Music: Stars- "Reunion"
Medicine: GI Physiology
Happy New Year! I don't really have too much to write at the moment, though I suppose a lot has happened since my last post. We finished with the first anatomy test on the chest and thorax, I had a great 2 weeks relaxing with friends and family, and I had a wonderful New Year's Eve! Okay, so I spent NYE in my room watching "how i met your mother", but it was far greater than it sounds! I partied the night before, so I just wanted to relax and do my own thing. In any case, over the break, I watched a good 5 seasons of that show, so I feel pretty accomplished.
A new year is as good a time as any to reflect on the previous year. Overall, there were a lot of changes. But the most important change was medical school. And as challenging as it may have been so far, it is worth it. Every long day studying, every hour pouring over anatomy books, every minute spent rereading a sentence because I didn't understand it the first time- all worth it. Well... maybe not the extra minutes used clearing up a difficult concept. But still, in essence, all the time I devote to my studies has been well worth it. Sure, I would love to spend time hanging out rather than studying (I sense a recurring theme here), but again and again it never fails to amaze me how much I love what I'm studying. Thanks 2010! Let's hope 2011 turns out to be a good year, too.
As a reflection of this past year, and technically because it's an extra credit assignment, I took some time to write a little over a page about the day leading up to my first dissection. It is written below. Enjoy!
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I stand at my locker, peering nervously around at my colleagues. What was it like, I want to ask them. Will it be hard to be around it? To cut into it? “It” was once a person too, I silently remind myself. Still, I can’t overcome the feeling of uncertainty and anxiousness. But despite my nervousness and fear, I feel as though I’m brimming with excitement. This is what my entire life has culminated to; this is what I have wanted for so long. I finally have the chance to experience human anatomy. To live human anatomy. There is nothing more important than what that thought entails. My entire past, and my entire future, is built on this year. No pressure, Ian. I take a deep breath, slip on my lab coat over my scrubs, and begin the descent to the anatomy lab. In the distance, I can hear the faint bustle of chatter. As I curve down the stairs and down the halls, it grows louder and louder. The cacophony finally peaks as I reach the lab door, punch in the security code, and swing open the door. I take one last deep breath.
As I step through the portal, I pause for a moment to take in the entire scene. Strewn about the room are tables- no, more like raised platforms- each carrying human bodies of many different shapes and sizes, all lying face down with their spinal chords exposed. Huddling around each body are two to five medical students, all completely enveloped in their own worlds, unaware of my sudden intrusion. The entire room is alive. At the far end of the room, I see couple of students placing textbooks strategically around their cadaver in preparation for teaching. At a table next to them, another two of my classmates are emphatically explaining various anatomical distinctions of the back, while a group listens intently. They seem so serious, yet so unaffected by the fact that a dead body is lying underneath them. Next to that group are two other students, considering a full model of a human skeleton, locked in intense debate and deliberation. I can’t help but shake off a smile. Well, this isn’t something you see every day, I chuckle to myself. So much life in the room, yet more death than I have ever encountered.
After scanning the area, I notice a couple of my friends working over a larger, African American man. I meander over to the body, and catch their attention.
“So, teach me everything about the back!” I say with a grin.
***
It wasn’t long before I was completely enthralled. Initially, I was so distracted by the thought that this man had once been alive, but was now pale and lifeless. I even felt momentarily dizzy when I glanced at his unnaturally pale palms and fingertips. I had to quickly look away, and focus on the words of my living cohorts. But now, as I lean over the cadaver, I am spellbound as my friends guide me anatomically step by step through the layers of the back muscles, right down to the spinal chord. As they had been explaining the anatomy to me over this past hour, I realized something. These people lying on the tables have donated their bodies to us, to be a part of our life, and a part of our future. There is nothing sinister or macabre about dissecting. There is no reason to be nervous. I have joined the ranks of an elite few who have the chance to participate in a life changing opportunity. And for that, I am eternally grateful. I am no longer afraid to dissect; in fact, quite the opposite. I look forward to every moment I will spend learning in the lab, for there is no better way to learn anatomy than to live it.
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"All I want is one more chance to be young and wild and free"
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