I hope you've all had a good day. Mine was quite interesting as I suffered a drive by soaking when I ventured out for lunch today in soggy Thame town centre. This then led to me having to wander round the office and go to meetings in my socks while my sopping wet shoes laid out to dry. As laying them out to dry on their own wasn't doing the trick, I had to then resort to trying to dry them with the hand dryer in the ladies toilet! As you can imagine, this method wasn't really getting my shoes any dryer. Cutting a long story short, I'm now home, dry and warm and have now managed to recover from the traumatic ordeal. I've been informed that the driver of the car that soaked me could get into trouble (if I reported them) but the car was going too fast for me to get the reg number on the car so it's unfortunately too late for justice for me now. However, the next time you find yourself a victim of a drive by soaking, remember that justice can be done. Get a snap of the offending car!
I did manage to avoid a symmetrical soaking on my return walk though which is a relief! (I just made sure I walked that little bit faster past the puddle of doom)
Anyway! On with the real reason you're all here. Last weekend, Mulie headed down south to Portsmouth for a little weekend away, but most importantly to see and experience a special anatomy event, Anatomy Lab Live. The anatomy tour is in it's second year and it was it' first time in Portsmouth. For a long time I've had a curiosity about the human body, it's anatomy and how our incredible yet remarkably fragile bodies actually worked. I guess my interest really piqued when I was working for the NHS and reading about all different medical conditions, medications and surgeries. I'm just a very inquisitive person and I wanted to know more about what I was reading about from day to day. I follow various Instagram accounts from pathologists and still my interest grows. So when I saw the Anatomy Lab Live advertised last year, I jumped at the chance to go. The show promised so much more than just a lecture and some 'gory' photo's- we could get hands on with real organs (well, pig organs). Before all the vegeterians and vegans kick up a stink, it's medical science and in fact pig organs actually can save human lives with research and even organ donation. Pig heart valves and even cow heart valves are used in life-saving surgeries all the time.
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| Anatomy Lab Live: a very atmospheric experience |
The Venue
The event itself was on Sunday and earlier in the day we went to scout out the building before the event started in the evening. The address we were initially given was North Harbour business park, but when the evening came, and after a lot of waiting around and second guessing, we found out that the event was actually being held at the Village Hotel just outside the business park! Turns out, the organisers had emailed everyone the night before but by then it was too late. They did apologise as we all sat down for our meal though. Even though they did cause a lot of confusion, we were finally at the right venue and the show awaited.
The room was flooded with blue light and there was a moody atmospheric soundtrack in the background. Each table had a large yellow organ box in the centre and scalpals on the top of the box. Around that, individual aprons, hats and a mask sat waiting for the after dinner disection. We were to be sat on table 9 with about 6 or 7 others. Who were we going to be sat with? We soon found out as they came to take their seats in time for the meal. Most of the other on our table were NHS workers that worked in various departments. Most of the people in the room, and particularly our table, seemed to know eachother and kept themselves to themselves so me and Matthew passed the time before the meal investigating the props that were put on the table in front of us and speculating about what exactly was in the organ box.
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| The surgeons will see you now... |
The Meal
The organisor then greeted us all to the event and explained what the night ahead was going to entail. He then introduced the meal and warned us not to look inside the boxes for fear of us all losing our appetites. This just made me more curious, but I was also hungry and did appreciate that while I may have the stomach to stare at real organs while eating, the others on my table may not.Soon, the waiters were bringing out our main course. Chicken with vegetables and a dauphinoise potatoes and a light gravy which went down very nicely. The vegetarian option was a mushroom pie. After we'd polished off the main course, it was soon time for the dessert. Profiteroles with chocolate sauce, fluffy cream and a slither of strawberry. All very fancy but it went down very well and in fact me and Matthew agreed we could've had some more! But then, we were at a very science-y event so I guess we had to be all healthy (or at least pretend to be).
Once the meal was over, it was onto the dissection and it was also time to find out what was in that box in the centre of the table!
The Show
We were introduced to Sam and Scarlett who were professionals in pathology and anatomical sciences. You really got the impression they knew their stuff and had a wealth of experience as they went through the subjects they'd cover in the evening and the theme for the evening: infection.
They started by going through some terminology of the body and then went onto the first main system in the body: the nervous system. They explained the function of this system, the skull and the brain and how they all function. It was so interesting to learn the proper names of all of these parts of the body and just how delicate they all are. The theme of infection was bought up again as they explained how one infection in one relatively small part of the brain can make a huge impact on your day to day life. Your brain is also 'wired' in a completely different way to how you'd expect. The left side of your body is controlled by the right half of your brain, and the right side of your body is in fact controlled by the left side of your brain! The occular aspect of your body (your eyesight etc) is actually in the back of your brain. It all seems a little strange but somehow it all works!
After this explanation, it was time to get the gloves on and get dissecting. Yes, finally, it was time to open the box. Inside there was a pigs head cut in half with it's brain and eyes intact. Our dissection mission was to get the halves of brain out and differentiate the different areas of the brain. It was surprisingly easy to get the brain out and the texture wasn't what I expected. It's also worth noting now that while we were dissecting exclusively pig organs, these organs are very close in similarity to our own. Our brains are covered with a membrane film that is very easy to peel from the brain itself. As the brain has no structural support outside of the skull, it was very important to handle the brain with care so it wouldn't disintegrate. Once the brain was out, we all went in to touch and feel the brain and explore this powerful organ for ourselves. I even held half of the brain myself and it felt strange to be holding this pig's entire worldly existence in my hands. It was also shocking to discover just how small the brain was. While the obvious joke comes to mind about pigs and their intelligence (or lack of), I wasn't expecting the brain to be quite that small.
The next part of the show was about eyes. While I was interested in this explanation, I was a little dubious because I had a feeling that this would link to the next dissection mission on this pig head. I can obviously look at eyes and explore all sorts of eye conditions, however I cannot deal with anything physical involving eyes. When Matthew does his contact lenses I can't look and I had a feeling that this next dissection activity would have me sitting out too. Indeed as I feared, our next dissection mission was to take out the eyeballs of the pig and explore their anatomy. Matthew took over with this and to say he got stuck in is an understatement. He was sweating as he tried with all his might to get this tough eyeball out of it's socket. Lots of people were having the same struggles and eventually, the others on our table had successfully got the other eyeball out and had sliced it resulting in an explosion of eye 'goo'. I was grossed out completely by this but at the same time found myself staring at it mystified.
After our pig was rendered one eyed, it was time for a half time break before moving onto the rest of the organ systems and indeed, a new set of pig organs to dissect.
After the break it was time to explore the thoracic cavity and the respiratory system. The organs in our organ box was now a whole thoracic organ set: esophagus, voice box, lungs, heart, diaphragm and liver. Sam and Scarlett went on to explain the roles of each organ and how each rely and upon each other in their work inside our bodies. I couldn't wait to get started on the dissection and soon enough we were donning the gloves again and getting stuck in. First off, we all started dissecting the lung to discover its anatomical build. The esophagus leads down to the lungs and then splits off into each lung and then onto a bronchial tree which feeds the lung itself. It was fascinating to be able to see these intricate yet incredibly strong structures and piece together exactly how these structures function. After this it was time to dissect the heart by cutting the heart into 1cm cross sections to see the ventrical structure of this vital organ. It was here where we could see the valves and veins and even the heart's 'strings'. These looked incredibly intricate and while I stared at them and felt them in amazement, I marveled at jut how fragile we are. Our lives rely on a huge collection of electric signals, valves, veins, strings, muscles and bone structures working together and working fluently.
The night was then ended at nearly 11pm and ended on theme with a strong message about the use of anti-biotics and the populations immunity to diseases. It's alarming to think that in the not to distant future, there may be infections that are immune to all the antibiotics that we have on offer. We could die sooner and from something we could cure just because we use antibiotics willy-nilly in the now. At the risk of sounding like the end of a David Attenborough documentary, we all need to think about our health and our attitude towards it. Instead of wanting our GP to dish out antibiotics at the drop of a hat or at the mere thought of an ear infection, maybe take a step back and think, can my own body fight this infection itself? After all, we have white blood cells for a reason- to fight infection. We have infection fighting factories in our own bodies!! They're free! FREE! Just think about it.
So that draws us nice to a close. Overall, the experience was a very informative and interesting one and great for those who are curious about the human body just as much as those who are training professionals.
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