Cutting and dicing

The highlight of my week was being in the anatomy lab helping dissect a cadaver. The first module class was working on the lower extremities and abdomen of their cadaver, and since I had only practiced on female cadavers and this one was a male, I was interested in taking part. Not to mention the fact that Dr. Rust had managed to get a perfectly preserved dead fetus for us to examine.
A new lab is being built on campus and it is 100 times better than the old one- except for the fact that the air conditioning units aren’t hooked up yet, so it is smoking hot, and leaving the doors open just invites the clouds of mosquitoes in. At least there are no rats, the floor isn’t collapsing, and we have running water to wash in. We struggled for some time to move the body onto the dissecting table and then began to unwrap him.
The unfortunate gentleman had the normal pattern of bodily decomposition- after death occurs, all muscular sphincters in the body relax- which means that a dead body will urinate and defecate- as well as the hair keeping on growing. He was a little worse for wear after having been lying in his own waste for a while and as we unwrapped him Dr. Rust looked at me sternly.
“Whatever you do, go slowly so you don’t splash!”
DHBF (dead human body fluid) exposure is the most disgusting thing that can ever happen to a medical student. It happens when you forget to put on your face mask and you are leaning over with your mouth open and someone’s knife slips and stuff sprays up into your face….. or you get a hole in your glove and suddenly realize that your hand is swimming in liquid…. Or you are rushing to get a new scalpel blade and you slip and put your hand out to steady yourself and your hand lands on the edge of the table and it comes up wet….. There are not too many things that gross me out, but getting DHBF sprayed in my face that day was one of them. I was fully gloved and there was nothing to wipe with so I went up behind my housemate Asa who had a clean spot on the back of his shirt, and I rubbed my face off.
The little baby was cool, though. I took some pictures and I was telling Burton about it and saying how the baby was so cute I just wanted to take him home and put him in a little jar of formaldehyde on my shelf so I could look at him. Burton looked at me blankly.
“Heather, it’s not cute. It’s a dead fetus.”
“He’s a perfectly formed and beautiful baby.” I protested.
“Heather, it’s a dead fetus.”
Whatever. He was still adorable.
As a senior class we took our professors out for dinner this week, and we sat in a little restaurant called Trappas and talked and laughed and ate and took pictures together. Good memories. After dinner most people went out dancing but I was too exhausted from not sleeping that I stayed and had a drink with Dr. Gilbert and then he took me home. I sat at my computer screen for half an hour but I couldn’t keep my eyes open and my mouth closed and eventually I collapsed onto my bed. I slept 10 hours and felt amazing.
10 hour nights don’t last, though. Last night I was studying for this morning’s pathology exam and I only got about 2 hours sleep. I’ll catch up later, I guess.
I’m sort of paranoid about coming out of medical school with gray hair from not enough sleep. But the fact is, I love what I’m learning.
I gave a presentation this week on De Quervain’s syndrome (which is a type of tendonitis of the thumb) and instead of being asked questions by the instructor, I ended up engaging the class and asking THEM the questions. There is something so satisfying about teaching, about explaining to people how something works and seeing them understand and put it all together.
I think if for some reason I don’t manage to get a residency or I can’t license anywhere, I think I will come back here and apply to teach the anatomy lab. I think it takes a certain person to get excited about cadavers- Dr. Rust is a real trooper- but dissection is a necessary skill and what you cut on a real body, you remember.
This week I was deeply engrossed with removing the skin from the lower calf of the unfortunate gentleman, and I looked up to find a couple of my classmates laughing at me.
“Heather, you look like you’re having way too much fun there.”
I was. What can I say?