From the Dead ; We Live

*WARNING: Those of weak heart and despise eerie body parts, don't look at the pictures~! Don't say I didn't warn you!*

I thought this would earn at least a post in my blog despite how much I dislike them. Well, not them but the formalin. I can't stand the smell of formalin, i never got accustom to the smell even till my last dissection class. I’m being labeled the Mask Girl.

For every dissection class, there would be layers of Vicks and Minyak Cap Kapak on my nose, covered with a facial mask. I know it sound exaggerating, but that’s just how it is for me with the dissection hall. However, above all this, I respect those people who donated their body for our learning. Truly from their body, we got a real picture of what's like within the body. Too be frank, most of them don't even know they would end up on the metal table for dissection. They never knew that hundreds of medical student would stare at their body and be preserve for many many years. They never knew that they would be label as “CADAVER”. Most of them are not unclaimed bodies. While they were still living, they don’t even have a family or proper meals to begin with. Most of them died of hunger or from coldness. And the next thing you know, liters of formalin are pumped into their body. Our anatomy lecturers will then spend time on dissecting them; slowly removing the skin first then fascia etc. The tools that they use range from small blades and forceps to as huge as a tree saw.

About 90% of the cadavers are extremely thin and you can make out the reason of their death. I still remember we had one with Bell’s palsy. As a dental student, we always get only the head. Yes, only the head, no body.  Sometimes, if required, we get sections of the thorax also. Some of the bodies are already chopped into half and have their limbs removed. You might think of it as inhuman, but that’s how it’s. The best is we even have a museum of properly dissected specimen. I haven’t been in there before but I heard that you can really see each structure distinctively.

If you are daring enough, you can have a hand on experience with them. Till now, I have only touch it once; and that was during my viva with Mr. Vk. It feels cold and hard; probably because they just took it out from the huge refrigerator. I thought I would feel nausea during my first dissection class, but everything went fine. My first encounter was a female cadaver. It was a full body and I still can recall her features. And yes, she was an Indian.

I know many have shunt away from medical courses with the reason that they can’t stand looking at dead bodies. I been through that thought before but I’m glad I pursued my course. And I thank God for leading me to do my course in India because I can’t think of a better way but to study from the dead. It’s certainly eye-opening and refreshing during every dissection class. I personally think that each cadaver should be given a noble prize, really they deserve it.

Nobody is useless; even after dead