Anatomy, With Conditions

I can only imagine that thousands of medical and other health professional students around the world have done what we did today...got introduced to our cadavers in anatomy dissection lab. Although many programs of study are eliminating the cadaver all together (cost, biohazards, time, questionable learning value), the actual dissection of the human body is a rite of passage for some, and a pure joy and excitement for others. I am one of those. Being of surgical mind I love the challenge and hands on learning of the cadaver. Using the classic lab manual "dissector" used by many, and in a traditional anatomy lab, this is the way many have learned this science. The sounds of crowing roosters in the background is truly a unique sound as you slice through human flesh to learn the inner workings of the body.

 

But this is the Caribbean, and an island. Just as an aside, these aren't your average roosters. I've my share of encounters with them, including one morning where one decided that he didn't like that I was still sleeping at 4 AM. These are fairly aggressive roosters. They are loud, large and run freely everywhere. Rumor is that if you can catch one, he's yours (and dinner). My brother the chicken farmer says they'd be to tough to eat. They've been running around and "working out" on the hills of Statia. Nuts! Just when I thought I was going to have fresh meat.  But I digress...

On Statia, there are other challenges related to anatomy lab. Half way through the skin dissection of the back on the way down to the nuchal prominance, lattismus dorsi muscle and the spinous processes...the electricity went off for 10 minutes. The room A/C went off, and the lights went dark. In a desperate attempt not to lose time, we wheeled the cadaver table (on wheels) close to the window to be able to see what we were doing and to avoid slicing a finger off with the rather sharp #10 scalpel blades.

The dissection, four of us cutting now, continued. The temperature climbs fast in a closed room when you are 150 miles from the equator, and today was no different. Yet we endured and finished the dissection for the day as the power went back on. From a medical education standpoint, a great day filled with nuances of skin adherence to deeper fascia, and lots of superficial back anatomy (have to start somewhere). They'll be many more hours of this place before the term is over. I am quite sure that everything I own will smell like cadaver preservative. It is quite the pungent (and likely toxic) liquid...and it gets on everything.

So while this is a common event, dissection in anatomy class, the conditions certainly add some spice when you are a student on a 2x5 mile island. I'll bet my colleagues at Harvard Medical School aren't having as much fun as we are. I am quite sure that we smell the same.