Cadavers – The Dead Truth

Image by Paul Phung via Flickr

Yesterday was a very strange day.  I went to a dermatologist appointment with my husband – and while in the elevator on the way out – he suddenly looks at his phone, talks to NO ONE and then proceeds to march me through another doorway, opposite of the way out.  I kept asking him, “where are we going”?  He mumbled something non coherent and continued down this strange hallway to this innocent looking office.  He was obviously looking for someone – and he’d been there before – but I was completely in the dark.  We entered the abandoned office and then looked though a glass window to a very large lab behind the office.  Greg recognized the man behind the glass and said, “There he is!” and then proceeded to walk to some offices in search of the man’s wife – saying, “I’m just wanting to stop by and say hello”.  But I’m like – “who ARE these people?”  Now I’m not one of those wives who HAS to know everything about her husband, where he goes, who he knows etc.  – but I was curious – and a little bewildered.  Greg  finding no one in the office said – ‘we’re going to have to go in and say hello’.  Then he quickly said, in an excited voice, “this is a lab where they do experiments and procedures on dead body parts – isn’t it GREAT”?  Well why didn’t you just say so.  Uhhh – WHAT?

Just then a woman came out of the lab,  recognized Greg and asked if we wanted to come in a “take a look”.  I said firmly to Greg – “Uh – I’m staying here – you can go say hello”  and he was like, “but I want him to meet you – you have to come” and then started dragging me in.

It was very surreal.  The body parts were all neatly covered up – but it was creepy all the same.  I have never been around dead bodies in my life.  My husband does funerals for a living and is used to and quite comfortable with death and dying.  I just never realized HOW comfortable.  As we walked into the lab another woman asked me if I wanted scrubs – and would I be assisting today?  I was like, “No thank you – I’m with HIM.”  We stood there in this giant lab surrounded by what must have been a dozen or more gurneys with dead body parts under blue plastic – chatting and talking about how wonderful everything was.  I thought to myself, – ‘no one will ever believe me.’

This organization is part of a body donor program – allowing medical trainees and other medical professions come and do procedures on cadavers to further training for live patients.  Yesterday they were learning how to do hip replacements.  They were expecting 80 or so medical personal to work on the hip section body parts on the tables.  This organization  also picks up and transports bodies as they come available.  Now my husband will be on call to help them in this.  Sure – why not?  All in a day’s work, I say.

This experience had me in some what of a fog for the rest of my insanely busy day, teaching and rehearsing – for not only “Bugsy Malone” – which opens in 3 weeks – but also my students have a recital in a month!  Good grief – what a day.

How was YOUR day?  Can you top this?  Would you like to have seen the lab like my husband all excited and just like a little boy?  Or would you have been just a little “creeped out” – like me?

Here’s to you and yours – wishing you a day with no cadavers and dead body parts in it – unless you want it to be 🙂

God Bless