First Cadaver

Lately, I have been suffering from an ugly case of rashes. But other than that, I declare - "I am still alive!".

Just had my very first Human Biology 130 practical and tutorial session. We were separated into 2 groups - first group would do the prac first while the second would do their tutorial and an hour later, we swap. So that's how the whole thing goes in Human Bio 130. Before entering the classroom this morning (at 8am, god-damn hour for a class), I was pretty worried that I would get separated from my friends and end up with AG. That's because AG and I are in the top part of the name list while my friends (WH and MI) are in the bottom half. So when one of the tutors asked us to separate into 2 groups, I was confused. He said if there is no one willing to move into his group (each group has a tutor), he would pick names off the list and we could end up in a different group with our friends. I stood up quickly and started to move into his group. Thank god for that because he is a really nice tutor.

So, WH, MI and I ended together in the same group (yay!). And we had our first view of a cadaver in our very first prac. I thought I would faint but I didn't. (No fainting for me is an achievement.) We are banned from taking pictures in the lab - as a sign of respect to the deceased. (so don't expect me to post pictures of that sort here). Not that I would want to take any pictures of that, of course, because if I do, I risk expulsion from uni. And so, the body was stripped down to the muscles and every single organ was left intact. Definitely a preserved body would look different than a living person's, so this cadaver had a brownish-greyish tone to it. My tutor showed us the organs (heart, lungs, intestines etc). He showed us pretty much everything he could think of except the face because:

no. 1: as a sign of respect,

no. 2: unless we are studying face or neck muscles, the face is not essential to our prac

and no. 3: it would be highly shocking to our system if we viewed that in our very first prac.

Thank god for that because I don't think I can handle seeing the face. It seemed that I was pretty lucky since it's very rare that we could see a whole body in the lab. Most of the time, they would cut up the body into sections and only show the sections relevant to our studies at that particular time. All cadavers are donated to the state of WA and are shared by various facilities. Curtin is just one of the few that has access to these, so as to aid learning. And after a period of 3 years, all bodies would be returned to the deceased's family for burial or more commonly, cremation. As students, we are expected to treat the cadavers with respect and care. We are supposed to be gentle with them. Poking them for no apparent reason would incur the wrath of my tutor, I was told. And that, they are quite fragile than they seem, so we should always becareful at all times.

Other than cadavers, there were many other interesting stuffs at the anatomy lab. Plastic models of human organs are a staple (but they are extremely expensive and highly accurate as well). Then, we have the real things such as human bones, that had already been plasticized (or something like that), so they are sterile and we can touch those with no worries. Of course, I didn't touch anything at all. It would be too scary and too much for me to handle. My tutor told us that he expects us to at least take a good look at the cadavers because these will be used in the prac exam as well.

Going to the anatomy lab was definitely a learning experience. It was scary at first, but I think I am doing okay since I didn't faint. At the very least, bio lab is one of those few things that have been going on well for me this week.

*P.S: I really salute those who donated their bodies for scientific studies and learning. It's all thanks to them that health science students like me are able to learn anatomy. I hope that they all will be able to rest in peace in the afterlife.*