Today was quite a day. In addition to Anatomy lecture this morning at 8, and another class called "Intro. to Clinical Reasoning and Problem-Based Learning," we had our first Anatomy lab today at 1pm. I can honestly say that I wasn't able to pay attention much to any of this morning's classes, because 1pm was looming in my mind. I was so pre-occupied with the thought of being in my first cadaver lab, that I couldn't even focus.
I am not a squeamish person in the slightest (as my family can certainly attest to, considering I have often found it difficult to NOT discuss the nasty, but interesting things I learned about in school), but my emotions were swirling in my brain today, and I was so nervous about actually seeing the body for the first time today. Even when we went up to the 5th floor of the education building (where the Gross Anatomy lab is housed) I started getting a little nervous. But, considering the fact that I have 10 weeks of many long hours in the lab, I got over my nerves very quickly. There is not a whole lot of time to contemplate being nervous, although there were moments of it throughout the afternoon.
The cadaver lab itself is beautiful. Since the Anschutz Medical Campus is completely brand-new, all of the facilities (barring the old Army hospital, where President Eisenhower stayed when he had a heart attack) are pristine, and gorgeous. The anatomy lab has big, bright windows that look out to the old army hospital, fondly known at "Building 500," and they let a lot of light in, which is nice, since a good chunk of the lovely summer weather will be going away during lab times. There are 5 interconnecting lab areas, so we can freely walk about the long hallway of cadavers, and observe what others are seeing, and the techniques others are using.
Immediately upon walking into the lab this afternoon, my nose let me know right away that there was no other place on campus that this area could be except the Gross Anatomy lab. Surprisingly though, I adapted quickly to the smell.
We proceeded to our designated humidor, sort of a large, stainless-steel tray with a lid that folds down. We opened the lid, and the black body bag with our cadaver was inside. After unzipping the body bag, we figured out that we had a female cadaver, and the tag on the table said the date of death was July of 2009. The hands, feet, and face are covered by gauze bandages for now, which definitely helped with the emotional disconnect that had to happen before I was ok to dive in and cut.
During the entire lab session today, I kept thinking about how amazing we are as a species, and being able to see it first-hand really reinforces that. Even though I felt a little emotional when lab was all over tonight, when I was actually doing the dissection, I was completely fascinated by the structures, and actually being able to see what I've been learning about and studying throughout my life as a student...it's pretty amazing.
As you can tell, today was a day for Anatomy, and nothing much else happened today. I have to study and read ahead for lecture tomorrow and Thursday, and prepare for what we will be dissecting on Thursday, when we will encounter the upper extremity.
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Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Seeing what few others see...
Today was quite a day. In addition to Anatomy lecture this morning at 8, and another class called "Intro. to Clinical Reasoning and Problem-Based Learning," we had our first Anatomy lab today at 1pm. I can honestly say that I wasn't able to pay attention much to any of this morning's classes, because 1pm was looming in my mind. I was so pre-occupied with the thought of being in my first cadaver lab, that I couldn't even focus.
I am not a squeamish person in the slightest (as my family can certainly attest to, considering I have often found it difficult to NOT discuss the nasty, but interesting things I learned about in school), but my emotions were swirling in my brain today, and I was so nervous about actually seeing the body for the first time today. Even when we went up to the 5th floor of the education building (where the Gross Anatomy lab is housed) I started getting a little nervous. But, considering the fact that I have 10 weeks of many long hours in the lab, I got over my nerves very quickly. There is not a whole lot of time to contemplate being nervous, although there were moments of it throughout the afternoon.
The cadaver lab itself is beautiful. Since the Anschutz Medical Campus is completely brand-new, all of the facilities (barring the old Army hospital, where President Eisenhower stayed when he had a heart attack) are pristine, and gorgeous. The anatomy lab has big, bright windows that look out to the old army hospital, fondly known at "Building 500," and they let a lot of light in, which is nice, since a good chunk of the lovely summer weather will be going away during lab times. There are 5 interconnecting lab areas, so we can freely walk about the long hallway of cadavers, and observe what others are seeing, and the techniques others are using.
Immediately upon walking into the lab this afternoon, my nose let me know right away that there was no other place on campus that this area could be except the Gross Anatomy lab. Surprisingly though, I adapted quickly to the smell.
We proceeded to our designated humidor, sort of a large, stainless-steel tray with a lid that folds down. We opened the lid, and the black body bag with our cadaver was inside. After unzipping the body bag, we figured out that we had a female cadaver, and the tag on the table said the date of death was July of 2009. The hands, feet, and face are covered by gauze bandages for now, which definitely helped with the emotional disconnect that had to happen before I was ok to dive in and cut.
During the entire lab session today, I kept thinking about how amazing we are as a species, and being able to see it first-hand really reinforces that. Even though I felt a little emotional when lab was all over tonight, when I was actually doing the dissection, I was completely fascinated by the structures, and actually being able to see what I've been learning about and studying throughout my life as a student...it's pretty amazing.
As you can tell, today was a day for Anatomy, and nothing much else happened today. I have to study and read ahead for lecture tomorrow and Thursday, and prepare for what we will be dissecting on Thursday, when we will encounter the upper extremity.
I am not a squeamish person in the slightest (as my family can certainly attest to, considering I have often found it difficult to NOT discuss the nasty, but interesting things I learned about in school), but my emotions were swirling in my brain today, and I was so nervous about actually seeing the body for the first time today. Even when we went up to the 5th floor of the education building (where the Gross Anatomy lab is housed) I started getting a little nervous. But, considering the fact that I have 10 weeks of many long hours in the lab, I got over my nerves very quickly. There is not a whole lot of time to contemplate being nervous, although there were moments of it throughout the afternoon.
The cadaver lab itself is beautiful. Since the Anschutz Medical Campus is completely brand-new, all of the facilities (barring the old Army hospital, where President Eisenhower stayed when he had a heart attack) are pristine, and gorgeous. The anatomy lab has big, bright windows that look out to the old army hospital, fondly known at "Building 500," and they let a lot of light in, which is nice, since a good chunk of the lovely summer weather will be going away during lab times. There are 5 interconnecting lab areas, so we can freely walk about the long hallway of cadavers, and observe what others are seeing, and the techniques others are using.
Immediately upon walking into the lab this afternoon, my nose let me know right away that there was no other place on campus that this area could be except the Gross Anatomy lab. Surprisingly though, I adapted quickly to the smell.
We proceeded to our designated humidor, sort of a large, stainless-steel tray with a lid that folds down. We opened the lid, and the black body bag with our cadaver was inside. After unzipping the body bag, we figured out that we had a female cadaver, and the tag on the table said the date of death was July of 2009. The hands, feet, and face are covered by gauze bandages for now, which definitely helped with the emotional disconnect that had to happen before I was ok to dive in and cut.
During the entire lab session today, I kept thinking about how amazing we are as a species, and being able to see it first-hand really reinforces that. Even though I felt a little emotional when lab was all over tonight, when I was actually doing the dissection, I was completely fascinated by the structures, and actually being able to see what I've been learning about and studying throughout my life as a student...it's pretty amazing.
As you can tell, today was a day for Anatomy, and nothing much else happened today. I have to study and read ahead for lecture tomorrow and Thursday, and prepare for what we will be dissecting on Thursday, when we will encounter the upper extremity.
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