We Called her Glinda

After the good witch in the Wizard of Oz, because she bestowed great gifts upon four unassuming first year students. The first things we found out about her were that she was 82 and had died of pulmonary failure. She was a tiny lady, which was both good (not too much fat) and not so much (small, thin muscles and nerves). Many in the medical field call gross lab the first time with the "ideal patient:" doesn't talk back, doesn't complain, and does whatever you want. It's a little scary to think of it that way. We spent many hours with Glinda, learning all we could about the human body from her body. One of her lung cavities was filled with fluid; when the pathologist came around, she suggested that maybe she had some sort of pneumonia and there was a lot of fluid around her lungs, which may have explained the hard texture of her left lung compared to the right. She had a small, tiny heart, mostly covered in fat which made identifying the coronary arteries a little difficult. She'd had some abdominal surgery, as we found out, from the leftovers of sutures that we found upon starting the abdomen dissection. What it was, we do not know. I noticed a scar near her pelvic region - did she have a C-section when she had kids? It got me thinking about what kind of life did she lead? What her family must be thinking, knowing their mother/sister/grandmother/aunt was being "worked on" by us? Thinking about not really getting the closure one gets from a proper wake and funeral, what kind of closure is there? Turns out she'd had a hysterectomy. Hopefully it was after having kids, or as a precaution for something else. If not, well, I'm not one to judge. (We saw a uterus on another group's cadaver, and it's just amazing that the cervix can dilate to 10 freakin' centimeters! Holy crap!)

The events that struck me the most were the initial incisions, hemisecting the pelvis, uncovering the head, and working on the eye. In our school, the head, hands, and feet remain covered until we begin working on them. When we uncovered her hands, they were painted a red-orange color. So were her toes. Elizabeth thought she may have been a fashionista in her day. I like to think that too. It's unfortunate her hair was shaved, but it's a good thing too, I guess. She had blue eyes and a small, thin face, much like her frame. Her sciatic nerve on one side split way before it usually does, up in the gluteal region, and one branch pierced through her piriformis muscle. That must have given her a lot of pain...

We did our best to keep her in good condition, and learned that there's a lot to the human body! Everything connects and has some purpose in the grand scheme of things. Every little nerve, artery, vein, and all the big ones too.

Thank you Glinda, for giving me an opportunity to learn things I would never learn from anyone else. May you and your family be at peace knowing you have given a great gift and it has not gone to waste.