It’s been an eventful week in the mortuary, I’ve been cracking on with learning the ropes of ‘receiving’ and ‘releasing’ patients either into the mortuary or out of it into the care of funeral directors. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s hugely important to ensure that the correct paperwork is in place and that everything is recorded correctly.
It certainly felt like this was the week I started to do more things either on my own or with minimal supervision. Which then meant I made a couple of small errors, and I’m my own worst critique so I took this hard and spent far too long worrying about it!
On Thursday afternoon I had a few hours cleaning the post-mortem room. One of my colleagues had done most of the cleaning as she worked in the morning, but the patients who had been examined that day needed to be put back in the fridge, the table used by the pathologist needed cleaning and the floor needed to be hosed down and mopped. It sounds basic but there was a lot of other things going on that afternoon so it was the first time I had really done this on my own, and I felt more accomplished afterwards than doing anything else this week. Proud face moment for me.
In relation to my article a few days ago, I am beginning to look at the various paperwork in relation to the releasing of patients, and in particular I sat and studied the cremation papers used. I also helped put together a flow chart for people to understand what paperwork is required, when and the process behind figuring this out. I think once I can crack this and recognise the various forms I’ll be well on my way to knowing it well.
The title of this article is a random and direct quotation of my boss who ate three pomegranates in one day at his desk and made quite some mess in doing so! Think Desolation of Smaug but more fruit related… however it highlights the fact our hospital has a great fruit and veg stall out the front by the bike racks and car park (another and by no means the last shameless mention of the fact I cycle to work).
Lastly, the picture below (apologies for the nakedness) comes from my friend Adam who I’ve mentioned previously. He had a photo shoot this week for a campaign to celebrate scars and his surgery scar, and is using this as part of his London Marathon fundraising for The British Heart Foundation. Adam told the photographer about my work and what I’ve done to get to where I am and the below meme was produced somehow. If you would like to sponsor Adam you can in the following link-
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thegymstarter
Personally I prefer to cover up a bit more, so here’s a photo of me in my Winter cycling gear. My new Cambridge Mask is really saving my lungs from the pollution on the road, but I love the fact the only bit of me on show is my eyes!
Some exciting things happening in the next week; continuing with the training, a visit to another hospital and an evening out with a friend I’ll be certain to write about. Hope you all had a great weekend, would love to hear from you as always.
MG x
Mortuary Gem 
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