Chvi

who wants an autopsy?

as promised and requested by T herself, the autopsy post.

first and foremost, let's just remind ourselves that....THE HUMAN BODY IS DISGUSTING. no seriously. there are so many things abt it to make the rest of the world gag and for some reason, us med students find it absolutely fascinating.

but yes, let's not get romantic over the whole experience. it is truly disgusting. the smells...DEAR GOD THE STENCH. there is nothing worse i have smelt. and its not just the poo (dear god the poo). but its just having the organs out there. man. that was crazy. the worst part is probably when SHE OPENED THE BOWELS to check for cancers and dear god....that's not exactly an experience i want again.

how was it done? well, her entire internal organs where taken out and placed on the bench. then slowly, all the major organs were dissected and taken out. the kidneys first. then the spleen. liver. pancreas. heart. lungs. brain.

the stomach looks nothing like it does in the books. it seriously is, just this sac. it looks like it can be stretched for yondas. our liver was MASSIVE but there was no pathology in it.

in all, the whole process was rather very business like. take these organs out, slice them open, see if there is any pathology, if there is none, move on. great times.

it was a learning experience to say the least. i think as a med student, its something that should be done at least once. i would go again....but give me time to get over the memory of the the stench. i felt sooo sick afterwards as the smell haunted me.

i would write more but what to say? it's not exactly an experience u put into words. u sorta just go and watch and take it in. i know it's helped in the moulding of me become a dr...but how it affects i have no idea.

but after these past few weeks, after the death, after the autopsy, after the surgery watching, after trying to get all the examinations done, u come to realise that medicine isn't truly abt helping the people. well it isn't atm anyway. i've still got too much to learn to make it people focused. i'm more interested in the disease. what is it doing? how would it present? how would i manage it? what's the pathology behind it? and yes these ppl are ppl, but i just need to learn. haha. i wouldn 't want to be a patient at a teaching hospital.

although, there is always something to remind u that we have to stop thinking abt the disease for a minute. for example, a patient (who i've now kindly dubbed as my FAVOURITE PATIENT) i met on monday was sooo nice to us. a bunch of med students coming in to examine her heart. i asked if i could examine her abdomen later. she said yes. i never got around to it bc she always had a visitor, or a procedure, or something but on thursday, when i had my examination...i went back to her. asking her to help me in the examination if i needed her. in the end i didn't, but i went back up to her to make sure she knew that she didn't have to wait for me. and she was sooo nice. she told me she'd always remember me (but did i do anything for her?? no! why would u remember me?) and she wished me the best of luck for my future (argh i need it). and as i walked out of the door, she commented to her roommate, "she's sooo lovely! i'm glad there are med students like her..."

hehe made my day. i hope she never comes into the hospital again...but as i was talking to her i could just see why she would be back...cardiac arrest, pancreatitis, liver disease...like i said, its always abt the medicine. it's abt the disease. not abt the patient atm. and that's why i speak so freely abt things like the autopsy.

posted by chvi @ 11:30 AM