we managed. Right as we are about to leave the nurse informs us that the deceased suffered a fall about six months ago, but it did not result in her death. This sent up red flags to Kevin and I because we both know that the M.E. needs to be informed of any falls, fractures, or breaks, even if it didn't result in death....and how apt that the "No" box for notify the M.E. was checked.
So as we are pulling away from the house, Kevin gives Jim a call asking if we need to make a late night trip to the M.E. to get her checked. Jim says that it can wait until morning...or until we double check the length of time from fracture, obviously if it happened a year ago we wouldn't much care. Jim also mentions that we are to be expecting another removal once we return.
After arriving back to The Home, we proceed to undress and document the body. Jim gives me a call saying that we forgot to give the hospice nurse some paperwork. I apologize profusely and tell him that we will deliver it once we are on our way to the second removal. I take a quick look at the paperwork and realize that we forgot to have the nurse sign our own internal document that we use for 'chain of custody', so it's a good thing that we are going back; and now we can give the family the informational brochure.
Kevin gives Jim a call to get the information on our second removal, and this time it's at a hospital. Ironically it is also the same hospital that Jim and Jack's mother has been staying in for the last few weeks. Their mother has been in and out of the ICU for a while now, and she was suppose to be coming home the other day, but we are all thinking that her time with us will be very limited. We got this call courtesy of Jim and Jack talking to this family who had their loved only a few rooms down from their mothers.
This removal was pretty straight forward, in and (waiting) out within a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately I didn't get home until 4:45 am and had to be back to work at 8:30. Waking up for the second time was brutal and I really started to question my sanity.
I was able to help run a funeral service at our other location, but because I didn't get much sleep, and didn't eat a decent breakfast I was getting pretty sick with low blood sugar. I didn't leave the second location until 2:30, meaning that I didn't get to eat my lunch until 3. I was not a happy camper.
That is until Mitch came in and said that he was just about to do a stoking next door!
I have wanted to see a stoking done for a cremation for a while now. Mitch and I went next door and he opened the retort door just enough so he could slide a long metal rake, which really looks like a gardening hoe, inside. I knelt down and peered inside the chaos that was happening. A lot of the bone fragments were glowing a fiery orange, which is good, but there was still a lot of black, meaning it wasn't fully done yet. I could see the spinal column and the thick bone mass of the rib cage and chest area. This is where Mitch began to stoke, trying to break up the bones and get them more centered inside of the inferno.
Once that was done we closed the retort door and added another thirty minutes to the cremation, just because the body was still so black. I took a deep breath, and then another one. Mitch said, "Yeah you smell that?" and I replied, "Yes...is that what the bodies smell like?" "Yes indeedy...they smell like mesquite BBQ wood chips"
And that my friends is what a burning body in a crematory smells like...burning BBQ. A lot better than it being embalmed, but about 1000 times noisier.
Here is a clip from that documentary that I keep telling you all to go watch, A Certain Kind of Death
This is how human remains are cremated.
Guess I will leave you with that just burning in your mind -cue rim shot-.
Until next time.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
DON'T POKE THE BAG!
When I was a kid, I would go to the grocery store with my mom and always had a fascination with poking the various meats that were wrapped in cellophane. This obsession became so great that my mother would say, "Don't poke the meat!"
Why I had (and let's be honest, still do) this obsession is beyond me. I think part of it was this really cool realization that there was this ewwy, gooey thing wrapped in all this cellophane and your finger wouldn't get messy by touching it.
Transfer this obsession to the funeral world and I am in 7th heaven with all the stuff I get to poke around in. Yes it's disgusting but the textures of the human anatomy is fascinating.
Remember in my last blog how I mentioned that the M.E. had to remove one of our individuals for an autopsy? Well after asking a few questions I got the low down on this guy's situation. Apparently this person had dropped dead at work, (possible cocaine abuse), and the hospital did not notify the M.E. This, unfortunately is a pretty common mistake. What is uncommon in this situation is how long it took the M.E. to get notified, which was over 10 days. Remember this is the guy who died on October 1st, and was not picked up from the hospital morgue until this past Monday, the 13th. And the only reason that the M.E. was notified was because we had called and asked about this gentleman's situation!
So a transport company that works for the M.E. came out to The Home to remove the body so that it could be autopsied, this happened yesterday. Today when I got back from setting up a visitation at our other location I was busy washing the hearse. (Oh quick side note, I got to drive the hearse today and fill it up with gas. It was the coolest thing ever!) Right as I'm finishing up, Steve and Caleb come back with the body from the M.E.
I made a comment about how they get all the fun, sewing up the body, and Caleb said that he would gladly let me in on it so he didn't have to stick around any later than he had to. Wonderful trade off! I got Caleb to finish washing the hearse and the other cars and I got the chance to practice my skills!
After changing into my scrubs, Steve and I got busy unzipping the body bags, Dani was going to supervise us. When the unveiling was complete we all did a collective groan. This guy who is over 6 feet tall and well over 250 lbs, was so bloated from all the gasses that had built up from the autopsy (and from also being dead for two weeks now), that his gut bag was protruding from his abdominal cavity.
Back when I worked on my first autopsy case with the 22 year old who had died, the kid had only been dead for less than 48 hours by the time we got him, and also he was in a lot better physical shape so his gut bag was very well hidden within his skin flaps....really no matter how I phrase that, it will just sound horribly disturbing.
Once the medical examiner is done with all they need to do with the organs and brain they place them inside a clear plastic bag, and then place that bag inside of the body cavity and then do a very quick sewing job just so that the skin flaps are held together and the bag doesn't fall out.
Because this gentleman was so large, and so very very dead, his bag was full of all the noxious gases that protrude from a human corpse.
Steve got to work the head, applying the drying spray and the silly putty. Then carefully fixing the skull cap and doing the best he could sewing the flap of skull skin back into place. While he was doing that, I was sewing up the incision on the abdomen. Dani mentioned to no poke through the bag with my needle in order to spare us all a horrible stench and messy clean up.
I started near the groin, which ironically is where it is hardest to sew because the stomach is so soft. I had to go through three different needles in order to find one sharp enough. When you're sewing through human flesh you need to just the right amount of force and leverage to get through all the layers of fat and skin, all the while being very careful not to poke yourself with the needle. Finger and hand placement is critical. ...also knowing that this individual could have died from cocaine put me on high alert because there could have been a slew of other horrible things in his blood and guts. (And this right here folks, is why we in the funeral industry are having panic attacks about Ebola going around in the United States, this is a serious safety hazard that we must face).
So I am sewing along this guy's abdomen, having to clamp it into several places just to get the skin to meet, all the while having my hand basically down into his cavity pushing down on his gut bag. Right around the belly button is when it happened. I was pressing through the skin and pulling tight on the string when all of a sudden I saw this brown liquid come seeping through the stitching I had done, and a horrible odor began to form. ...oh shit, I poked the bag.
I quickly poured some absorbing powder over the belly button, and gave a small chuckle....well at least his gut bag will go down now!
I continued to sew, getting into a rhythm of pushing and pulling through the skin, making sure everything was tight. My middle finger on my left hand became extremely tender due to a cut I had received the day before, ironically Dani mentioned that you know you're doing a good job sewing when you start to get blisters.
Thankfully I did not have to work the Bermuda Triangle of death, the place where the Y incision meets, Dani was nice enough to do that for me. So while I was finishing up, Steve was riding the struggle bus trying to sew this guy's skull skin together without his long hair getting in the way. Dani had to go back over his stitching because you could clearly see a gap between the skull and skin...had this been left like it was, all sorts of nasty liquid would have come spewing out.
I had asked Dani what would we have done to create this man's neck if he were going to be viewed, the details are a bit horrifying. Basically we would have removed the gut bag and placed it on the table between his legs. Then we would have taken some thick cotton and shoved it inside his neck hole, trying to create the structure of the neck....kind of glad that we didn't have to do that today.
When we were all done sewing we washed him off and tried to transfer him onto the portable table. Because he was originally pushed down a little on the embalming table, (to give us room to work on his head), we had to pull him back up the table.
Dani and I had to each grab underneath his arm pit and try to pull him up, while Steve pushed on his feet. ...This is where another extremely disgusting thing happened...my hand slipped under from where I was holding and I came up holding a chunk of his skin....this is what we call skin slip people! -insert gagging noises here- A bit funny how out of everything I did, saw, and smelled, this is where I begin to gag.
After that Dani was fed up with this guy so she pulled out a large white strap to help heft him onto the table. Some funeral homes have a really nice machine that will hoist bodies on and off of the embalming table, and into caskets....unfortunately we still do things the old fashion way...a surprisingly disgusting workout.
Thankfully I didn't have to stick around for clean up because I had to get out to our other location to work a visitation, and that deserves a blog all to itself, which I hope to write tomorrow after the I experience the joy of working its service and committal.
Until next time.
Why I had (and let's be honest, still do) this obsession is beyond me. I think part of it was this really cool realization that there was this ewwy, gooey thing wrapped in all this cellophane and your finger wouldn't get messy by touching it.
Transfer this obsession to the funeral world and I am in 7th heaven with all the stuff I get to poke around in. Yes it's disgusting but the textures of the human anatomy is fascinating.
Remember in my last blog how I mentioned that the M.E. had to remove one of our individuals for an autopsy? Well after asking a few questions I got the low down on this guy's situation. Apparently this person had dropped dead at work, (possible cocaine abuse), and the hospital did not notify the M.E. This, unfortunately is a pretty common mistake. What is uncommon in this situation is how long it took the M.E. to get notified, which was over 10 days. Remember this is the guy who died on October 1st, and was not picked up from the hospital morgue until this past Monday, the 13th. And the only reason that the M.E. was notified was because we had called and asked about this gentleman's situation!
So a transport company that works for the M.E. came out to The Home to remove the body so that it could be autopsied, this happened yesterday. Today when I got back from setting up a visitation at our other location I was busy washing the hearse. (Oh quick side note, I got to drive the hearse today and fill it up with gas. It was the coolest thing ever!) Right as I'm finishing up, Steve and Caleb come back with the body from the M.E.
I made a comment about how they get all the fun, sewing up the body, and Caleb said that he would gladly let me in on it so he didn't have to stick around any later than he had to. Wonderful trade off! I got Caleb to finish washing the hearse and the other cars and I got the chance to practice my skills!
After changing into my scrubs, Steve and I got busy unzipping the body bags, Dani was going to supervise us. When the unveiling was complete we all did a collective groan. This guy who is over 6 feet tall and well over 250 lbs, was so bloated from all the gasses that had built up from the autopsy (and from also being dead for two weeks now), that his gut bag was protruding from his abdominal cavity.
Back when I worked on my first autopsy case with the 22 year old who had died, the kid had only been dead for less than 48 hours by the time we got him, and also he was in a lot better physical shape so his gut bag was very well hidden within his skin flaps....really no matter how I phrase that, it will just sound horribly disturbing.
Once the medical examiner is done with all they need to do with the organs and brain they place them inside a clear plastic bag, and then place that bag inside of the body cavity and then do a very quick sewing job just so that the skin flaps are held together and the bag doesn't fall out.
Because this gentleman was so large, and so very very dead, his bag was full of all the noxious gases that protrude from a human corpse.
Steve got to work the head, applying the drying spray and the silly putty. Then carefully fixing the skull cap and doing the best he could sewing the flap of skull skin back into place. While he was doing that, I was sewing up the incision on the abdomen. Dani mentioned to no poke through the bag with my needle in order to spare us all a horrible stench and messy clean up.
I started near the groin, which ironically is where it is hardest to sew because the stomach is so soft. I had to go through three different needles in order to find one sharp enough. When you're sewing through human flesh you need to just the right amount of force and leverage to get through all the layers of fat and skin, all the while being very careful not to poke yourself with the needle. Finger and hand placement is critical. ...also knowing that this individual could have died from cocaine put me on high alert because there could have been a slew of other horrible things in his blood and guts. (And this right here folks, is why we in the funeral industry are having panic attacks about Ebola going around in the United States, this is a serious safety hazard that we must face).
So I am sewing along this guy's abdomen, having to clamp it into several places just to get the skin to meet, all the while having my hand basically down into his cavity pushing down on his gut bag. Right around the belly button is when it happened. I was pressing through the skin and pulling tight on the string when all of a sudden I saw this brown liquid come seeping through the stitching I had done, and a horrible odor began to form. ...oh shit, I poked the bag.
I quickly poured some absorbing powder over the belly button, and gave a small chuckle....well at least his gut bag will go down now!
I continued to sew, getting into a rhythm of pushing and pulling through the skin, making sure everything was tight. My middle finger on my left hand became extremely tender due to a cut I had received the day before, ironically Dani mentioned that you know you're doing a good job sewing when you start to get blisters.
I had asked Dani what would we have done to create this man's neck if he were going to be viewed, the details are a bit horrifying. Basically we would have removed the gut bag and placed it on the table between his legs. Then we would have taken some thick cotton and shoved it inside his neck hole, trying to create the structure of the neck....kind of glad that we didn't have to do that today.
When we were all done sewing we washed him off and tried to transfer him onto the portable table. Because he was originally pushed down a little on the embalming table, (to give us room to work on his head), we had to pull him back up the table.
Dani and I had to each grab underneath his arm pit and try to pull him up, while Steve pushed on his feet. ...This is where another extremely disgusting thing happened...my hand slipped under from where I was holding and I came up holding a chunk of his skin....this is what we call skin slip people! -insert gagging noises here- A bit funny how out of everything I did, saw, and smelled, this is where I begin to gag.
After that Dani was fed up with this guy so she pulled out a large white strap to help heft him onto the table. Some funeral homes have a really nice machine that will hoist bodies on and off of the embalming table, and into caskets....unfortunately we still do things the old fashion way...a surprisingly disgusting workout.
Thankfully I didn't have to stick around for clean up because I had to get out to our other location to work a visitation, and that deserves a blog all to itself, which I hope to write tomorrow after the I experience the joy of working its service and committal.
Until next time.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
24 Hour Madness
Let me begin tonight's blog by saying, "I'm alright."
...Physically, I'm alright, mentally...that is to be determined.
Yesterday on my way to work I was involved in a car accident. My first car accident actually since I have been driving. It was raining pretty hard and I was in the middle lane trying to merge into the right when I side swiped a car. Thankfully both of us were okay and my car only suffered cosmetic damage.
Eventually I made it to work and got busy doing various things. First they wanted me to work on a video and print a prayer card, but the prayer card became more involved than I had anticipated so Caleb had to step in and take over. While he was working on that I decided to find other work, and was told to set the features on a gentleman that had just been transferred into our care.
This was my second time working by myself setting the features but I felt pretty confident in what I had to do. I sprayed him down with disinfectant and placed the eye caps onto. This gentleman had facial hair, but since it was to be a closed casket with no embalming I did not have to shave him. The most difficult part about feature setting in the sealing of the mouth. I asked Dani to help supervise and give advice because this task takes a lot of hand dexterity which, when you are wearing gloves and have to not only hold the wire in place but also hold a large awkward tool for drilling, makes it very hard. (You're not actually drilling the wire into the gums, you're more or less using a tool that pounds it into the bone/hard tissue.)
So once you have the wires implanted into the upper and bottoms gums, you then must hold the jaw in place, all the while trying to twist the wires to keep the mouth shut. This part is also extremely difficult and requires dexterity, which I am beginning to build but still haven't quite mastered. Thankfully this gentleman's face was very full, so I did not have to use a lot of cotton to fill out his cheeks, nor did I need 'mouth fix' to seal his lips.
Once I was done setting the features I bathed him and washed his hair. When all was said and done I had completed a successful feature setting.
After cleaning everything up I was told to wash all the vehicles, a joyless task that becomes almost mind numbing after a while. When that was done I was finally able to eat dinner before I was to set out to our other location for a visitation.
Right as I was about to leave the parking lot, I noticed that my car was driving funny. I got out and saw that my front passenger side wheel was flat from the accident. So here I am freaking out because I need to be somewhere in 30 minutes and I have no way of getting there. I called Jim and he said to try and fix my flat and to see if Steve would be able to help. I go ask Steve, who is currently cleaning up the prep room after doing an embalming and he said he would try once he was done.
So I go out to my car and roll out my spare along with my jack. Now I have never changed a tire before but know the basic mechanics of it....did I mention that it has been raining all day? Because of course it has to raining while I'm trying to fix my flat. Thankfully I changed into my sweater that I had worn at school to preserve my work shirt for the visitation.
While I am trying to fix this flat, Caleb returns having just completed running an errand. He comes over trying to help, and immediately says that I'm doing it wrong. Apparently you need to loosen the lug nuts before you jack the car all the way up. So I try to lower it and he says not to bother since it's up. Caleb then proceeds to basically jump on the tire iron trying to get the lug nut to loosen. This is when Steve comes out and basically just stands around 'supervising' us. Because Caleb is jumping on my car, he causes it to roll off the jack. This is where I politely tell Caleb to back the fuck off my car, you've done enough.
I then try to find out where the closest tow trucking company is so that they can come out and help fix my flat. Caleb, Tweedle Dumbass, asks if I know anyone who might have a torque wrench, to which I again, politely tell him, no, I'm from fucking Stevens Point, I have no friends in Milwaukee asides you fuckers, and that is not by choice!
Eventually I get a hold of a towing company who say that they can get out within an hour and a half. AN HOUR AND A FUCKING HALF! It is already 6, I was suppose to be at our other location at 6! I call Jim and let him know, and although I can tell he is frustrated (with me or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass, I don't know) but really this whole situation is out of my control.
So Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass leave me all alone, waiting for the tow truck guy to come out and I go back inside and proceed to have the meltdown of the century. Eventually when I gain my composure I call my mom and just complain about how much being an adult sucks, and blah blah blah.
Shortly after 7 the tow truck guy comes and promptly removes my flat and attaches my spare. I watch closely how he does this so that in the future, I will not need to rely on anyone BUT MYSELF for this issue. I explain to him what happened and asked him to take a quick look my car and he says that the rim of the tire looks good and that nothing looked damaged aside cosmetic. He even recommended the same place that Jim did to get my tire fixed, which was comforting.
After paying Eric the Tow Truck Man $63 for his services, I proceed onto our other location. As I merge onto the highway I see that there is another accident and that they are loading a gentleman into the back of an ambulance. I count my lucky stars and thank the Lord that, that was not me earlier today. (Did I mention that right before I got into the accident I recited the Lord's Prayer? Yup, thank's God!)
By the time I get to our other chapel I had calmed down considerably. Everyone is asking if I'm okay and I recite my whole dramatic monologue that has been brewing inside of my head all day. Ironically I was really happy to be at work finishing this visitation because not only was this family just absolutely wonderful and sweet, it also helped me end my day on somewhat of a good note, knowing that I am doing something good instead of going back to my dorm and bitching about all the shit I had gone through.
So all that shit happened yesterday.
Today, I had to be at work at 7 to help load vans to go to churches because guess what guys, we had three funerals today! Two in the morning and one this afternoon. Once I loaded up one of the vans, we got a death call for a house visit, along with another call for a removal from a hospital.
The van that I had just loaded, had to be unloaded so we could go to the hospital and transfer this body into our care. Now this woman that we had picked up had to also be taken to the M.E. for viewing, but because we were in such a rush to get to church and do this house call, we had to drop her off at The Home, then swing around to do the house call, then drop that woman off, load up the van yet again and go to church to set up. Thankfully by this time another apprentice had come in so I did not have to go to church to set up, instead I got to take the woman from the hospital to the M.E. all by myself!
I can tell that I am becoming more adapted to Milwaukee by not having to rely on my GPS to get around all the time...and also I have been to the M.E. a bunch of times so that helps. I can also tell that they are beginning to rely on me more at work since I am doing tasks like this by myself. Normally we always have two people to do removals, but since this woman only had to be viewed I was okay to go by myself.
Whenever one goes to the M.E. one must always represent where they work with pride and dignity. Apparently I work at one of the few funeral homes that supply their apprentices and directors with name tags because the other directors (or apprentices) I ran into at the M.E. didn't have them...or were being dicks and were not wearing them.
Once I was done at the M.E. I transported the remains back to The Home and got the woman ready on the prep table for her alternative care. While this was going on, we had two guys from the M.E. come out to remove one of our bodies because guess what kids, a hospital severely fucked up on the cause of death of this individual and this gentleman needed an autopsy! Oh and let me just say that this was the gentleman who died on October 1st and we did not transfer him into our care because the family could not afford to pay us. THE FIRST OF OCTOBER! This man has been dead for over two weeks and they are just NOW catching their mistake? Seriously, what the flying FUCK goes on at these hospitals that these doctors can not give an accurate cause of death!?!?! Let us be happy that we did not embalm this man...even if we could have (which being two weeks dead and kept in a cooler makes for a very difficult embalming)
So finally all the shenanigans seem to be dying down. Jack tells me that I will be going to church to set up for the third service. Things more or less go as planned and after an hour I'm told to go back to The Home and do a delivery for one of the families that we held the service for earlier today.
One of the things I really enjoy doing are deliveries. Flowers suck, don't get me wrong, I fucking HATE flowers. They tip, they spill, you get covered in pollen, but I love talking to families and explaining the register book that we create and more or less answering any questions that they might have. This family was very sweet and helped me unload the flowers and wanted information about pre-planning their own funerals, which is pretty much the best compliment you can get knowing that your work is so great that they themselves want to come to you for their own funerals.
When I get back after the delivery I hear that Steve and Caleb have left to do a removal, after having just gotten back from doing one that was 30 minutes away. That means that we have done four removals, and I think there were two or three pending still. Regardless I'm not on call so the fucks I give are microscopic if non-existent.
And this whole time David has been in the embalming room, working on an embalming and doing alternative prep on the bodies that we have seemingly collected over the course of the day.
My biggest question is where the hell are we going to be keeping these bodies. We only have 9 tables to physically put bodies on, I think we are now entering into makeshift tables involving alternative containers and casket trucks, but I won't find that out until tomorrow when I go in.
Until next time.
...Physically, I'm alright, mentally...that is to be determined.
Yesterday on my way to work I was involved in a car accident. My first car accident actually since I have been driving. It was raining pretty hard and I was in the middle lane trying to merge into the right when I side swiped a car. Thankfully both of us were okay and my car only suffered cosmetic damage.
Eventually I made it to work and got busy doing various things. First they wanted me to work on a video and print a prayer card, but the prayer card became more involved than I had anticipated so Caleb had to step in and take over. While he was working on that I decided to find other work, and was told to set the features on a gentleman that had just been transferred into our care.
This was my second time working by myself setting the features but I felt pretty confident in what I had to do. I sprayed him down with disinfectant and placed the eye caps onto. This gentleman had facial hair, but since it was to be a closed casket with no embalming I did not have to shave him. The most difficult part about feature setting in the sealing of the mouth. I asked Dani to help supervise and give advice because this task takes a lot of hand dexterity which, when you are wearing gloves and have to not only hold the wire in place but also hold a large awkward tool for drilling, makes it very hard. (You're not actually drilling the wire into the gums, you're more or less using a tool that pounds it into the bone/hard tissue.)
So once you have the wires implanted into the upper and bottoms gums, you then must hold the jaw in place, all the while trying to twist the wires to keep the mouth shut. This part is also extremely difficult and requires dexterity, which I am beginning to build but still haven't quite mastered. Thankfully this gentleman's face was very full, so I did not have to use a lot of cotton to fill out his cheeks, nor did I need 'mouth fix' to seal his lips.
Once I was done setting the features I bathed him and washed his hair. When all was said and done I had completed a successful feature setting.
After cleaning everything up I was told to wash all the vehicles, a joyless task that becomes almost mind numbing after a while. When that was done I was finally able to eat dinner before I was to set out to our other location for a visitation.
Right as I was about to leave the parking lot, I noticed that my car was driving funny. I got out and saw that my front passenger side wheel was flat from the accident. So here I am freaking out because I need to be somewhere in 30 minutes and I have no way of getting there. I called Jim and he said to try and fix my flat and to see if Steve would be able to help. I go ask Steve, who is currently cleaning up the prep room after doing an embalming and he said he would try once he was done.
So I go out to my car and roll out my spare along with my jack. Now I have never changed a tire before but know the basic mechanics of it....did I mention that it has been raining all day? Because of course it has to raining while I'm trying to fix my flat. Thankfully I changed into my sweater that I had worn at school to preserve my work shirt for the visitation.
While I am trying to fix this flat, Caleb returns having just completed running an errand. He comes over trying to help, and immediately says that I'm doing it wrong. Apparently you need to loosen the lug nuts before you jack the car all the way up. So I try to lower it and he says not to bother since it's up. Caleb then proceeds to basically jump on the tire iron trying to get the lug nut to loosen. This is when Steve comes out and basically just stands around 'supervising' us. Because Caleb is jumping on my car, he causes it to roll off the jack. This is where I politely tell Caleb to back the fuck off my car, you've done enough.
I then try to find out where the closest tow trucking company is so that they can come out and help fix my flat. Caleb, Tweedle Dumbass, asks if I know anyone who might have a torque wrench, to which I again, politely tell him, no, I'm from fucking Stevens Point, I have no friends in Milwaukee asides you fuckers, and that is not by choice!
Eventually I get a hold of a towing company who say that they can get out within an hour and a half. AN HOUR AND A FUCKING HALF! It is already 6, I was suppose to be at our other location at 6! I call Jim and let him know, and although I can tell he is frustrated (with me or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass, I don't know) but really this whole situation is out of my control.
So Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass leave me all alone, waiting for the tow truck guy to come out and I go back inside and proceed to have the meltdown of the century. Eventually when I gain my composure I call my mom and just complain about how much being an adult sucks, and blah blah blah.
Shortly after 7 the tow truck guy comes and promptly removes my flat and attaches my spare. I watch closely how he does this so that in the future, I will not need to rely on anyone BUT MYSELF for this issue. I explain to him what happened and asked him to take a quick look my car and he says that the rim of the tire looks good and that nothing looked damaged aside cosmetic. He even recommended the same place that Jim did to get my tire fixed, which was comforting.
After paying Eric the Tow Truck Man $63 for his services, I proceed onto our other location. As I merge onto the highway I see that there is another accident and that they are loading a gentleman into the back of an ambulance. I count my lucky stars and thank the Lord that, that was not me earlier today. (Did I mention that right before I got into the accident I recited the Lord's Prayer? Yup, thank's God!)
By the time I get to our other chapel I had calmed down considerably. Everyone is asking if I'm okay and I recite my whole dramatic monologue that has been brewing inside of my head all day. Ironically I was really happy to be at work finishing this visitation because not only was this family just absolutely wonderful and sweet, it also helped me end my day on somewhat of a good note, knowing that I am doing something good instead of going back to my dorm and bitching about all the shit I had gone through.
So all that shit happened yesterday.
Today, I had to be at work at 7 to help load vans to go to churches because guess what guys, we had three funerals today! Two in the morning and one this afternoon. Once I loaded up one of the vans, we got a death call for a house visit, along with another call for a removal from a hospital.
The van that I had just loaded, had to be unloaded so we could go to the hospital and transfer this body into our care. Now this woman that we had picked up had to also be taken to the M.E. for viewing, but because we were in such a rush to get to church and do this house call, we had to drop her off at The Home, then swing around to do the house call, then drop that woman off, load up the van yet again and go to church to set up. Thankfully by this time another apprentice had come in so I did not have to go to church to set up, instead I got to take the woman from the hospital to the M.E. all by myself!
I can tell that I am becoming more adapted to Milwaukee by not having to rely on my GPS to get around all the time...and also I have been to the M.E. a bunch of times so that helps. I can also tell that they are beginning to rely on me more at work since I am doing tasks like this by myself. Normally we always have two people to do removals, but since this woman only had to be viewed I was okay to go by myself.
Whenever one goes to the M.E. one must always represent where they work with pride and dignity. Apparently I work at one of the few funeral homes that supply their apprentices and directors with name tags because the other directors (or apprentices) I ran into at the M.E. didn't have them...or were being dicks and were not wearing them.
Once I was done at the M.E. I transported the remains back to The Home and got the woman ready on the prep table for her alternative care. While this was going on, we had two guys from the M.E. come out to remove one of our bodies because guess what kids, a hospital severely fucked up on the cause of death of this individual and this gentleman needed an autopsy! Oh and let me just say that this was the gentleman who died on October 1st and we did not transfer him into our care because the family could not afford to pay us. THE FIRST OF OCTOBER! This man has been dead for over two weeks and they are just NOW catching their mistake? Seriously, what the flying FUCK goes on at these hospitals that these doctors can not give an accurate cause of death!?!?! Let us be happy that we did not embalm this man...even if we could have (which being two weeks dead and kept in a cooler makes for a very difficult embalming)
So finally all the shenanigans seem to be dying down. Jack tells me that I will be going to church to set up for the third service. Things more or less go as planned and after an hour I'm told to go back to The Home and do a delivery for one of the families that we held the service for earlier today.
One of the things I really enjoy doing are deliveries. Flowers suck, don't get me wrong, I fucking HATE flowers. They tip, they spill, you get covered in pollen, but I love talking to families and explaining the register book that we create and more or less answering any questions that they might have. This family was very sweet and helped me unload the flowers and wanted information about pre-planning their own funerals, which is pretty much the best compliment you can get knowing that your work is so great that they themselves want to come to you for their own funerals.
When I get back after the delivery I hear that Steve and Caleb have left to do a removal, after having just gotten back from doing one that was 30 minutes away. That means that we have done four removals, and I think there were two or three pending still. Regardless I'm not on call so the fucks I give are microscopic if non-existent.
And this whole time David has been in the embalming room, working on an embalming and doing alternative prep on the bodies that we have seemingly collected over the course of the day.
My biggest question is where the hell are we going to be keeping these bodies. We only have 9 tables to physically put bodies on, I think we are now entering into makeshift tables involving alternative containers and casket trucks, but I won't find that out until tomorrow when I go in.
Until next time.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Three Year Reflection
Today marks the three year anniversary of when we buried my grandpa. It is amazing how time moves by so quickly. It astounds me that my grandma has been gone for 6 years now -- going on 7. Death is one of those weird experiences where you physically lose someone you love and it breaks you wide open.
You become a hysterical mess of tears and snot when you first learn of the death; and your heart physically feels like it is breaking into a million little pieces. Then you begin to come down from the inner (and outer) hysteria, and you enter this catatonic state of numbness where you almost don't know what is going on around you. The world continues to move forward as you feel paralyzed, unprepared of what this new journey will lead you through.
You go through the motions of dealing with the funeral home and director. Picking out caskets or urns, debating what color schemes to use and what register book you feel best captures your loved one's spirit. You go home and become over whelmed with everything that needs to get done before the funeral.
Photo albums and pictures, so many pictures and memorabilia. You smile at the memories that they invoke, and then you break down into a flood of tears because it is now just sinking in that you will never see this person again.
You pick out what clothing you will be giving to the funeral director so that your loved one is properly dressed for their big day. All the while filtering all these calls that come rushing in, all these people reaching out to give their condolences. You still feel stuck in one place as the world buzzes around you.
The day of the visitation you arrive early even though you think you'll be late. The director shows you to the room and you hesitate to enter, knowing what lies behind the doors. Slowly you put one foot in front of the other as you take a deep breath. "You can do this," you keep telling yourself, "just remember to breathe".
You walk inside the room and take everything in, carefully avoiding looking at the open casket as you slowly approach it. Finally your loved one is before you and you look down. You see how peaceful they look, almost like they are sleeping, but you notice a few things are off. Like the color of the nails, or the shade of lipstick, just subtle reminders that your loved one is in fact not sleeping, not breathing.
Tears form and fall down your face and a shudder rips through you. Family and friends form a procession and file past you, giving hugs and sympathetic glances your way. For the life of you, you can not remember the name of your second cousins' wife, but you greet her as warmly as you can and thank her for coming.
The visitation comes to an end and you gather your belongings and head back home, knowing that sleep will not come tonight.
The morning of the funeral feels like you are blitzing through everything, praying that you do not forget anything before you head to the church. You arrive just in time, another hour of visitation and the procession begins. You line up with your family behind the casket and watch as the funeral directors slowly and carefully close the casket. This is the last time you will ever see your loved one. In a small dull voice in the back of your head you catch yourself saying, "This is real. This is really happening."
You slowly walk behind the casket as it makes its way up the isle to the front of the church. Taking your seat on the hard wooden pew, you try to catch up to where the congregation is singing. The priest says some words, and you sing Amazing Grace. You almost lose it, you try to sing but your voice keeps breaking. A family member goes up and gives their eulogy, and as the casket is lead out to the hearse "How Great Thou Art" is being sung and what you were holding back breaks through your cracking resolve.
The pallbearers surround the casket and load it into the back of the hearse. Walking back to your car, you see a small funeral flag attached to your hood, notifying everyone who sees it, of your small little tragedy.
Following the hearse, you traverse through city streets until you reach the cemetery, along the way making small talk with your passengers about how lovely the service was. The mound of dirt beside the open grave is poorly hidden under the fake grass carpeting. You notice that there is an honor guard present at the grave site.
As the casket is taken out by the pallbearers, the funeral director tells them how place it onto to the lowering device. The priest says the general graveside ceremony and the person with the trumpet begins to play Taps. All the while the honor guard folds the American flag and does the three rifle volley.
The tears that were softly falling are now gushing from your eyes at the beautiful significance of this ceremony. Your beloved fought to keep our country free and safe, and your heart swells with pride. You grab one of the shell casings to keep and return back to your car.
People return to the church for the luncheon that the church ladies have prepared. Over a plate full of various casseroles and questionable Jell-O concoctions you share fond memories of the person that is currently being lowered six feet into the ground.
Eventually you leave and go back home, exhausted and feeling hollow. Sleep comes surprisingly easy and as the days go by you start to breathe a little bit easier, and cry a little less frequently. There is of course the random bouts of crying that over come you regarding the silliest of things. Who knew that a certain brand of pizza would invoke such an emotional response from you.
Weeks turn into months, and months into years. You are now fairly well adjusted to life without your departed loved one. Every once in a while a random thought will come to you in regards to your departed. You will smile a sad smile, knowing that they are gone, but thankful for the random memory. It is in those moments that you believe that they are with you, watching over you, still loving you from the other side.
Your heart that was once shattered into a million little pieces is now put back together like a puzzle, but covered in scar tissue. It will continue to beat, until the day you are reunited on the other side.
Until that day, you live your life as best as you can. Wondering if your loved one would have been proud of you and the choices that you have made.
And after a long day at work, you go home and sit down and reflect.
Three years ago today I buried my grandpa. He helped raised me, guided me, and fought for our country. I love you grandpa and miss you every single day. May you forever rest in peace with grandma in Heaven.
Until next time.
You become a hysterical mess of tears and snot when you first learn of the death; and your heart physically feels like it is breaking into a million little pieces. Then you begin to come down from the inner (and outer) hysteria, and you enter this catatonic state of numbness where you almost don't know what is going on around you. The world continues to move forward as you feel paralyzed, unprepared of what this new journey will lead you through.
You go through the motions of dealing with the funeral home and director. Picking out caskets or urns, debating what color schemes to use and what register book you feel best captures your loved one's spirit. You go home and become over whelmed with everything that needs to get done before the funeral.
Photo albums and pictures, so many pictures and memorabilia. You smile at the memories that they invoke, and then you break down into a flood of tears because it is now just sinking in that you will never see this person again.
You pick out what clothing you will be giving to the funeral director so that your loved one is properly dressed for their big day. All the while filtering all these calls that come rushing in, all these people reaching out to give their condolences. You still feel stuck in one place as the world buzzes around you.
The day of the visitation you arrive early even though you think you'll be late. The director shows you to the room and you hesitate to enter, knowing what lies behind the doors. Slowly you put one foot in front of the other as you take a deep breath. "You can do this," you keep telling yourself, "just remember to breathe".
You walk inside the room and take everything in, carefully avoiding looking at the open casket as you slowly approach it. Finally your loved one is before you and you look down. You see how peaceful they look, almost like they are sleeping, but you notice a few things are off. Like the color of the nails, or the shade of lipstick, just subtle reminders that your loved one is in fact not sleeping, not breathing.
Tears form and fall down your face and a shudder rips through you. Family and friends form a procession and file past you, giving hugs and sympathetic glances your way. For the life of you, you can not remember the name of your second cousins' wife, but you greet her as warmly as you can and thank her for coming.
The visitation comes to an end and you gather your belongings and head back home, knowing that sleep will not come tonight.
The morning of the funeral feels like you are blitzing through everything, praying that you do not forget anything before you head to the church. You arrive just in time, another hour of visitation and the procession begins. You line up with your family behind the casket and watch as the funeral directors slowly and carefully close the casket. This is the last time you will ever see your loved one. In a small dull voice in the back of your head you catch yourself saying, "This is real. This is really happening."
You slowly walk behind the casket as it makes its way up the isle to the front of the church. Taking your seat on the hard wooden pew, you try to catch up to where the congregation is singing. The priest says some words, and you sing Amazing Grace. You almost lose it, you try to sing but your voice keeps breaking. A family member goes up and gives their eulogy, and as the casket is lead out to the hearse "How Great Thou Art" is being sung and what you were holding back breaks through your cracking resolve.
The pallbearers surround the casket and load it into the back of the hearse. Walking back to your car, you see a small funeral flag attached to your hood, notifying everyone who sees it, of your small little tragedy.
Following the hearse, you traverse through city streets until you reach the cemetery, along the way making small talk with your passengers about how lovely the service was. The mound of dirt beside the open grave is poorly hidden under the fake grass carpeting. You notice that there is an honor guard present at the grave site.
As the casket is taken out by the pallbearers, the funeral director tells them how place it onto to the lowering device. The priest says the general graveside ceremony and the person with the trumpet begins to play Taps. All the while the honor guard folds the American flag and does the three rifle volley.
The tears that were softly falling are now gushing from your eyes at the beautiful significance of this ceremony. Your beloved fought to keep our country free and safe, and your heart swells with pride. You grab one of the shell casings to keep and return back to your car.
People return to the church for the luncheon that the church ladies have prepared. Over a plate full of various casseroles and questionable Jell-O concoctions you share fond memories of the person that is currently being lowered six feet into the ground.
Eventually you leave and go back home, exhausted and feeling hollow. Sleep comes surprisingly easy and as the days go by you start to breathe a little bit easier, and cry a little less frequently. There is of course the random bouts of crying that over come you regarding the silliest of things. Who knew that a certain brand of pizza would invoke such an emotional response from you.
Weeks turn into months, and months into years. You are now fairly well adjusted to life without your departed loved one. Every once in a while a random thought will come to you in regards to your departed. You will smile a sad smile, knowing that they are gone, but thankful for the random memory. It is in those moments that you believe that they are with you, watching over you, still loving you from the other side.
Your heart that was once shattered into a million little pieces is now put back together like a puzzle, but covered in scar tissue. It will continue to beat, until the day you are reunited on the other side.
Until that day, you live your life as best as you can. Wondering if your loved one would have been proud of you and the choices that you have made.
And after a long day at work, you go home and sit down and reflect.
Three years ago today I buried my grandpa. He helped raised me, guided me, and fought for our country. I love you grandpa and miss you every single day. May you forever rest in peace with grandma in Heaven.
Until next time.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Unidentified and Unclaimed Bodies
One of the questions that has plagued me even before I started working in the death industry was: "What happens to the unclaimed and unidentified dead?"
Well today I started my own little investigation.
After going to the Medical Examiner's office today to literally smell a body...yes we had to go to the M.E. and smell the body of someone who would be coming into our funeral home for cremation because they were in such an advance state of decomp. After a good thorough sniff we deemed that this bloated, green, rotten husk of what use to be a human male was acceptable to bring within our funeral establishment. If the body was not deemed worthy we would have left it there at the M.E.'s office until tomorrow morning where we would throw him as our sacrifice into our ghastly crematorium.
Going about this process is a little bit more tricky than your regular autopsy. Because of his state of decomposition this person was doubled bagged (as in placed inside two body bags, and a bag was also placed around his head). Obviously we will not be removing him from his body bags. Instead we place the bags onto a table that we use that will be able to go into the cooler to help slow down the decomposition. Once we treat his body with chemicals to stop the rot and the persistent smell of death, we place clothing over the body, reseal him into the body bags and place those bags into an alternative container.
The family will not be viewing the body, but will be able to have a moment of visitation with him; much like a closed casket.
When I got home I decided to look up the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner and was really surprised by what I was able to find.
Here are the reasons why a death must be reported to the medical examiner:
Cases which must be reported:
Deaths meeting the requisite criteria must be immediately reported to the Medical Examiner. In the event that the injury causing the death occurred in another county, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner must be notified and would refer the case investigation to the outside county.
All physicians and other persons having knowledge of the death of any person who has died under any of the following circumstances shall immediately report such death to the Medical Examiner:
All deaths in which there are unexplained, unusual or suspicious circumstances;
All homicides, suicides, accidents or unnatural deaths;
All deaths due to poisoning or overdose, whether homicidal, suicidal, or accidental;
All deaths following accidents, whether the injury is or was not the primary cause of death (examples: quadriplegia due to trauma or an accident);
When there is no physician or accredited practitioner, who has attended or treated the decedent within 30 days preceding death;
When the physician caring for the decedent refuses to sign the death certificate;
All deaths that occur in a hospital emergency room setting;
Maternal deaths due to abortion;
Deaths of inmates of public institutions, who have not been hospitalized for organic illness;
Deaths of persons in custody of law enforcement officers;
Deaths that occur in association with, or as a result of diagnostic, therapeutic, or anesthetic procedures;
Deaths due to neglect;
Fetus of 20 weeks or older, unattended by a physician or practitioner;
Deaths of persons in which a fracture of a major bone (femur, tibia, pelvis, skull, etc.) has occurred within the past six months;
Deaths following traumatic head bleeds
Deaths occurring outside of a hospital or nursing home, and not enrolled in a palliative care program under the care of a physician;
Occupational related deaths attributable entirely or in part to external work place factors;
Any death in which there is doubt as to whether it is a Medical Examiner's case should be reported and discussed with a Medical Examiner's Forensic Investigator;
Sudden and unexpected deaths occurring in infants or children under the age of 2, under circumstances not explained by a pre-existing medical problem, must be referred to the Medical Examiner.
For those of you who might be wondering, an autopsy is not performed in every single case that comes into the M.E. A lot of the time the medical examiner working on the case can determine cause of death by viewing the medical records and during their investigation. An autopsy is ordered by the medical examiner when cause of death is uncertain and in some cases they are required by law due to the circumstances surrounding their death.
And then I found this really interesting report from 1919:
1919 Complete Coroner's Report
Which is really fascinating to read. If you have never read a coroner's annual report, it breaks down that year's death total into different categories such as murders, suicides, and natural causes.
For those of my readers who live in Portage County, here is the 2012 Coroner's annual report. Here
The information found on these reports comes from the death certificates and is used for statistics and the like.
If you took the time to check those links out (or even if you didn't). Notice how in 1919 in Milwaukee there were 710 reported deaths as compared to the 2012 Portage County 268 reported deaths. Today, the Milwaukee County Medial Examiner investigates about 6,000 deaths each year. To say that I am going to school for mortuary science in a great area is an understatement.
One interesting thing about larger counties such as Milwaukee or Cook County Illinois (where Chicago is located) is that on the Medical Examiner's website they also have a section for unidentified bodies.
If you so dare, you may check out how they document the unclaimed dead for Milwaukee County Here. Please keep in mind that it does contain graphic images of both adults and children.
As far as what happens to the physical remains of the unclaimed dead here is what I was able to find from our Wisconsin Government State Statues:
157.02 Disposal of unclaimed corpses.
(1) Notice to relatives. When an inmate of any state, county or municipal institution dies, the superintendent or other person in charge of the institution shall immediately notify a relative of the decedent. A public officer having the possession or the disposition of a corpse shall immediately notify a relative of the decedent. If no relative is known, or discoverable by use of ordinary diligence, notice may be dispensed with. In addition, if the deceased had been an inmate of a state correctional institution, the department of corrections shall provide written notification to the relative informing him or her that the department of corrections, upon request, will provide a copy of any autopsy report or other report or information pertaining to the death. The department of corrections shall describe how the request may be made and shall promptly comply with any such request.
(2) Time allowed relative to act. If a relative or friend fails to arrange for taking charge of the corpse within a reasonable time after death, the superintendent or other officer may proceed as provided in this section, but relatives or friends may claim the corpse at any time before it has been delivered pursuant to sub. (3).
(3) Notice to university or school. If the corpse is in the Mendota Mental Health Institute district, the University of Wisconsin shall be notified that it may have the corpse. If the corpse is in the Winnebago Mental Health Institute district, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc., or any accredited school of mortuary science at Milwaukee shall be notified that it may have the corpse. The university or school so notified shall immediately inform the superintendent or public officer whether it desires to have the corpse. If it does, the corpse shall be delivered accordingly, properly encased, to the most available facility for transportation to the consignee, the consignee to pay the cost of transportation.
(4) Standing applications. If there are advance applications for such bodies, by the Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc., or any accredited school of mortuary science, the superintendent or public officer shall make an equitable distribution between them.
(5) Other disposition. If the corpse is not disposed of under subs. (1) to (4), the superintendent or public officer shall properly bury it.
History: 1971 c. 211; 1973 c. 90 s. 560 (3); 1985 a. 316 s. 14; Stats. 1985 s. 157.02; 1987 a. 27; 1989 a. 31; 2001 a. 103.
Link: http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/157
So for those of you who may not really understand legal jargon I have found this really interesting Wisconsin State Journal article written in 2010 about what some counties around Wisconsin do with their unclaimed dead. You can read it Here.
From what I was able to get from it, what happens to the remains of unclaimed and unidentified dead depends a lot on the size of the county and their budget. Some counties freeze, others bury (all on the cost of the tax payers dime).
And of course there is my favorite documentary that I have already previously mentioned in another blog but will leave it right here for you to watch again... "A Certain Kind of Death".
And with that my dear deathlings, I bid you all a good night.
Until next time.
Well today I started my own little investigation.
After going to the Medical Examiner's office today to literally smell a body...yes we had to go to the M.E. and smell the body of someone who would be coming into our funeral home for cremation because they were in such an advance state of decomp. After a good thorough sniff we deemed that this bloated, green, rotten husk of what use to be a human male was acceptable to bring within our funeral establishment. If the body was not deemed worthy we would have left it there at the M.E.'s office until tomorrow morning where we would throw him as our sacrifice into our ghastly crematorium.
Going about this process is a little bit more tricky than your regular autopsy. Because of his state of decomposition this person was doubled bagged (as in placed inside two body bags, and a bag was also placed around his head). Obviously we will not be removing him from his body bags. Instead we place the bags onto a table that we use that will be able to go into the cooler to help slow down the decomposition. Once we treat his body with chemicals to stop the rot and the persistent smell of death, we place clothing over the body, reseal him into the body bags and place those bags into an alternative container.
The family will not be viewing the body, but will be able to have a moment of visitation with him; much like a closed casket.
When I got home I decided to look up the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner and was really surprised by what I was able to find.
Here are the reasons why a death must be reported to the medical examiner:
Cases which must be reported:
Deaths meeting the requisite criteria must be immediately reported to the Medical Examiner. In the event that the injury causing the death occurred in another county, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner must be notified and would refer the case investigation to the outside county.
All physicians and other persons having knowledge of the death of any person who has died under any of the following circumstances shall immediately report such death to the Medical Examiner:
All deaths in which there are unexplained, unusual or suspicious circumstances;
All homicides, suicides, accidents or unnatural deaths;
All deaths due to poisoning or overdose, whether homicidal, suicidal, or accidental;
All deaths following accidents, whether the injury is or was not the primary cause of death (examples: quadriplegia due to trauma or an accident);
When there is no physician or accredited practitioner, who has attended or treated the decedent within 30 days preceding death;
When the physician caring for the decedent refuses to sign the death certificate;
All deaths that occur in a hospital emergency room setting;
Maternal deaths due to abortion;
Deaths of inmates of public institutions, who have not been hospitalized for organic illness;
Deaths of persons in custody of law enforcement officers;
Deaths that occur in association with, or as a result of diagnostic, therapeutic, or anesthetic procedures;
Deaths due to neglect;
Fetus of 20 weeks or older, unattended by a physician or practitioner;
Deaths of persons in which a fracture of a major bone (femur, tibia, pelvis, skull, etc.) has occurred within the past six months;
Deaths following traumatic head bleeds
Deaths occurring outside of a hospital or nursing home, and not enrolled in a palliative care program under the care of a physician;
Occupational related deaths attributable entirely or in part to external work place factors;
Any death in which there is doubt as to whether it is a Medical Examiner's case should be reported and discussed with a Medical Examiner's Forensic Investigator;
Sudden and unexpected deaths occurring in infants or children under the age of 2, under circumstances not explained by a pre-existing medical problem, must be referred to the Medical Examiner.
For those of you who might be wondering, an autopsy is not performed in every single case that comes into the M.E. A lot of the time the medical examiner working on the case can determine cause of death by viewing the medical records and during their investigation. An autopsy is ordered by the medical examiner when cause of death is uncertain and in some cases they are required by law due to the circumstances surrounding their death.
And then I found this really interesting report from 1919:
1919 Complete Coroner's Report
Which is really fascinating to read. If you have never read a coroner's annual report, it breaks down that year's death total into different categories such as murders, suicides, and natural causes.
For those of my readers who live in Portage County, here is the 2012 Coroner's annual report. Here
The information found on these reports comes from the death certificates and is used for statistics and the like.
If you took the time to check those links out (or even if you didn't). Notice how in 1919 in Milwaukee there were 710 reported deaths as compared to the 2012 Portage County 268 reported deaths. Today, the Milwaukee County Medial Examiner investigates about 6,000 deaths each year. To say that I am going to school for mortuary science in a great area is an understatement.
One interesting thing about larger counties such as Milwaukee or Cook County Illinois (where Chicago is located) is that on the Medical Examiner's website they also have a section for unidentified bodies.
If you so dare, you may check out how they document the unclaimed dead for Milwaukee County Here. Please keep in mind that it does contain graphic images of both adults and children.
As far as what happens to the physical remains of the unclaimed dead here is what I was able to find from our Wisconsin Government State Statues:
157.02 Disposal of unclaimed corpses.
(1) Notice to relatives. When an inmate of any state, county or municipal institution dies, the superintendent or other person in charge of the institution shall immediately notify a relative of the decedent. A public officer having the possession or the disposition of a corpse shall immediately notify a relative of the decedent. If no relative is known, or discoverable by use of ordinary diligence, notice may be dispensed with. In addition, if the deceased had been an inmate of a state correctional institution, the department of corrections shall provide written notification to the relative informing him or her that the department of corrections, upon request, will provide a copy of any autopsy report or other report or information pertaining to the death. The department of corrections shall describe how the request may be made and shall promptly comply with any such request.
(2) Time allowed relative to act. If a relative or friend fails to arrange for taking charge of the corpse within a reasonable time after death, the superintendent or other officer may proceed as provided in this section, but relatives or friends may claim the corpse at any time before it has been delivered pursuant to sub. (3).
(3) Notice to university or school. If the corpse is in the Mendota Mental Health Institute district, the University of Wisconsin shall be notified that it may have the corpse. If the corpse is in the Winnebago Mental Health Institute district, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc., or any accredited school of mortuary science at Milwaukee shall be notified that it may have the corpse. The university or school so notified shall immediately inform the superintendent or public officer whether it desires to have the corpse. If it does, the corpse shall be delivered accordingly, properly encased, to the most available facility for transportation to the consignee, the consignee to pay the cost of transportation.
(4) Standing applications. If there are advance applications for such bodies, by the Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc., or any accredited school of mortuary science, the superintendent or public officer shall make an equitable distribution between them.
(5) Other disposition. If the corpse is not disposed of under subs. (1) to (4), the superintendent or public officer shall properly bury it.
History: 1971 c. 211; 1973 c. 90 s. 560 (3); 1985 a. 316 s. 14; Stats. 1985 s. 157.02; 1987 a. 27; 1989 a. 31; 2001 a. 103.
Link: http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/157
So for those of you who may not really understand legal jargon I have found this really interesting Wisconsin State Journal article written in 2010 about what some counties around Wisconsin do with their unclaimed dead. You can read it Here.
From what I was able to get from it, what happens to the remains of unclaimed and unidentified dead depends a lot on the size of the county and their budget. Some counties freeze, others bury (all on the cost of the tax payers dime).
And of course there is my favorite documentary that I have already previously mentioned in another blog but will leave it right here for you to watch again... "A Certain Kind of Death".
And with that my dear deathlings, I bid you all a good night.
Until next time.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Back to Back Death Calls
Two blogs in one night seems a bit excessive but let me explain. Tonight was one of those rare exceptions. Tonight was the night that I will use as an example for future apprentices as what can happen. Tonight, I pray to God, will end soon. Because I am so DONE with tonight!
Immediately after I uploaded my previous blog, my partner Kevin called me saying we had a removal at a nursing home. I was actually expecting this call before I left work today, so this wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise? Getting a call from Jack on our way to the nursing home saying that we have a house call after and need to check in ASAP.
Great. Just fucking great. Two calls in one night. Two 'first time' experiences in one day.
So we arrived at the nursing home and walk in where we normally would for a removal, and I shit you not I had one of these moments:
The lights were mostly out and there was NO ONE FUCKING THERE! Seriously, in a god damn nursing home, there was not a living soul to be found! So Kevin and I are trying to find someone and are about to leave when a nurse finally comes in and says that we are in the wrong building.
Seriously? Like no one cared to specify that when they called us? So we finally get to the right building, and keep in mind it is only slightly after 8 pm so although most of the residences are in bed, there should still be a full night staff.
Thankfully there was a nurse at the desk when we entered and she showed us where the room was. This woman however, was trying to avoid going into the room where this woman had died at all costs. The cherry on top of this shit filled sundae was that they didn't have any paperwork! We had to wait for the nurse to first find the fucking right form, of which she only had page one of two and it wasn't filled out! I had to give her one of our copies of page two. Thankfully we always keep extra copies of all needed paperwork on us just in case we come in contact with a facility that can't tell their elbow from their asshole.
So while we wait for Piper no Paperwork to get her act together, an older male RN comes in and starts asking questions as to where we are located and where we are taking the deceased and if that is where the family wants us to take her. I told him well they don't really have a choice in the matter of where we take her because our coolers or located at our main building. (of course I said this is a much more sophisticated and respectful manner).
After about 20 minutes Kevin and I start to get really pissed off, and Kevin texts Jack about what is going on. Keep in mind that we still have to take this body back to our main building, undress her, document her belongings and load up the van again to do our house call....and those poor people are still waiting!
FINALLY Piper no Paperwork comes back and I have her fill out our paper work while Kevin signs off on the paperwork she got for us. I then mention that she must now make a copy the paperwork she gave us and did she know that? FUCK. NO! I swear to God that had I not mentioned that we would have walked off with the originals and she would gotten fired....hmm perhaps I should have done this facility a kindness and had just taken the originals...
So of course we wait another 5 minutes as she makes the copies of the paperwork. I honestly would not be surprised if she was using copy paper to make us a copy. We then load up and head out. Kevin and I then proceed to have a bonding moment over how fucking insane it is to have a medical facility NOT have their fucking paperwork done.
I would go on a limb and say that they did have a copy already filled out somewhere in the shit hole that is that nursing home, but Lord knows if they can ever find it.
Once we get back we quickly unload and I start the documenting process of this woman's processions and try to undress her the best I can by myself while Kevin calls Jack for more information about our house call.
Can we catch a break? No, we can not. The house call, although located only a mile away, the body of the deceased is on the second floor. Keep in mind this is my first ever house call, and first ever back to back call so I am running on pure adrenaline right now.
Kevin and I drive over and try to find the house in the middle of the night. Thankfully one of the family members steps out and waves us over. We go inside, but 3 flights of small stairs to where the deceased is. The poor man was face down on the floor and extremely manicpated, I'm talking like 95 lbs. Once I go over the basic information of what we need from the family we give them a moment of privacy as Kevin and I go down and get our gurney ready. When we go on house calls we always go up first to assess the situation in case we need to use our 'burrito' or if we need to bring in our house pack that has a bunch of cleaning things and extra bits to make the place of death a bit more comfortable for the family. (comfortable is the wrong word for "less freaked out about having someone die at home, but it'll have to do).
Because this gentleman died on the second floor and was only 95 lbs Kevin and I got the burrito and placed a sheet on it. The Burrito is like a soft gurney with support to help us carry bodies down. Unfortunately since the departed was face down we had to also load him face down just because there was no other way to work. (keep in mind that there is a police officer who is watching us load this body, and this is my first time doing a house call -- the family had decided not to witness the removal; bless their heart)
We finally traverse down the stairs and I am sweating balls and breathing heavily, to the point where Kevin asks if I'm okay. I told him I'm fine just very very warm. One of the family members opens the screen door and we place the deceased onto the gurney and strap him in. ...Did I mention that our gurney for house calls has a known defect that will some time cause the gurney to fail when lowering and raising? Yeah it totally does and of course we almost drop the poor dead man because of the glitch, thankfully we recovered quickly and were able to load the guy in and drive off.
After arrive back to The Home I began the documentation process yet again for this gentleman and was shocked by the state of which he was in. He truly looked like one of the bodies that you see in Holocaust photos from the concentration camps.
Right as we are about to clean up and leave, Kevin can't find the fucking paper work that we need to put in his file. After looking for about 10 minutes he finally finds it in the fucking binder and we can now go home.
Which leads me to where I am right now. Sitting in my dorm, typing this up, sneezing constantly, praying to my dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that there will be no more calls for tonight.
Today is one of those days where I really wish I had someone to hug and just feel a living body next to mine. Life is precious and beautiful. And if you're a single male who doesn't freak out talking about death and are looking for a relationship I am now taking applications for "Date Jordy Death"
I was on the struggle bus more than I was off it today. I got to do a lot of 'firsts' in my apprenticeship and career, and not all of it was pretty. I feel deeply for the families who have lost their loved ones and pray that they will all find comfort and peace in the days to come.
But for right now, death can go fuck himself. I'm ready for bed.
Until next time...
Immediately after I uploaded my previous blog, my partner Kevin called me saying we had a removal at a nursing home. I was actually expecting this call before I left work today, so this wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise? Getting a call from Jack on our way to the nursing home saying that we have a house call after and need to check in ASAP.
Great. Just fucking great. Two calls in one night. Two 'first time' experiences in one day.
So we arrived at the nursing home and walk in where we normally would for a removal, and I shit you not I had one of these moments:
Seriously? Like no one cared to specify that when they called us? So we finally get to the right building, and keep in mind it is only slightly after 8 pm so although most of the residences are in bed, there should still be a full night staff.
Thankfully there was a nurse at the desk when we entered and she showed us where the room was. This woman however, was trying to avoid going into the room where this woman had died at all costs. The cherry on top of this shit filled sundae was that they didn't have any paperwork! We had to wait for the nurse to first find the fucking right form, of which she only had page one of two and it wasn't filled out! I had to give her one of our copies of page two. Thankfully we always keep extra copies of all needed paperwork on us just in case we come in contact with a facility that can't tell their elbow from their asshole.
So while we wait for Piper no Paperwork to get her act together, an older male RN comes in and starts asking questions as to where we are located and where we are taking the deceased and if that is where the family wants us to take her. I told him well they don't really have a choice in the matter of where we take her because our coolers or located at our main building. (of course I said this is a much more sophisticated and respectful manner).
After about 20 minutes Kevin and I start to get really pissed off, and Kevin texts Jack about what is going on. Keep in mind that we still have to take this body back to our main building, undress her, document her belongings and load up the van again to do our house call....and those poor people are still waiting!
FINALLY Piper no Paperwork comes back and I have her fill out our paper work while Kevin signs off on the paperwork she got for us. I then mention that she must now make a copy the paperwork she gave us and did she know that? FUCK. NO! I swear to God that had I not mentioned that we would have walked off with the originals and she would gotten fired....hmm perhaps I should have done this facility a kindness and had just taken the originals...
So of course we wait another 5 minutes as she makes the copies of the paperwork. I honestly would not be surprised if she was using copy paper to make us a copy. We then load up and head out. Kevin and I then proceed to have a bonding moment over how fucking insane it is to have a medical facility NOT have their fucking paperwork done.
I would go on a limb and say that they did have a copy already filled out somewhere in the shit hole that is that nursing home, but Lord knows if they can ever find it.
Once we get back we quickly unload and I start the documenting process of this woman's processions and try to undress her the best I can by myself while Kevin calls Jack for more information about our house call.
Can we catch a break? No, we can not. The house call, although located only a mile away, the body of the deceased is on the second floor. Keep in mind this is my first ever house call, and first ever back to back call so I am running on pure adrenaline right now.
Kevin and I drive over and try to find the house in the middle of the night. Thankfully one of the family members steps out and waves us over. We go inside, but 3 flights of small stairs to where the deceased is. The poor man was face down on the floor and extremely manicpated, I'm talking like 95 lbs. Once I go over the basic information of what we need from the family we give them a moment of privacy as Kevin and I go down and get our gurney ready. When we go on house calls we always go up first to assess the situation in case we need to use our 'burrito' or if we need to bring in our house pack that has a bunch of cleaning things and extra bits to make the place of death a bit more comfortable for the family. (comfortable is the wrong word for "less freaked out about having someone die at home, but it'll have to do).
Because this gentleman died on the second floor and was only 95 lbs Kevin and I got the burrito and placed a sheet on it. The Burrito is like a soft gurney with support to help us carry bodies down. Unfortunately since the departed was face down we had to also load him face down just because there was no other way to work. (keep in mind that there is a police officer who is watching us load this body, and this is my first time doing a house call -- the family had decided not to witness the removal; bless their heart)
We finally traverse down the stairs and I am sweating balls and breathing heavily, to the point where Kevin asks if I'm okay. I told him I'm fine just very very warm. One of the family members opens the screen door and we place the deceased onto the gurney and strap him in. ...Did I mention that our gurney for house calls has a known defect that will some time cause the gurney to fail when lowering and raising? Yeah it totally does and of course we almost drop the poor dead man because of the glitch, thankfully we recovered quickly and were able to load the guy in and drive off.
After arrive back to The Home I began the documentation process yet again for this gentleman and was shocked by the state of which he was in. He truly looked like one of the bodies that you see in Holocaust photos from the concentration camps.
Right as we are about to clean up and leave, Kevin can't find the fucking paper work that we need to put in his file. After looking for about 10 minutes he finally finds it in the fucking binder and we can now go home.
Which leads me to where I am right now. Sitting in my dorm, typing this up, sneezing constantly, praying to my dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that there will be no more calls for tonight.
Today is one of those days where I really wish I had someone to hug and just feel a living body next to mine. Life is precious and beautiful. And if you're a single male who doesn't freak out talking about death and are looking for a relationship I am now taking applications for "Date Jordy Death"
I was on the struggle bus more than I was off it today. I got to do a lot of 'firsts' in my apprenticeship and career, and not all of it was pretty. I feel deeply for the families who have lost their loved ones and pray that they will all find comfort and peace in the days to come.
But for right now, death can go fuck himself. I'm ready for bed.
Until next time...
Tears of fear
You wanna know how I know that I work at a kick ass funeral home? Listening to Metallica with Jeff, one of the owners, on our way to a graveside committal. We really do put the 'death metal' in 'mortician'.
No matter what you do for a job you will always have your good days and your bad days. Although I have only been an apprentice going on two weeks now, I would say that the majority of my time at work has been great. I have learned a lot and have really started feeling like I belong here at The Home.
Today started off simple enough, I arrived at work early this morning and started in on the laundry. Some careless fool (not me, mind you) had put a load in the dryer that had some paper product in it so when I pulled it out it was like snow falling everywhere in great clumps. So not only did I need to fold and put away the laundry, I also had to clean up this massive snow storm of paper that was falling everywhere. Side note: Whenever you are doing laundry that isn't yours, I would recommend wearing gloves. There is some (literal) gross shit out there that you might be coming into contact with and you do not want that all over your hands.
Anyways, after I cleaned up I got to help Mitch dress some bodies and do a little bit of cosmetic work. Once a body has been embalmed they are placed on a cloth covered table until they are ready to be dressed for their viewing. When we are ready to dress them, we take the body back into the embalming room and aspirate the torso using the trocar. This is done to prevent any seepage that might have occurred since the embalming and also makes it so that once the body is dressed we don't need to worry about any weepy privates. In instances where the body might be weepy even after the second aspiration we will put on what looks like plastic pantaloons on the body and then put an absorbing powder over the privates and then seal everything up with packing tape. Not very pretty, but thankfully no one but the funeral director ever sees this step.
When everything is said and done the body is then finally ready to be clothed. Families are generally pretty good about providing clothes for us but if they were to forget anything chances are it would be underwear, bras, socks, and an undershirt. If you do forget these items we typically have a stock pile that we pull from to make sure your loved one is fully clothed. Getting an undershirt on a body without cutting it takes skill and practice, but thankfully Mitch showed me how.
We had two bodies to clothe and cosmitize; a man and a woman. The man we clothed was given a tuxedo suit minus the jacket (ironically this man was also an illegal immigrant which is a paperwork nightmare to deal with). The woman I helped worked on was the same woman that I had done the removal of from Racine. Her coloring had really improved since the embalming, and after clothing her I got to pain her nails a really nice shade of pink that I think my Grandma would have really liked.
After lunch I inventoried some register books that had arrived. Mitch came and got me, saying that we were going to the Medical Examiner's office to transfer a body into our care. This of course meant that the body would have had an autopsy performed on it. When I looked at the call sheet that had our transfer's information on it, I saw that it was a man who was only one year younger than I. Correction, this guy would have celebrated his 23rd birthday in just a few weeks. So going in, I knew that working on this individual would be difficult for me.
When we arrived at the M.E. it was busy as usual. Once we stepped inside, even before gaining admittance into the pick up room, we were overwhelmed with the stench of death and decay. After gaining entry, we saw the reason why, On one of the prep-tables was what appeared to be a man that had not been found for a few days after his death. His stomach was bloated and distorted and had turned a putrided green color. His fingertips were already black and his neck and lower jaw were quickly advancing to the blackened state of decay.
It took me a long while to become 'nose-blind' to the stench, even after they pushed his body into the morgue coolers, but with death you never fully become 'nose-blind' to that smell. Every neuron in your body is on fire, compelling you to run away from whatever it is that is causing that horrible smell. Thankfully I didn't run, I only gagged a little.
Once our paperwork was done on our transfer the examiner went into the cooler to retrieve the body. The body inside the white plastic bag was really large, larger than any of the bodies that I had ever worked on up until this point. Trying to fit our ID bracelet around his ankle almost proved impossible this kid was so big. I had to ask Mitch for help trying to get his feet inside the bag so we could zip it up and transfer him onto our gurney. Before we transfer we always make sure that our plastic bag that we save from our casket deliveries is on the gurney because body bags from the M.E.'s office are always wet from the rinse down.
So once our van was loaded we started to head back to The Home, and Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young" came on. How horribly fitting. Here we had this 22 year old male in the back of our van who had died from, God know's what, and we were taking him into our care to prepare his body for what was to be a direct cremation.
While we were driving back, I expressed to Mitch how unsure I was about being able to do the prep on this body. I was already pretty nauseous having to endure that horrible smell of death, on top of having a head cold from last night. Mitch was understanding and said I could take a few moments before we started. After arriving back at The Home I changed into my scrubs and sat down for a moment. I texted my mom about what I was about to do, and said that I was really unsure how I was going to handle working on not only my first autopsy, but my first person who was around my age. My mom gave me some words of encouragement and I went into the prep room. Thankfully the body was still inside the bags and Steve had just walked in the door.
I asked Steve if he would be willing to help with the prep since I was so unsure of myself. Bless his heart he was more than happy to help me out, and Mitch was very understanding of everything. I took another moment and excused myself to the bathroom, where I proceeded to weep. Why I was crying I do not know. Probably because this guy was just a year younger than me, and probably because I could only imagine what hell his family must be going through right now. After composing myself I proceeded to gown up along Mitch and Steve.
And then the unveiling began.
I took a moment to step out as they unzipped the body bags, just so I didn't have to witness the horrible surprise that awaited us all. Once they were done I came back into the room and saw blood. A lot of blood. Everywhere.
The Y incision that the medical examiner had made was roughly sewen to basically keep the guy's internal organs, which were in a plastic bag, inside his body cavity. Now since this body was to be a direct cremation and there was going to be no visitation, we did not need to embalm him.
Pros of embalming an autopsy body: the arteries we use are already exposed so it makes that job really easy.
Cons of embalming an autopsy body: there is blood everywhere, and we have to take the organs out of the bag and place them in another container where we soak them to cure them, and then we do bobbing for organs to place them back inside the body cavity, brain included.
But this poor soul was not to be embalmed, so instead we began to sew him up. If you have ever wondered what it is like to sew through human flesh it is a lot like sewing through leather. We use what is called a baseball stitch whenever we have to sew up or any part of a body, and it looks exactly like it sounds, a baseball. We also put this absorbing powder over the incisions and inside the cavity to prevent any further bleeding.
And no, we did not re-open him up...not in this case at least.
What shocked me most about seeing this kid cut open like this was how flat his head was without his skull cap, and how red his insides were. I know that sounds stupid, but everything was so red. Normally when you cut someone open there is a layer of fat which is yellow, but if that existed on this individual it was dyed red from all his blood.
After observing for a moment and growing accustomed to everything, Steve and I took turns sewing up the body. Mitch showed us what was to be done with the head. He flipped the flap of skin that covered this persons head over and took off the skull cap. What we found was really shocking. On top of the skull was a hole about the size of a nickle. This lead us to believe that perhaps this individual died from a self inflicted gunshot wound, but since his mouth was already sealed we couldn't 'confirm.'.
Mitch took what looked like brown putty and placed some inside the skull over the hole of the spinal column, this would prevent any seepage from occurring. He then sprayed everything inside, and on the flip side of the skin, with a skin drying agent that would also absorb any blood and moisture. Then he stuffed a bunch of cotton into the cavity and placed the skull cap in place. Now a lot of morticians will use metal brackets to anchor the cap, but Mitch is old school and instead gathered some string and "sewed" it in by basically creating a sling and having the string hold behind the muscles of the ears.
Once the cap is securely in place Mitch replaced the skin flap and began sewing. Thankfully the medical examiner had begun their incision well behind the ear, which means that had the family requested a visitation it makes our work as morticians easier; also this gentleman had a head full of thick hair which covered the sewing nicely.
After all the king's men (and woman) put Humpty Dumpty back together again we had to wash the body of all the blood and then clean up.
Later I found out that this individual did not die from a self inflicted gun shot wound to the head, but instead of an accidental over dose. The hole in his head was from some sort of brain/head issue that he was having and the doctors had prescribed him some pain medication and he unfortunately over dosed before his medial condition could be treated.
I was truly thankful that Steve was there to help me out in such a difficult time, and as I thanked him he said, "No problem, that's what I'm here for, we apprentices' got to stick together." and how true, how very very true.
Until next time.
No matter what you do for a job you will always have your good days and your bad days. Although I have only been an apprentice going on two weeks now, I would say that the majority of my time at work has been great. I have learned a lot and have really started feeling like I belong here at The Home.
Today started off simple enough, I arrived at work early this morning and started in on the laundry. Some careless fool (not me, mind you) had put a load in the dryer that had some paper product in it so when I pulled it out it was like snow falling everywhere in great clumps. So not only did I need to fold and put away the laundry, I also had to clean up this massive snow storm of paper that was falling everywhere. Side note: Whenever you are doing laundry that isn't yours, I would recommend wearing gloves. There is some (literal) gross shit out there that you might be coming into contact with and you do not want that all over your hands.
Anyways, after I cleaned up I got to help Mitch dress some bodies and do a little bit of cosmetic work. Once a body has been embalmed they are placed on a cloth covered table until they are ready to be dressed for their viewing. When we are ready to dress them, we take the body back into the embalming room and aspirate the torso using the trocar. This is done to prevent any seepage that might have occurred since the embalming and also makes it so that once the body is dressed we don't need to worry about any weepy privates. In instances where the body might be weepy even after the second aspiration we will put on what looks like plastic pantaloons on the body and then put an absorbing powder over the privates and then seal everything up with packing tape. Not very pretty, but thankfully no one but the funeral director ever sees this step.
When everything is said and done the body is then finally ready to be clothed. Families are generally pretty good about providing clothes for us but if they were to forget anything chances are it would be underwear, bras, socks, and an undershirt. If you do forget these items we typically have a stock pile that we pull from to make sure your loved one is fully clothed. Getting an undershirt on a body without cutting it takes skill and practice, but thankfully Mitch showed me how.
We had two bodies to clothe and cosmitize; a man and a woman. The man we clothed was given a tuxedo suit minus the jacket (ironically this man was also an illegal immigrant which is a paperwork nightmare to deal with). The woman I helped worked on was the same woman that I had done the removal of from Racine. Her coloring had really improved since the embalming, and after clothing her I got to pain her nails a really nice shade of pink that I think my Grandma would have really liked.
After lunch I inventoried some register books that had arrived. Mitch came and got me, saying that we were going to the Medical Examiner's office to transfer a body into our care. This of course meant that the body would have had an autopsy performed on it. When I looked at the call sheet that had our transfer's information on it, I saw that it was a man who was only one year younger than I. Correction, this guy would have celebrated his 23rd birthday in just a few weeks. So going in, I knew that working on this individual would be difficult for me.
When we arrived at the M.E. it was busy as usual. Once we stepped inside, even before gaining admittance into the pick up room, we were overwhelmed with the stench of death and decay. After gaining entry, we saw the reason why, On one of the prep-tables was what appeared to be a man that had not been found for a few days after his death. His stomach was bloated and distorted and had turned a putrided green color. His fingertips were already black and his neck and lower jaw were quickly advancing to the blackened state of decay.
It took me a long while to become 'nose-blind' to the stench, even after they pushed his body into the morgue coolers, but with death you never fully become 'nose-blind' to that smell. Every neuron in your body is on fire, compelling you to run away from whatever it is that is causing that horrible smell. Thankfully I didn't run, I only gagged a little.
Once our paperwork was done on our transfer the examiner went into the cooler to retrieve the body. The body inside the white plastic bag was really large, larger than any of the bodies that I had ever worked on up until this point. Trying to fit our ID bracelet around his ankle almost proved impossible this kid was so big. I had to ask Mitch for help trying to get his feet inside the bag so we could zip it up and transfer him onto our gurney. Before we transfer we always make sure that our plastic bag that we save from our casket deliveries is on the gurney because body bags from the M.E.'s office are always wet from the rinse down.
So once our van was loaded we started to head back to The Home, and Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young" came on. How horribly fitting. Here we had this 22 year old male in the back of our van who had died from, God know's what, and we were taking him into our care to prepare his body for what was to be a direct cremation.
While we were driving back, I expressed to Mitch how unsure I was about being able to do the prep on this body. I was already pretty nauseous having to endure that horrible smell of death, on top of having a head cold from last night. Mitch was understanding and said I could take a few moments before we started. After arriving back at The Home I changed into my scrubs and sat down for a moment. I texted my mom about what I was about to do, and said that I was really unsure how I was going to handle working on not only my first autopsy, but my first person who was around my age. My mom gave me some words of encouragement and I went into the prep room. Thankfully the body was still inside the bags and Steve had just walked in the door.
I asked Steve if he would be willing to help with the prep since I was so unsure of myself. Bless his heart he was more than happy to help me out, and Mitch was very understanding of everything. I took another moment and excused myself to the bathroom, where I proceeded to weep. Why I was crying I do not know. Probably because this guy was just a year younger than me, and probably because I could only imagine what hell his family must be going through right now. After composing myself I proceeded to gown up along Mitch and Steve.
And then the unveiling began.
I took a moment to step out as they unzipped the body bags, just so I didn't have to witness the horrible surprise that awaited us all. Once they were done I came back into the room and saw blood. A lot of blood. Everywhere.
The Y incision that the medical examiner had made was roughly sewen to basically keep the guy's internal organs, which were in a plastic bag, inside his body cavity. Now since this body was to be a direct cremation and there was going to be no visitation, we did not need to embalm him.
Pros of embalming an autopsy body: the arteries we use are already exposed so it makes that job really easy.
Cons of embalming an autopsy body: there is blood everywhere, and we have to take the organs out of the bag and place them in another container where we soak them to cure them, and then we do bobbing for organs to place them back inside the body cavity, brain included.
But this poor soul was not to be embalmed, so instead we began to sew him up. If you have ever wondered what it is like to sew through human flesh it is a lot like sewing through leather. We use what is called a baseball stitch whenever we have to sew up or any part of a body, and it looks exactly like it sounds, a baseball. We also put this absorbing powder over the incisions and inside the cavity to prevent any further bleeding.
And no, we did not re-open him up...not in this case at least.
What shocked me most about seeing this kid cut open like this was how flat his head was without his skull cap, and how red his insides were. I know that sounds stupid, but everything was so red. Normally when you cut someone open there is a layer of fat which is yellow, but if that existed on this individual it was dyed red from all his blood.
After observing for a moment and growing accustomed to everything, Steve and I took turns sewing up the body. Mitch showed us what was to be done with the head. He flipped the flap of skin that covered this persons head over and took off the skull cap. What we found was really shocking. On top of the skull was a hole about the size of a nickle. This lead us to believe that perhaps this individual died from a self inflicted gunshot wound, but since his mouth was already sealed we couldn't 'confirm.'.
Mitch took what looked like brown putty and placed some inside the skull over the hole of the spinal column, this would prevent any seepage from occurring. He then sprayed everything inside, and on the flip side of the skin, with a skin drying agent that would also absorb any blood and moisture. Then he stuffed a bunch of cotton into the cavity and placed the skull cap in place. Now a lot of morticians will use metal brackets to anchor the cap, but Mitch is old school and instead gathered some string and "sewed" it in by basically creating a sling and having the string hold behind the muscles of the ears.
Once the cap is securely in place Mitch replaced the skin flap and began sewing. Thankfully the medical examiner had begun their incision well behind the ear, which means that had the family requested a visitation it makes our work as morticians easier; also this gentleman had a head full of thick hair which covered the sewing nicely.
After all the king's men (and woman) put Humpty Dumpty back together again we had to wash the body of all the blood and then clean up.
Later I found out that this individual did not die from a self inflicted gun shot wound to the head, but instead of an accidental over dose. The hole in his head was from some sort of brain/head issue that he was having and the doctors had prescribed him some pain medication and he unfortunately over dosed before his medial condition could be treated.
I was truly thankful that Steve was there to help me out in such a difficult time, and as I thanked him he said, "No problem, that's what I'm here for, we apprentices' got to stick together." and how true, how very very true.
Until next time.
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