dead after accident/gruesome recounting

[azguzzirep]

I had tthe job to 'pick up' a motorcyclist who had been killed in an accident on the autobahn on Saturday night.

In Germany, mortuaries handle all the deceased, wheather it be by natural causes, accident, murder, drowning, whatever. So, about 11pm, my colleague called to say we had to do a police pick up. When I got to the office,
he told me it was a motorcycle accident. He is also a motorcyclist, and this was our first pick up of a deceased motorcyclist. We feared the worst...

As we got to the scene of the accident, it was pretty long. The motorcyclist had been hit or bumped by a car causing him to go down. A car folowing had no time and no place to go and ran him over. There were gloves and shoes on the groung before where the body lay. The body lay on the highway under cover, but with blood streaming from it. Not a lot, lot, but enough to cause a small stream towards the curb side of the road. We pulled the hearse up along side the body and got out the gurney. We used a body bag to put the man into, then we loaded that onto the gurney, and put it back into the hearse. We brought the man to our office and put him in the big cooler room. The police came by later to take some more photos and do police stuff.

We were mostly quite on the ride back to the office.

Tom

[Lotsahorses]

I'm puzzled at what we are supposed to learn from this.   We already knew riding had risk....all we're left with is a creepy feeling like we were staring at the scene of an accident.

[rocker59]

I'm puzzled at what we are supposed to learn from this.   We already knew riding had risk....all we're left with is a creepy feeling like we were staring at the scene of an accident.

 :1:

no exposition, no denouement, no moral, or anything...

[Lannis]

I'm puzzled at what we are supposed to learn from this.   We already knew riding had risk....all we're left with is a creepy feeling like we were staring at the scene of an accident.

What I get from it is that you can go instantly from the highest earthly entity of creation, to a bag of meat and blood, just because someone wasn't paying attention to what they were doing .....

We already knew that, but a reminder MIGHT help US pay more attention, even if we can't do anything about the mindless zombies in the cages ....

Lannis

[Aaron D.]

I have been first on the scene of a fatality. After one's duty is done, it's normal to need to process.

I think that's what is happening here.

[luthier]

What I get is sympathy for the poor bastards who had to pick up the body.
Azguzzirep, what a terrible thing for both of you, my heart goes out to you.
You do unenviable work with little thanks or praise. I take my hat off to you.

[Nick]

What Aaron and Luthier said , Tom needed to process this and turned to his friends .

  Dusty

+1

[lucydad]

Tom,

Sharing is healthy.  Experience the emotions, process them, then move on.

My dad was a Pharmacist and also a very experienced emergency responder.  He served in the European theatre, including Normandy and the Bulge.  When I was growing up in Durango, on several occasions he used his ER skills.  This is before the days of 911, and specialists.  I know he saved a few souls, and watched some expire.  I also know he shared his traumatic experiences with a trusted few in the medical community.

Blessings.

[kidsmoke]

What I get is sympathy for the poor bastards who had to pick up the body.
Azguzzirep, what a terrible thing for both of you, my heart goes out to you.
You do unenviable work with little thanks or praise. I take my hat off to you.

+1

it's a good thing that a place exists for you to process these events. Do what you gotta do.

[Stormtruck2]

Sometimes, even when you have done this thing dozens of times, it just hits you harder than usual. When it does, you just need to vent, to share the burden.  If you want to, PM  me AZGUZZIREP.  I understand how you feel.

[Lannis]

Sometimes, even when you have done this thing dozens of times, it just hits you harder than usual. When it does, you just need to vent, to share the burden.  If you want to, PM  me AZGUZZIREP.  I understand how you feel.

Friend of mine here is an emergency responder AND a mortician, so he gets both sides of it.   He went to school for years for it, and has to handle bodies in all states of gruesomeness every day as part of his professional calling.    At some point, I suppose you have to get inured to it, or you couldn't get up and go to work in the morning .....

Lannis

[Dilliw]

I came upon a fatality incident this past May and I posted about it some here and on the V Strom board (the guy was on a Wee and attending the Stormtrooper rally).  I talked a lot about it to friends and thought a whole lot more.  It still sticks with me.  Lesson learned is we are all mortal.

[Spuddy]

My exposure to death has been limited.  However, I came across a serious accident on a two lane in in Montana.  The chopper engine sat alone, independent of its wheels.  The body was decapitated.  I road by moments after the head-on collision occurred.  By the position of the vehicles and wreckage it was obvious a large box truck was making a pass, at night, on a near blind curve.  The motorcyclist, in his lane, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.   It's been over 15 years ago but the images stick with me to this day. 

Thanks Tom, for letting us, in a small, way share your burden.

Spud

[azguzzirep]

:1:

no exposition, no denouement, no moral, or anything...

I'm not the most elequant with words, I just wanted to relate something that I did a couple nights ago with the members of the board.

It's motorcycle related and could be any one of us, including me.

Being a mortician is a new vocation for me, as well as everything else I am doing here in this country. I have gotten comfortable with the dead, in all stages of decay, but becouse this was a motorcyclist, and the first time I've had to retrieve a motorcyclist, it just hit a little closer to home than an average, run o' the mill, every day pick up

But, thanks to all of you who could read between the lines. I suppose I didn't know it, but I guess I must have needed to share it with someone. My wife doesn't want to know about what I do at work, and I ain't got so many friends here(in Germany) to B.S. with.

So, thanks.

Tom

[Lannis]

 I have gotten comfortable with the dead, in all stages of decay, but becouse this was a motorcyclist, and the first time I've had to retrieve a motorcyclist, it just hit a little closer to home than an average, run o' the mill, every day pick up

That's very understandable.   I saw my first ugly bike fatality when I was 16 (I've recounted it here before) and it's stuck with me ever since.

You sort of say "THAT could have been ME ...."

Lannis

[normzone]

I was talking with my doctor about my new bike, he said when he was an intern they made him work at the morgue whenever there was something like this - I think that's all part of cracking early those that can't take it, or getting them used to it, or something of that nature.

Thanks for trusting us to share this with.

[pehayes]

What I get from it is that you can go instantly from the highest earthly entity of creation, to a bag of meat and blood, just because someone wasn't paying attention to what they were doing .....

We already knew that, but a reminder MIGHT help US pay more attention, even if we can't do anything about the mindless zombies in the cages ....

Lannis

 :1: on the 'processing for Tom.  Still doing some of that myself.

 :1: on the instantaneous nature of such incidents.

I posted here two weeks ago about my brother in a head-on in northern Arizona.  It would take too long to diagram and describe.  You'll just have to trust me that he had microseconds of warning without the slightest opportunity for braking or evasive maneuver.  One second driving the 65 limit on a straight rural road and before the next second you're in the middle of a toyota grille.  While you were driving today, how many cars passed you in the opposite direction just feet from your shoulder.  You likey presumed they would all stay in their lane.  Sometimes all the attention and alertness and preparation doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

Happened on the 9th. We're still at the hospital in Las Vegas.  Expect to fly him home to Arkansas in the next day or so.  Thankfully, just broken bones and bruises.  Lots of them.  Long rehab, but nothing he can't recover from.  Already wants back on his Guzzi (not what he was riding).

Thanks to Guzzi friend Tim Cump for supporting me in Las Vegas during all this.  And to several from this group who called me with local advice and moral support.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[Moto]

AZ,

I'm glad you shared this experience with the group. I can well understand that sharing could help you cope. I also don't mind a concrete reminder once and awhile about the random dangers we face.

Moto

[Stevex]

Got to admit, after reading the first post I thought, why would anyone put this up on the forum.
As I read down the thread my perspective changed and I thank those of you who changed it.

Being a mortician is a new vocation for me

A job I could never do, but I take my hat off to those who take care of the recently deceased.

[Arizona Wayne]

I was talking with my doctor about my new bike, he said when he was an intern they made him work at the morgue whenever there was something like this - I think that's all part of cracking early those that can't take it, or getting them used to it, or something of that nature.

Thanks for trusting us to share this with.

Yes, BTDT too.   For a short time in the US Navy I worked on a hospital ship near the morgue.  1 day the mortician needed to do an autopsy on a dead Lt. in the cooler and needed help carrying him out onto the stainless table to cut into for autopsy.   We slid his body out and the feeling of his dead/frozen body( my fingers went into it about 1/2") was a new experience.  That and the fact he lay there complete but yet was dead was hard to accept for awhile.  1 of us was a new corpseman and he couldn't accept the moment.   Until you have that moment you don't understand.  I totally understand where Tom is coming from.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Where are the obligatory nauseation causing photos?  This thread is incomplete.

[normzone]

Yes, and using the right kind of oil/tires would have prevented this.

[DCWCALI]

Tom,

     It's always hard to deal with things when you're confronted with them esp. when they have meaning to you.  Helps to remember you are providing a service to families by taking care of their family member; just focus on the job in front of you.  And it is never a bad thing to have friends to share with when times are tough. 

[Dimples]

Now that the subject is being discussed, I was on a ride with 6 people last summer. We met at a gas station and headed out following a winding PA road that hugged a creek through the woods. About 15 miles into the ride we re-grouped at an intersection. We waited about 5 minutes for the last rider who had not arrived before we turned around. I had a sinking feeling (once before to discover a crashed friend). As we rounded a corner there were shoes in the road. Then the bike and rider along the guardrail. She was gone (her husband was with us too). A volunteer fireman had already come upon the scene and called it in. We all stood by our bikes quietly for hours while everything unfolded in slow motion. It was surreal.

A few weeks later while riding by myself I hit a large patch of oil and when down (2nd time). The bike slid in front of me across the road toward the woods while I luckily came to a stop (fully geared up). I was more or less okay. The state police helped load my bike into a friend's truck and called the fire company to clean up the spill.

I still enjoy the thrill of riding, but the risk is always on my mind.

[Markcarovilli]

Tom

It is good that you were able to post this and put it out front.  I know I couldn't do your job but can appreciate your feelings...

Mark

[56Pan]

Yes, BTDT too.   For a short time in the US Navy I worked on a hospital ship near the morgue.  1 day the mortician needed to do an autopsy on a dead Lt. in the cooler and needed help carrying him out onto the stainless table to cut into for autopsy.   We slid his body out and the feeling of his dead/frozen body( my fingers went into it about 1/2") was a new experience.  That and the fact he lay there complete but yet was dead was hard to accept for awhile.  1 of us was a new corpseman and he couldn't accept the moment.   Until you have that moment you don't understand.  I totally understand where Tom is coming from.

Nothing but respect for you here, Tom.  Long time ago, I was a Marine helicopter gunner and had to retrieve and deliver the HR's to graves registration in Da Nang.  Unpleasant but very necessary work with the attendant smells and sights.  I don't miss it.  At all.  I saw a movie not long ago, called "Taking Chance".  I freely admit shedding tears in the first 30 minutes when it showed the care and respect shown to our fallen.  It was an accurate representation.  Thanks for posting it.  A wake up call.

[Nic in Western NYS]

I'm not the most elequant with words, I just wanted to relate something that I did a couple nights ago with the members of the board.

It's motorcycle related and could be any one of us, including me.

Being a mortician is a new vocation for me, as well as everything else I am doing here in this country. I have gotten comfortable with the dead, in all stages of decay, but becouse this was a motorcyclist, and the first time I've had to retrieve a motorcyclist, it just hit a little closer to home than an average, run o' the mill, every day pick up

But, thanks to all of you who could read between the lines. I suppose I didn't know it, but I guess I must have needed to share it with someone. My wife doesn't want to know about what I do at work, and I ain't got so many friends here(in Germany) to B.S. with.

So, thanks.

Tom

Thanks for the work you do, Tom.  Very sorry you had to deal with what happened but I'm guessing you do your work with dignity and sensitivity. 

[Gliderjohn]

I have delt indirectly with death many, many times. I have probably been pallbearer at more funerals than most people have been attendees. I lost my first wife when she was only 45 and just short of our 23rd anniversary, but I have never had to deal with a gruesome, instant death as describe here or you might expect in a war setting. To those, such as azguzzirep that can and do I cannot describe my respect.   
GliderJohn

[trippah]

Dealing with the dead, bodies complete and incomplete, is a stressful job.  It is good to vent, talk about the trauma that you have shred.  Each situation will leave a mark, so, as a future body - thank you for your work and the respect and care you show..

[Rich A]

I'm not the most elequant with words, I just wanted to relate something that I did a couple nights ago with the members of the board.

Friends listen and empathize.

Tough situation, and for me at least, no worries on sharing.

Rich A