I don't even know the name of my first patient...

Yesterday and this morning I was pretty consumed with the idea that at 2:00pm I would open up the lid of a big titanium tank and there would be a dead person in it. I just didn't know how I would react. I imagined all the medical students would be in a big room with about 20 tanks and all of us would just lift up the lids and sort of gasp as we looked inside to see a naked dead body. I imagined them fully exposed, just eyes closed, ready for us to dissect them... 

(This picture is not from our A&M lab, this picture is off the internet. Imagine 5x's this many people and 20 more tanks...we were in white lab coats too)

I am glad to tell you that it didn't go down exactly like that. Although there was a large number of medical students (140) all in one room, and there were exactly 21 tanks, when the time came for us to open up the cadaver tank, we found a body that was covered in a white cloth. As we pulled the white cloth down from the head, the head of the cadaver was wrapped in bandages. The hands, the feet and the head were each wrapped in this same type of bandaging. That was nice. I don't think it would have been good to have first seen the face.

We began lab by becoming familiar with the anatomy of the cadaver.  We felt along the sternum, the clavicle bone, and the ribs. Then we placed a single blade at the manubrium, right below (inferior) to the jugular notch and made our first incision. It was neat because we all had our hands on one  scalpel when we made the first cut into the skin.  

Throughout the next 4 hours we removed the skin on the chest and got through the fatty layer (subcutaneous fascia) and made our way to the muscles. We identified the pectoralis Major, Pectoralis Minor, Deltoids, and subclavian muscle. We found nerves supplying most of these muscles and many arteries (I say "found" but really we were assigned to dissect and identify these structures:)  

It was more difficult than I imagined, and just as intriguing and accelerating as I expected. It was almost as if I were discovering arteries and veins that had never before been seen.  As I made incisions and picked away fatty tissue, it was almost like I was creating a personal study module for me to learn from.  Every new image  became burned into my memory.  Using a real cadaver to learn anatomy is the only way to go.

I am grateful for the individuals that donated their bodies for me, and my fellow medical students, to learn anatomy. I will treat the cadavers with great respect and reverence. It is an interesting thought that we work with dead bodies so we can keep people alive.

-Dr. Mike