rip stick = ripped arm.

These are the times being away really, really sucks.
Listening to him over the phone was a Mama's version of hell.
Fractured both his radius & ulna.
We go to the ortho tomorrow for the full cast.
He hopes he can get purple.
I'll be there.

Edit:
He got purple.
I was there.

2nd Quarter MIDTERMS.

Thankfully, I only had 3 classes with midterms & they are OVER.

ANATOMY: 96%
MICROBIOLOGY: 100%
CHEMISTRY: 98%

By looks alone, it would appear these exams were easy. If only it were so! We were told quite a few of us did really well but the flip side was quite a decent proportion of the class failed them all. But I, oh I, ROCKED THEM.

Signed,
Boastfully Proud as Shit of Myself

what am i here for?

I've been asked what exactly we do in Mortuary school.

In a nutshell, I'm learning how to properly, legally, ethically & professionally:

* do body removals/transfers from hospitals, nursing & private homes, often in the middle of the night
* meet with families at their worst times & make funeral arrangements with families, often mediating discord between family members
* work with doctors, hospitals, coroners, medical examiners, police, clergy, cemeteries, registrar offices, social security, insurance companies, attorneys, florists, airlines, military branches, fraternal organizations, musicians
* gather information from families & doctors to complete and register death certificates
* coordinate cemetery plots, opening of graves and inurnments & interments
* pre-need funeral arrangements (one of the best gifts you can give your survivors!)
* collect necessary documents to establish next of kin, responsible persons, military benefits, burial permits and county assistance for burial
* arrange funeral services with churches & clergy
* help family's choose caskets, urns, vaults, crypts, plots, niches, headstones
* coordinate funeral & memorial services - religious, military, fraternal, traditional, non-traditional, personalized, flowers, music, pall bearers, memorial folders, prayer cards, scriptures, memorial contributions
* coordinate proper transportation for services; limousines, hearse, family cars
* gather information for death notices & obituaries and submit them to newspapers
* collect clothing for & dress the deceased
* arrange with airlines for incoming or outgoing human remains; retrieve & deliver
* work with casket companies
* restore deceased bodies for proper viewing through use of thanatochemistry to denature proteins, destroy bacteria, lower risk of public health issues & slow the decomposition process
* recreate to natural form any part of the deceased body that was traumatized due to accident or disease before or at death with restorative art techniques (that are crazy complicated!)
* coordinate appointments with, deliver bodies & retrieve cremains from the crematory
* learn the business side of funeral home ownership; maintaining necessary insurance, human resources, obtaining financing, livery, marketing, advertising, public relations, small business management
* small group & public speaking with confidence, establishing rapport & trust with families, members of the community and surrounding businesses
etc., etc., etc...


...and you thought I was learning to embalm.