Walking into the large expanse of the frigid lab was a bit overwhelming for me. Dr. Chin was going on and on about procedural stuff that I was sure I was going to need in the very near future, but all I could focus on was the table after table of bodies laid out before me. The lab was really a large refrigerated warehouse and their were at least 50 bodies prone on gurneys filling the room. I looked around and wondered if I was in over my head.
I had just been hired as an assistant instructor of Head and Neck Anatomy for USC Dental School. It was a unique opportunity--and one not given often to someone who had not finished the MD-PhD program already. My professor at UCLA had felt I was the one for the job and had given me a stellar recommendation after witnessing my precision in gross and fine dissection. I was hired on the spot after the interview and this boosted my confidence. I was nervous, as I was not that much older than the dental students I was going to be instructing. At 27, I could very easily been in their class. But, I had to trust that my professor had made the right choice—she had been my mentor since my decision to attend medical school and I did trust her judgment. Perhaps, the hardest part was going to be assembling my lab staff. I was to oversee the dissection component and the actual USC professor was to do the lecture half. I was to hand pick six people to work under me in the lab. It was a lot for a girl who only had on her resume years of waiting tables, acing the SAT, and tons of college classes. I choose from my colleagues at UCLA and built a solid team.
Today was the day, Dr. Chin handed me the keys and explained all of the procedures--of which I was nearly clueless being so dumbfounded by sheer mass of formaldehyde filled flesh everywhere. My students would be in shortly. There were going to be 20 groups of six students and each group was to get a body. We were going to spend the semester slowly uncovering all the structures of the head, neck, and finally the brain. This would be the student’s first foray into the world of anatomy and I had to be prepared for those who would be shocked and sickened—there were always a few that could handle the book learning, but when it came time to actually do the hands on work found that they needed to find a new profession.
My team was nervous and excited and looking to me to take the lead. I wore my hair up tight and a bit severe and had my glasses on. I was desperately trying to look older and wiser and hoped with my lab coat it would work. I had already dyed my blonde hair auburn to help increase the chances of being taken seriously. I had found that being a young attractive blonde woman leads many places, but more often than not, too places I didn’t want to tread in academia.
My students arrived and I assembled them into groups of 6, had them put on their masks and gowns, and get a dissection kit. I had them all go to their body stations-there were bodies of all ages, sizes, races, and both sexes. Each body had a dossier that told you the basics-age at death, cause of death, major diseases and conditions, and often a few personal facts. These were always very interesting to me-a whole person summed up on a 3x5 index card. I needed my students to take this gift of the bodies seriously and that I would not tolerate any disrespect (it may seem inconceivable but the pranks that can be played in an anatomy lab are disturbing to say the least).
As the students surrounded their bodies, I had them read the dossier and make a physical examination of the body, noting any significant marks or discolorations. Once the sheets came off the room went silent. I could sense their alarm. On my left was the body of a 77 year old man who died on the table getting a pacemaker in his chest. The sutures were still angry looking. On my right was a middle aged African American male who had died from a gunshot wound to the abdominal cavity. I thought at the time about what an interesting short story collection it would make to have a chapter on each of the lives of the bodies in this room and how they all had coalesced at this point at the same time…
Once the surface observations were done on the bodies, it was time for the step that would separate out those who would make it and those who would be vomiting or passing out. I had the students locate all the significant markers on the face and now it was time to remove the dermis. I then had them gather round while I demonstrated how to apply the right amount of pressure while cutting along the hairline just through the skin and not into the musculature below. Then I began teasing the skin back and pushing aside the fascia with my blunt probe. Satisfied I had the dermis free, I pulled the skin of the face down over the mandible revealing all the musculature, nervous, and circulatory tissues. At this point, one tiny Asian girl who had been teetering back and forth on her little twig legs finally went down. On my left, a large flat-faced, bloated, and probably hung-over male student was soon running out the double doors of the lab hand over mouth.
Now, that we had the squeamish out of the way the real fun could begin. Each group had to recreate the exact maneuver that I had just done. I walked around the lab listening and giving tips. Some went too deep and lacerated the frontalis muscle, others just tugged and pulled and made a mess of the dermis, others still were almost afraid to make the first move. Within forty-five minutes and with quite a bit of coaching all twenty bodies now had the entire facial area exposed. I was exhilarated. I felt I had a knack for this teaching thing and was excited. My lab staff responded to my new sense of confidence and so did the students…who knew that I could do this and well? By the end of class several students were calling me Doc and I liked it (they did not know I was not through the program).
We went on to dissect out all the muscles, blood vessels, and nerves of the face (be glad dentist do this so they don’t fry your facial nerves when giving shots!). We peeled away everything layer by layer till we got to the bone. The final three weeks of class were devoted to the brain, which was always my favorite part. Training the students to use their Stryker saws and watching their faces as they would cut open the skulls and touch their first and in most cases only brains was priceless. Very few actually found it as exhilarating as I did, and most were more than squeamish (made me glad they were sticking to only teeth!). I think the majority thought me a bit ghoulish with my devotion to the wonders of the brain and its structures…but we all need passions don’t we?
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