Imagine having the image of a dead person in your mind twenty-four seven, and how horrible that would be. Oh wait, I do! I blame this tragic situation on my PDBIO 220 class—Human Anatomy. Each week in this class we are forced to sit through two whole hours of monatomous lab, at which I enjoy the pleasure of staring at human pieces of meat for practically the entire time. For those who have not seen a human cadaver, let me tell you about it. The muscle (or meat) does not look anything like that of which we buy at the store to eat. Instead, it is all completely gray, dull, and lifeless. The individual muscles I am supposed to be able to identify all seem to blend into one giant mass of nothing. It is almost like I am looking at last week’s composted garbage! Well maybe not that extreme, but you get my point. The worst part, though, is when you peel back the cloth to reveal none other than a human face. It scares me every time! And I mean scared as in the “someone just jumped out at you in the dark” kind of scared. Keep in mind, though, that I am probably only one of a handful of students who react this way to the bodies. In actuality, most students find it quite fascinating.
I have no doubt that the images of dead people have stuck in my mind these past few days because of the amount of time I have spent staring at them. Repitition really does help you remember things! Sad thing is that these images have no real meaning to me, besides the fact that I need them to be implanted in my brain to pass a class. Maybe someday when I am diagnosed with some strange bodily disorder I will look back on these images and be able to identify exactly which structure is being affected. For now, though, I really just wish they would go away. My brain hurts, especially after having to look at the brain for two hours today! Sometimes I wish I could just stare at nothing all day, because this sixth sense is really getting to me (you know the movie right? “The Sixth Sense”...I see dead people!). :)
Karen you make me laugh. I was grinning the whole time I read your blog. It was very entertaining. I liked your clever title as an allusion to the movie. Anyways good luck with your sixth sense and for your sake I hope you get used to the body parts before you are accepted into the nursing program :D
ReplyDeleteI can still smell that awful smell from the cadaver trip in bio. Sometimes science is not so fun.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean. It is kinda weird thinking "that used to be someone" or "that was someone's brain". Truthfully it is fascinating but also kind of unsettling. I could do without the smell and the tedious tests. At least I will probably know the names for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteNo Joke....this girl talked about anatomy in her sleep last night!!! I only heard the word brain and cell and the rest was mumbling, but I knew she was thinking about anatomy ;)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness. I totally understand. I'm in the class too and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. It's pretty cool, but super creepy. You did an awesome job writing about it though!
ReplyDeletefunny. I like that you use an allusion to the sixth sense. i love that movie!
ReplyDeleteIt's weird thinking that that was an ACTUAL person..have you ever thought what that person did for a living? Who they were? What they accomplished? And what they've become?
ReplyDelete