Day 1, Gross lab
I survived day 1 of actual class. While in most cases this may not be something to write about, at GW, they take the opportunity to start Gross Anatomy, and take us into the cadaver lab so that we can look at our the body that we will be dissecting over the coming months.
Before entering the lab, we were shown a video that came from a school in the UT (Texas) system, where current medical students were interviewed about the dissection, but also a man who had willed his body to a medical school upon his death. This brought home the thought that the person we were about to meet had a full life before this. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't know that. But I think a lot of me wanted to separate this person's life from his body simply to avoid any emotional attachment that would come and make me not able to dig inside, so to speak. At the same time, it was also a good reminder of the respect that we need to have as these people did lead lives and they are giving us an incredible gift - a gift that is going to teach me, the rest of my classmates, and every other medical student in the country, more than we might ever learn from books. Even tough their lives have passed, they have given us the opportunity to learn about living, perhaps allowing them to live forever.
Upon entering the lab, the smell was recognizeable, and the 32 tables were around the room packed closer than they ever had been before as are the biggest class ever at GW. Each table had a large metal top to it, split in half, so that when swung down, the body was revealed. As we begin working on the back region, our bodies are all face down on the tables. Hopefully this eases us into the process.
Yesterday we were in the lab for about 30 minutes, meeting our the other members of our group, and, more importantly, getting over the initial shock of the body. Today is the first day we will put our hands on the cool body, and then make the first cut. The course director said he's never seen anyone pass out, so here's to hoping our class isn't a first.
still waiting,
-wait
Before entering the lab, we were shown a video that came from a school in the UT (Texas) system, where current medical students were interviewed about the dissection, but also a man who had willed his body to a medical school upon his death. This brought home the thought that the person we were about to meet had a full life before this. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't know that. But I think a lot of me wanted to separate this person's life from his body simply to avoid any emotional attachment that would come and make me not able to dig inside, so to speak. At the same time, it was also a good reminder of the respect that we need to have as these people did lead lives and they are giving us an incredible gift - a gift that is going to teach me, the rest of my classmates, and every other medical student in the country, more than we might ever learn from books. Even tough their lives have passed, they have given us the opportunity to learn about living, perhaps allowing them to live forever.
Upon entering the lab, the smell was recognizeable, and the 32 tables were around the room packed closer than they ever had been before as are the biggest class ever at GW. Each table had a large metal top to it, split in half, so that when swung down, the body was revealed. As we begin working on the back region, our bodies are all face down on the tables. Hopefully this eases us into the process.
Yesterday we were in the lab for about 30 minutes, meeting our the other members of our group, and, more importantly, getting over the initial shock of the body. Today is the first day we will put our hands on the cool body, and then make the first cut. The course director said he's never seen anyone pass out, so here's to hoping our class isn't a first.
still waiting,
-wait
mindless ramblings by wait at
10:24 AM
3 Comments:
Wow. At Divinity School our first day we got to see a body. Errr, bread and wine?
By
sam, at 4:51 PM
Do you all ever find out any information about your donated cadaver when they were a person? About 2/3 of the way through our gross class (which we had Oct-Jan of M1 year), we got some demographic stuff on our bodies, including their cause of death (COD), which we had guessed on by that point. Ours was an 80-something year old man from rural VA who had worked as a dentist,and his COD was pneumonia (we had guessed stroke). He was SUPER muscular however - we had guessed he was in his 50s or 60s. It was so cool that he was a dentist though, because that means he knew exactly what he was in for when he donated his body, since I think most dental schools do a gross dissection too.
By
Anonymous, at 10:16 AM
So did you get a man or a woman? You didn't say. What did your person die from? Once you get over the inital shock of this once being a living breaking thing, its not too bad. Hope you're having fun...well at least learning. We should hang out sometime too, since I work in Alexandria.
By
Anonymous, at 9:53 PM
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