Early Experiences in the Dissection Room

Learning by dissecting real bodies is nothing short of an amazing opportunity.That’s what I have always thought so it’s no surprise that the idea of entering the DR has been for all the months previous to coming to St Andrews a fix thought in my mind.

Several thoughts came to my mind.
What if I don’t like it?
My friend told me it smells of formaldehyde and my nose is quite sensitive… What does formaldehyde smells like anyway???
What if I get too emotional looking at my cadaver? I have seen my fair share of dead people already but I didn’t have to spend time with them for months so I was quite unsure of how I would have felt.

The only word that comes to my mind when I think at the first time I entered the DR is “awesome”. So exciting... I can tell everyone who knows me that I dissect real human bodies now!
I did get a bit emotional looking at 686, that’s how we call him and it’s quite weird to think of him as a number after all, just a couple of years ago, he was as alive as I am.
One thing that I found peculiar was that his face was covered… why? Shouldn’t we look at this person who gave us this amazing gift? Maybe it was done for those sweet young souls that are just out of school, those who don’t have seen much of what happens when you die… those who have seen nothing about an older body.
I didn’t like this fact so, when people weren’t watching, I did lift up the cloth and had a good look at 686’s face. At least now I know who I’m dealing with.You may disagree but I find this quite more respectful than keeping his face covered. My opinion though…

The first session in the DR left an exhilarating feeling in me, how cool!
The second time we went in and all of the successive ones it was like second nature. Get in, get your gloves on, tick your name off the register and wait for the demonstrator to come around.Sometimes we just work on models and body parts, some other times 686 is there to teach us.I wonder where do they hide him when the models are present instead.
Somehow I identify the DR with him and though I’m grateful for everything (models and body parts included) when 686 is not on display I miss him, silly me!

Last week we learnt everything about the heart and the cardiovascular system. Dr Wood pointed us in the right direction and let us find out the fact by ourselves before coming and check that we got it right. I love it, I love that we’re not spoon fed every tiny bit of information but we are given the tools to find out on our own. The most bizarre thing however was that he put 686’s heart in my hands and left me with it.
Oh dear! That’s a new experience…

Holding someone’s heart in the palm of your hands… it definitely has a complete different meaning to the expression we use as living people!
But I did it and it felt good… and while I was looking at it, pushing my fingers through the blood vessels and reaching the inside of the heart I felt professional, I felt curious, I felt amazed and I felt a little bit intrusive but all in all the most important thing that I have learnt so far in the DR is that being intrusive and curious is one of the best attitudes that a doctor in training (or not…) should have.

So forgive me for loving it!

Medical update...

Almost three weeks in and going crazy!

It's all good fun, loving the lectures, enchanted by the practicals (though most time I'm told to shut up not to spoil it for those who don't have much knowledge of first aid!) and bored by hand washing but understanding it's quite essential...

Workload: HUGE!!! If one takes it seriously of course...
I suppose my commuting back and forth from Edinburgh doesn't help either...

Thank goodness for amazing friends who offer me a place where to stay when it's needed and for those who offer to cat-sit when I do have to take up the offer of a place to stay.

Anything changed from the beginning? Yes and no...

Yes, I have made so many more new friends. Some similar to me, some very different, all of them enriching my experience in med-school!
In the space of three weeks I think I have learnt so much new stuff I couldn't even fathom to fit in my head but, lo and behold, it fits!!!
I've become an expert in tissues, bones, joints and muscles though I know that in a few weeks I'll look back and what is considered "an expert" tonight will be a beginner then...
I love that my lecturers start to recognise me... A few know me by name, by the fact that I am the crazy one commuting from Edi and the one they have to hide from if they see me in a corridor as I'll occasionally surprise them with random questions!!! :-) But I know they love it, really!!!

No, the fact that I still feel like I have won the lottery by entering here is still very much the same. Just tonight I read an article stating that this year about 30,000 students have not made it into university for lack of places... But I'm here...
The will of working hard is still very much present and growing with every new exciting thing we learn. I do tend to get a bit lost in things I find interesting rather than focus on the task we are given but that's just me and I suppose becoming a doctor requires having an inquisitive mind so yeah, I'm exploring my new realm now... I'm tired, a lot, oh but it's worth it!

We have to do loads of reflecting writing, I do reflect so much for that and then I don't feel like reflecting for the blog anymore but one day I'll look back on what I'm writing now and I'll smile... Can't certainly put on my reflective pieces some of the stuff I write on here...
It's good though, it helps me to consider a lot of things under a different perspective!

So all in all everything still shines... let's hope I'll feel the same after seeing my mid-semester assessment results!!!