A Tough Removal

I got a call at 10pm tonight. There was a death and I had to go help make the removal. T went with me again. This was at a residence, and it was the toughest removal I've done, not that I've done many. Even T, who's been doing this for about 3 years, said it was the hardest one he's come across. The house had an upside-down Y staircase leading up to the porch. Once inside the front door there was another, smaller staircase (about 6 steps) leading up to a common room, where the deceased was. If this had been a typical 100 pound, 80 year old lady, it would not have been a problem. Unfortunately, whatever the deceased died from caused them to have a significant weight increase. This person must have been at least 300 pounds.

So we got the person onto the cot and all covered up and strapped in. We brought the body out feet first, with me at the feet, trying to hold up the cot and maneuver it down the stairs. T was at the head, so he had a good portion of the weight on his end. When we started down the first flight of stairs, the body began to slide toward me. Inwardly I freaked out, but maintained an appearance of control. I thought for sure the body was going to slide right off the cot and onto the floor. I told T what was happening, and we got down to level ground as quickly as possible, but still with some more slipping and sliding of the body. Once we got on level ground, we tightened down the straps, did some readjustments, and finished bringing the body down to the driveway. Despite our best efforts, though, there were some moments I thought we would lose control. My arms are sore from holding up my end. I can only imagine what T's feel like, or will feel like tomorrow. If I never have to do a removal like that again, it will be too soon.