CaptnCheerio

My grandfather passed away two weeks ago. He was very sickly when he passed and extremely underweight, but he looked very 'healthy' in his casket. My mom and I were trying to figure out what they did that helped him look more husky. What methods do you use to give the appearance of weight?

Also, thank you for the work you do. I can't imagine how draining it is to be around grieving families all the time. I'm sure you know it already but you provide an immense amount of comfort and closure to families.

Not OP, but my grandpa passed away last week due to complications directly related to Alzheimer's/demetia.

He would no longer chew food and had a difficult time swallowing due to his brain no longer really processing that he was eating. He was on a firm liquid diet (think pudding). All of his food had to be pureed, strained, pureed again, then a thickener had to be added to keep it from being too runny. His drinks also had to have a thickener.

He'd frequently contract pneumonia because he'd aspirate food into his lungs. A feeding tube wasn't an option because it was likely he'd rip it out and also likely he wouldn't survive the surgery to put it in.

He techinally died due to pneumonia, but really he was at the very end stage of Alzheimer's and contracted pneumonia as a direct result of it.

I think it's entirely possible to die from Alzheimer's, but most of the time they die from something that stems from their Alzheimer's.

He was in a button up flannel shirt and denim bibs. Those were the clothes he wore when he was 165lbs, when he died he was a little more than 100lb.

I was thinking maybe they padded him up so he would present better. Is that something you guys do?

Not OP, but it does help provide for families.

I'm not someone who really agrees with embalming. My grandfather passed a couple weeks ago and he had been very sickly for a long time. The funeral home did a phenomenal job embalming him. My mom broke down in tears when she saw him because she was just happy to see him not looking so sickly. She was with him when he died and it really upset her.

Thanks to the people at the funeral home her last image of him isn't the traumatic one from the night he died. Now when she thinks about him she has the memory of him looking 'healthy' and peaceful.

My grandpa recently passed away and had severe demetia/alzheimer's.

It went undiagnosed for a long time. 5 or 6 years ago he was put under anaestesia for a medical procedure then after that he went rapidly down hill.

Is going under GA and then a rapid decline something you've noticed in your patients?