Dealing with the Dead

@panda12 wrote:

It’s hard dealing with them in my “every day” job.

As a Mortuary Technician, I find it hard.

The picture Joker sent of you now makes sense, it was one of your creations. 8)

I deal with the dead everytime I step into forum 3 chat

:lol:

@panda12 wrote:

It’s hard dealing with them in my “every day” job.

As a Mortuary Technician, I find it hard.

Panda, I’m still taking your post at face value, so I hope you have a good week and that you never lose that humanity.

Being there when someone takes their final breathes can be a surreal experience.

My father had suffered from prostrate cancer for a few years which he kept to himself and my mother, though we knew something was not right.

At the time I was working in Maastricht in the south of Holland, driving over on a sunday evening and back on a friday night. One particular evening after I had worked during the day I received a phone call from Helen to come home because it was near the end for my father. For some reason I had not had an alcoholic drink that evening so I set off soon afterwards. The three and a half hour drive to Calais was a blur and so was the ferry crossing as it was before the tunnel opened. I managed to sleep a bit on the ferry but on the M20 I was starting to fall asleep so had to stop at South Mimms and grab a few winks.

Feeling a bit more awake I then drove to near Banbury to the hospice. Getting there at about 7am my mothert met me to say my father had had a good night and not to worry but go home and get some rest. No sooner had I driven the 30 minutes home and collapsed into bed I received a phone call from the hospice to return as it would not be much longer.

On returning my father was heavily drugged to alleviate the pain and was not concious to what was happening around him. The next couple of hours passed quickly and my mother was very strong as she knew and expected what was going to soon happen, and she was the first to realise he had left us.

Knowing the only result was inevitable is not easy but the dignity which was accorded my father by the hospice was incredible. Sadly my mother died in a hospital in a way that was nowhere near the same and her passing was scary for her though sadly also inevitable too.

I personally look at funerals as a celebration of someone’s life and though sad should also be joyous. Saying all that, both my parents had lived full lives but feeling the same when people die young especially for parents of children who die must be incredibly hard.