MY ROTTING BODY
After the heart stops beating,
the body immediately starts
turning cold. This phase is
or the death chill. Each hour,
the body temperature falls
about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit
until it reaches room temperature.
At the same time, without circulation
to keep it moving through the body,
blood starts to pool and settle.
Rigor mortis, or a stiffening of the body,
sets in about two to six hours after death.
While the body as a whole may be dead,
skin cells, for example, can be viably
harvested up to 24 hours after death.
Some things, additionally, that are still alive
lead to the putrefaction, or decomposition,
of the body such as tiny organisms that live
in the intestines. A few days after death,
these bacteria and enzymes start the process
of breaking down their host. The pancreas is
full of so many bacteria that it essentially
digests itself. As these organisms work
their way to other organs, the body becomes
discolored,
first turning green,
then purple,
then black.
If you can't see the change,
you'll smell it soon enough;
the bacteria create an awful-smelling gas.
In addition to smelling up the room,
the gas will cause the body to bloat,
the eyes to bulge out of their sockets
and the tongue to swell and protrude.
(In rare instances, this gas has created
enough pressure after a few weeks to cause
decomposing pregnant women to expel
the fetus in a process known as coffin birth.)
A week after death, the skin has blistered
and the slightest touch can cause it to fall off.
A month after death,
the hair, nails and teeth will fall out.
The hair and nails, by the way,
while long rumored to keep growing after death,
don't have any magical growth properties.
They merely look bigger as the skin dries out.
Internal organs and tissues liquify,
which will swell the body until it bursts open.
At this point a skeleton remains.
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