An ow, and a real, I'm not just being flippant, question.

[earthling42]

Ow: Cardboard cut across my right palm. Motherfucker. I've got one of those giganto band aids on it, but it has seriously cut down my right hand abilities for the afternoon. My handwriting is quite amusing. Typing is quite annoying. If anyone asks, I'm telling them I developed a stigmata

Comments

[ex_callie647]

Hey

We had to open the body ourselves. We started our dissection on the muscles of the back, because things are really big there and hard to mess up. The head was covered with a shroud so you don't get traumatized early on. Then we worked on the chest wall, then the lungs and heart. Then it was the abdomen, then the pelvis/perineum. At this point we had to saw off one of the legs to see the cross sectional anatomy of the perineal region (ps perineum = genital area). Next we did the limbs, and each of us got our own limb (4 ppl are in a group). The other leg was sawed off to make life easier. So I worked on the upper arm for a week or two then switched to work on the lower leg/foot. A partner did the thigh/buttocks and then forearm/hand.

Now we are working on head and neck. We removed the calvaria (top part of the skull) to get out the brain. We dissected the face and currently working on the eyes. The last thing left is the neck.

Most of the bodies now are two legs, and then the torso is separate.

Hope that helps!

[earthling42]

Thanks! This is really helpful. I have one more [possibly dumb] question: do they smell?

[ex_callie647]

They do smell. Most of the bodies smell of formaldehyde, which you get used to. Our body has a very odd and a very bad smell that even the teachers admit smells funny. Lucky us.

Oh one other thing that I always thought was interesting: so when we are done w/ the bodies they individually get cremated and the remains go back to the families. Later next year there is a ceremony to honor the people who donated. Every time we remove a bone from the body we have to keep it in the bag b/c the bones are what remains when you cremate the body (we can throw away soft tissue because that just would evaporate anyway during cremation but they are really strict about not throwing away bone).

[earthling42]

Thanks again.