Roxanne, Dead Body. Dead Body, Roxanne.

Yesterday was my fifth time ever seeing a dead body. It was the first time that it was not for a funeral. I went with a group of students to a cadaver viewing at a nearby college. Not going to lie- I was kind of nervous. I had been excited for the entire week, but as the date grew closer, I began to wonder: Would I find it disturbing? How old would the person....body....be? Would I pass out? I didn't know. I mean, this had been an actual human being. And I understand they donated their body to science willingly, but I find it weird to think they used to breathe, talk, laugh, love, and have a family.

We got there, and who did I discover was our guide? Why, the super-cool brain lady who had talked to our biology class earlier this year! Not only was she super-funny, but she knew what she was talking about. And she warned us properly before we got into the room: "Now, there's a certain......disturbance factor that occurs when people first see a cadaver. You tend to stiffen up and lock your knees. And what happens then? All the blood goes to your feet. So if I see any of you being statues, I'm going to make you move around or do a dance!" She proceeded to dance.

We went in and she pulled back the moist towels covering the body (the cadaver must be kept wet to remain preserved). Honestly? It wasn't too bad. The room had its own ventilation system that circulated the air constantly, keeping the possible stench down. Thankfully, the face of the body was covered, relieving us of the discomfort of feeling a more human connection. Plus, it turned out that the body was of a 95 year old male- so no sadness about a life cut short.

The brain lady took off the sternum, revealing the inner cavity of the body. But something seemed to be missing in the upper region. "Oh! The heart and lungs aren't in here right now because they dry out so quickly. Let's see, where did I put them.....?" She rummaged around the room (I mean, they're so easy to misplace), finally locating the organs and placing them in the chest so we could see what a complete body looked like. We looked at the organs, with the heart in particular. It turned out that for this man, his heart was enlarged to try to compensate for weaker pumps, probably due to old age. She also told us that he had had bypass surgery and showed us the leg artery that they had removed and placed on the heart to redirect blood. How did they get to his heart? He had staples in his sternum where they had cut him open.

After that, we got to put on gloves ourselves and "explore."
Heart: cut in half so we could see inside
Lungs: very spongy and squishy
Liver: big
Gallbladder: green (I guess because of the bile it makes and holds)
Kidney: smaller than I thought (a little smaller than the size of my fist)
Aorta: SO long! I thought this main artery only came out of the heart for a few inches. Who knew it was about a foot long?
Brain and spinal cord: These were cut out, and they were so cool
Small and large intestine: Actually, they looked a lot like they do in the textbooks

There's more, yes, but I don't want to bore you. I did feel a little light-headed at times, but I didn't know if that was because of the body or just the temperature of the room (with ten people in there it got a little toasty). We asked the brain lady if it was uncomfortable for her to deal with so many cadavers. She said, "Not really. I like to think of this as their last wish, and if this is what they wanted then we should learn as much as we can." It was a good perspective.

Did the day make me want to go into a career with cadavers (like medical, etc.)? I don't think so. Despite her enthusiasm, I don't think I could handle death so eloquently as the brain lady. Seeing corpses day after day would not make me the person I want to be, but I would like to do another tour or something like it in the future. In a way, seeing death puts your life in perspective for you (that didn't sound cliche or anything). And would I donate my body to science? To have people pick it apart and stare at my liver? I remain undecided, but it doesn't sound like such a bad idea. Give me a few years to think about that one.

Want to donate your body to science? Visit a local university to receive a registration packet.