First time in a cadaver lab
A cadaver lab is a specialized laboratory where medical students and other professionals can perform hands-on dissection of human bodies for anatomical study, surgical practice, and research.
I didn’t know what the word cadaver meant when I agreed to this particular job. The days leading up to the shoot were a self psychological exercise for me, specifically about what I thought I would see and feel compared to what I actually saw and felt. It also tested me about not quitting something already started without trying first.
The Western Canadian Sinus Course is a day of lectures and two days of hands on in the lab. The director hired me to document it all by taking still images. Within a couple minutes of the first speaker beginning his lecture on day one did a graphic photo appear on the presentation screen. I spent the rest of the day trying as hard as I could not to look at the photos. I have always had soft stomach for that kind of visual. It was pretty clear to me early that there would be lots more of it all weekend.
On day two I barely made it to the medical center. Do you remember the way Cameron battled himself about letting Ferris come over and take the car? That’s how I felt, should I call him right now and say I cant? No, you have to go and at least see for yourself before you quit. I went back and forth like this since awaking that day.
My client came down to get me and what felt like the longest walk indoors I had ever taken began, we made our way to the lab. I told him I was a little nervous and remeber him giving me an out if I needed it. I also recall learnining abut the potential smell of the lab.
The smell of a cadaver is a complex odor created by the breakdown of proteins in a body, which releases compounds like cadaverine (rotting flesh) and putrescine (ammonia-like), along with other gases such as hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs) and skatole (fecal odor at high concentrations). The exact smell varies depending on the decomposition stage, temperature, humidity, and the microorganisms involved.
Great, I’m just as sensitive to scents as I am visuals. I changed out of my clothes into doctor wear and went into the lab.
I managed to avoid looking at the tables and got through the weekend without whatever I thought would happen to me happening.
This was truly a highlight job since starting professionally, and a personal victory in self battle and growth.
