I have immense respect for the person that donated that material, for allowing us to learn from and study it; I would never make that above remark in or around the labs or in a professional setting. I think that would be disrespectful. But there's occupational humor in every profession (I love talking to prosectors and morticians, it's the best), and physicians are no strangers to it. No one could find the withered, flayed, embalmed pelvis of any person "sexy," after several years of manhandling that tissue, doubtful even the person to whom it once belonged. I don't think "nice" really comes into the picture when you're dealing in absolutes like that. It's just some deadpan commentary on the cold, clinical nature of what we do.
As for being sad, autopsy work is a lot different than prosection, dissection, or cadaver anatomy. I understand why that's sad; having a little kid straight from the ICU on the slab is a lot different than the embalmed parts I deal with. The stuff we work with is bizarrely impersonal, lending itself to a sort of serene, objectified peace rather than the uncanny disquiet of an full body. The specimens today were hunks of body, from the transpyloric plane to just below the pelvis. It's incredibly difficult to think of them as "people." Human specimens are just that, specimens, and though they were people once, they are no longer.
I guess it would never occur to me to joke about cadavers un-shaved private parts, and I guess the idea of people poking fun at my cold dead body makes me feel weird about leaving it to med school. My sister did her anatomy courses a few years ago and I think she had a very different view. She's very professional, but she doesn't joke about the work, and some people deal better that way. I remember her professor talking about when he had to work with his first cadaver. The face was covered, but they saw the nails, and the woman had a manicure. Suddenly this person who donated their body became the remains of an individual in his mind and not just an object. The life was gone and only the shell was left, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't respect what they were by your treatment of their corpse. I know you are professional, but I am just saying how your comments struck me. Autopsy is tough, but I think my sister enjoys it in a professional sense. Right before Christmas, though, she had to work on a 6 year old, and she was pretty somber about it. She said the kids are the hardest. Another thing that kind of affects her slightly is amputated limbs. When the whole dead body is there, it looks less wrong than a single lonely leg lying there.
There's a petting zoo on campus? AND THEY HAVE A KANGAROO?!
Wow, that kangaroo is totally jerking it in the middle of ECU campus.
Go and pet it. Not there, I mean give it a scratch behind the ears. The fur is SUPER soft, they're pretty cool little animals up close. And if they're bringing it on campus, it's probably friendly.
There's a petting zoo on campus? AND THEY HAVE A KANGAROO?!
Wow, that kangaroo is totally jerking it in the middle of ECU campus.
Go and pet it. Not there, I mean give it a scratch behind the ears. The fur is SUPER soft, they're pretty cool little animals up close. And if they're bringing it on campus, it's probably friendly.
Tomorrow: "STUDENT PUNCHED TO DEATH BY ANIMAL PATHOLOGY KANGAROO MISTAKEN FOR PETTING ZOO ANIMAL"
(No, seriously, Ryan. You better pet the shit out of that 'roo. Take photos.)
That was one of the most terrible songs I've ever subjected myself to.
That sounded like a recording of someone scratching a chalkboard repeatedly, while a girl spews random crap out of her mouth. I listened to the song multiple times to try to find something remotely redeemable. I couldn't find anything.
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Autopsy is tough, but I think my sister enjoys it in a professional sense. Right before Christmas, though, she had to work on a 6 year old, and she was pretty somber about it. She said the kids are the hardest. Another thing that kind of affects her slightly is amputated limbs. When the whole dead body is there, it looks less wrong than a single lonely leg lying there.
"I am going to leave this concert before it ends, go to my hotel room, and go to sleep."
(In an odd moment, I have the same Klout score as Rym, and one point higher than Scott)
And...
"It's nice to feel something every once in-a-while."
Wow, that kangaroo is totally jerking it in the middle of ECU campus.
(No, seriously, Ryan. You better pet the shit out of that 'roo. Take photos.)