First i got lost on my way to the anatomy hall which just resided next to LT27. So i made a large detour from Medical Library back to LT27 and down the passageway to A.H.
I entered in late and already there was a large herd of students wrapping around Prof Ng listening attentively to his prep. talk.
I only caught the tail of his speech but it was inspiring and reaffirming my faith in what I chose to learn and hopefully do.
"............. For medical students, we have them to take out their gloves and touch the cadavers. these cadavers were once someone's granny, grandpa, friends and relatives. They were also once humans like us, so please respect them and not make unsuitable remarks about them. This is also to remind us that they are here to help us learn about the human body so that we can eventually benefit mankind. "
Next we took our gloves and gathered around a cadaver.
Initially the cadaver was wrapped in a blue zipper bag, those that you see in crime scenes.
A brave girl initiated the session by unzipping it.
It wasn't scary.
Just rather sad to see a human being in that state.
In a state of being deskinned to the muscles and bones, of having undergone the irreversible process of aging and finally death. It looks sadder if you look at the cadaver's expression for a little while longer, just thinking that it could be your granny.
The TA told us to lift up the thorax, to which after much hestitation and courage, we lifted it and unveiled its inner workings.
1. A green liver
2. The whole gastrointestinal tract
3. Kidneys on both sides
4. Pancreas
5. Spleen
It had no heart and lungs cos they were dug out long ago I guess.
As to why the liver was green, the TA suggested that the gall bladder leaked or perhaps the granny had some liver problems.
Next, she flipped the intestines for us to see. It was quite shocking to see someone actually lifting up the intestines to expose separate out single tubes of the small intestines and further lifting it up to show the kidneys, pancreas and spleen.
Contrary to what books show about small intestines, they are not like long sausages coiled within the body just like that. It has some sort of ligaments clinging onto it, keeping it in place. On hindsight, the ligaments look like the underside of a mushroom, just very much wetter.
Next we proceeded to touch the arteries, veins and nerves. Arteries are bigger, like drinking straws with good recoil when pressed. Veins just flatten when pressed. Nerves are like long continuous strings.
We were pretty much left to explore the other 7 cadavers in the hall on our own, which we found some to have extremely hard livers and one to have liver cirrhosis. I supposedly found an appendix but it didn't really look like what textbook show.
We also visited the anatomy museum during the pract. On the door of the musuem there was a small label saying : " Friends and Relatives of the deceased are strictly forbidden to enter ".
It was pretty much like what you can find in the Human Body exhibition held years back, except that it is very detailed with labelling.
In the end, i just felt that we are really all the same, we face the same fate of death as all beings do. We are not much different from goats and pigs (if you see people devouring their intestines regularly). And all your identity fades after death. And... I kept comparing people on the train to a imagined cadaver model of them.
人是否只是个臭皮囊？
