Honor from China

Not only did I do removals at the mortuary but I also got the chance to learn cosmetics from two of  the most amazing women every when it comes to that job.  Mary was the first to teach me her secrets.  A staple of the society we lived in, Mary had lived in the city for years.  In her 80s when I met her and still doing her job while smoking like a chimney she was amazing.  The tricks and tips she learned and gave were only there for me to absorb because of her years in the business.  Mary had gone to cosmetology school way back when.  When she finished she went to work for the mortuary doing piece work (hair and cosmetics only and when she was needed).  Mary had been at the same mortuary for over 60 years.  Most people aren't even in a marriage that long.  The second cosmetologist I worked with was Sharone.  Sharone was a white-girl with the black-girl attitude.  Her children were mixed and she only dated black men giving her that certain attitude that makes you giggle because she is a white-girl.  Her talent was great.  She knew just the right colors and amount of make-up to use without making them look like a porcelain doll that is plastered with make-up.  Both of these women taught me their tricks over the years and gave me the ability to because decent at cosmetics.  It isn't like putting make-up on living skin.  Living skin has elasticity because of your muscles still having control, pores absorb and expel, there is life in the skin that works with make-up.  The skin of a deceased is dry.  If they are embalmed it is firm because of the chemicals used, will absorb anything because of the drying chemicals and sometimes discolored horribly.  Unembalmed skin is even worse.  There is no firmness to it, any pull of the brush moves the skin with it, it's a little slimy because of the sebum of the skin not being washed off and has a huge lack of color to it usually.  It's more artistic like painting that being a cosmetologist.  My favorite part of it was using the molding was to repair trauma and missing parts of a persons face.  The sculpting skill needed to make a person resemble their pictures when what was there is gone is really challenging and fun.  One day at the mortuary we heard a tour bus crashed.  Several people died in the accident and some of them were family of some prominent Chinese officials.  We got those people.  I happened to be working on the day that they needed to be dressed and ready for family viewing.  Their faces had been crushed in the accident and there was discoloration and road burn marks on their faces.  With the skillful work of my hands I was able to wax and apply make-up to make them look surprisingly well.  We cleaned them up and put them in viewing rooms and awaited the arrival of their families.  To my surprise I was requested across the street to the mortuary to meet with them.  Dressed only in a pair of crappy scrubs I felt self conscious meeting Chinese Officials.  When I walked into the room an interpreter walked up to me.  The family was so very pleased with their appearance and grateful that I had given them the opportunity to say good-bye to their loved ones that they wanted to personally thank me and then a man took my picture.  I later found out that he was writing an article for a paper over in China on the accident and the work done on the deceased.  It's amazing to think that somewhere in China there is an article containing a picture of me.  I was blessed that day to feel like my job made a difference in someones life positively.  That's a rare feeling when taking someone's deceased loved one.

The most precious thing is and innocents life

At the mortuary I worked at we gave free funerals for children under 2.  Because of that, we had a high number of infant deaths that were called into us.  There is no words to describe the sadness that eats through you when you go into a hospital and wrap up a little baby and carry their lifeless body out.  Babies were my worst enemy.  Even worse was when we had a coroner's call that was an infant death.  One of my most memorable pick-ups was for a 1 1/2 yr old...

I had gone to the coroner's office to pick up the cases that they had ready for us to take back to the mortuary after their investigations were complete.  As I was loading up the first two cases the girl working there brought out this little boy on a large autopsy table.  A little figure was barely visible under the white sheet covering his lifeless body.  When the coroners office worker pulled the sheet back so we could check his identification there laid this little boy.  Just over a year old and the little boy was still in diapers.  That was the only thing protecting him.  The rest of his body was blistered, red, charred in other places and his hair had been singed off.  While having a party in their yard, this innocent little boy had fallen into a fire pit.  Why would this little of a child be left alone to get that close to fire?  How long did he lay in the pit to get that burned?  Why was it that the only body part not burned was where his sopping wet diaper protected him from the flames?  This was child neglect.  There is no reason for such cruelty in the world.  I gingerly wrapped his frail body in a sheet and plastic, transferred him to my gurney and loaded him up to go back to the mortuary. 

NASCAR move aside...

After that call I was broke in well to the life of a mortician.  There is nothing like being trapped inside a vehicle with a decomposing body, but oh did all the removal people get good at finding the quickest way to return them to the coroners office.  If it was a normal call people would take their time getting back to the mortuary, but oh those decomps.  You never really get use to the smell of decomposing meat, but it does become tolerable.  If you get any of the body fluids on you of a decomp though you might as well kiss that item good-bye.  No amount of washing or scrubbing gets that smell and greasy feeling out.  I ruined countless pairs of shoes in the course of my six years and we won't even talk about pants.  When removal people go on calls there is a set routine that gets followed to make sure it's as smooth as possible.  When a death occurs there are a few steps that not everyone knows.  If the deceased has been ill and is on hospice, either the nurse who is with them takes charge or if the family is taking care of them they need to call the hospice nurse.  Most people automatically think they need to call 911, but that is not true!  If the family knew that their loved one was sick and was receiving care through a hospice or doctor, they are the ones to call first thing.  If they are called they will check the deceased and call a mortuary of the families choosing.  If the family ends up calling 911 an ambulance and cops are sent to the house, they then have to call the coroners office who has to send an investigator out to the house.  The coroner then has to contact the doctor to verify that yes, the person was ill and their death was expected.  Then the coroner will call the mortuary of the families choosing.  If, in that long process of unintended phone calls, the coroner does not get a hold of the patients doctor, the coroner has to take control of the deceased's body until they contact the physician.  It makes the process so much longer and more stressful for the family.  Always remember, if you have a loved one who knew it was impending, call their hospice or doctor first when the death occurs.  After the person is declared dead, the nurse or the coroner calls the mortuary.  At our mortuary we had a switchboard operator who answered the phones and they gathered some general vital statistics and other information and sent the first-call to the preparation facility.  When we got the call in the preproom someone left directly from there or a driver was called who was available close to the death area.  The driver tried to hurry as quick as possible to the first-call and upon arrival grabbed the first-call book and went into the facility or home.  One person was all that was usually needed for hospices, hospitals or some group homes.  Two people were required at a home because usually you needed the extra muscle to get the person out because of not being able to get the gurney right next to the bed or wherever the person may be to get them out of the house.  After signing the necessary paperwork with the nurse or coroner we would talk to the family if they were there and see if they had any questions or needed one last moment with the deceased before we took them.  We would then go into the room and analyze the scene of the deceased.  Would we need to carry them to the gurney?  Would we need help moving them because they were large?  Do we need an extra hospital sheet for any body fluids or to help move them?  Did a hospital ID band match the information we had?  Did they have any personal items on?  All of these were some of the questions we had to ask before even touching the deceased.  A paper toe tag was filled out with name, place of death and SSN then placed on the deceased's right toe for our identification.  Then we would return to the van grabbing gloves, a plastic sheet we used, a hospital sheet if needed and our gurney.  Going back into the room it was favorable to get the gurney right next to the bed the deceased was on, if possible, and then transfer then straight across to the gurney.  Each call the same routine, different cases.  Throughout the rest of this blog I will share some of my most memorable cases with you...