Belle Morte

On my first shift, I was called out to collect a body. Then I assisted in the embalming of this very small, very old lady.

I said something about being thrown in the deep end in last post.
Nothing is quite as deep as the embalming of a human body.
I don't think I was expecting it so soon. I don't think I had really thought about it at all.

It has been a few weeks since it happened. Whilst I feel like I should've come home and written it down as it was fresh in my mind, it was such a full-on experience I needed time to decompress.

Embalming is grim, to say the very least.

Whilst the mortician (not a word used here at all, but I'm sure we can all agree it's super gangster and way cooler than just "embalmer", so...my blog, my word choices) treats the body with respect, it is not a gentle, delicate process.

This woman was essentially skin and bones, but she was still heavy and difficult to handle.

From here I'm going to explain the embalming process in as much detail as I can remember, I want to reiterate, this. is. grim. You can't unlearn what I am about to tell you. I obviously don't know everything, so don't take all my word as gospel, this is just what I did and observed.

The embalming starts with washing the body, soap and warm water.
Rigor mortis is relieved by moving and loosening the joints and massaging the limbs.
This is something that I had previously felt confusion and concern about after my second call out where the woman displayed rigor mortis. I wondered how you made it go away and how you could do it without (this is an actual thought I had that I didn't click on to until I was witnessing it being done) 'hurting" the body.

Spoiler alert: you can't hurt a dead body.

Next, the eyes are closed. This is done using eye caps. Eye caps are like large plastic contact lenses... With little spikes on them. Fairly self-explanatory how those work.
Then the jaw is sewn shut. A suture string is threaded through the lower jaw below the gums, up and through the gums of the top front teeth, into the right or left nostril, through the septum, into the other nostril, and back down into the mouth. Then the two ends of the suture string are tied together.

Then the arterial embalming is done. An incision is made in the neck, then an incision is made in the carotid artery and vein. The embalming fluid is pumped in via the artery, the blood is flushed out via the vein. After the embalming fluid has started making its way through the body the skin starts to look...not "natural".. .but very bright and much less dead.

Next is the cavity embalming. This is the super grim part. An incision is made in the belly and a tool called a trocar is used to puncture the organs to allow for gases and fluids to be released. Essentially it's stabbing a big metal stick all through the organs. It makes a very strange crunching noise that I can still hear...

Through some of this process, the bowels were purging. That's probably the most unpleasant part of it all.

Once the organs have been punctured the abdomen is filled with a more potent embalming fluid.

Once all of the body fluids have been purged and the embalming fluids have been pumped, the incisions are closed. A final wash is done. The body is dried, dressed, and placed in the casket.

Unfortunately, I did not get to flex my makeup artistry skills as this lovely lady was not one for cosmetics.

After all was done, I was exhausted.

I'll be honest, I didn't sleep that well that night.
It was a VERY full on experience.
It's definitely something I need to be exposed to more to get used to.

Just writing that out took the wind out of my sails.

I have to say though, I saw the lady again later that day, in her outfit and her cosy casket. She looked lovely. Peaceful. It was nice seeing her that way.