Anatomy

So tonight I had my first of six anatomy labs for Massage Therapy School. My class traveled up to University of Utah's cadaver lab. That's right, folks, where the dead bodies are!!! I have to admit I was super apprehensive among other things. I was not looking forward to it...

But here I am....home and showered and feeling much better. The experience wasn't so bad. It didn't smell as bad as I expected...but it certainly isn't somewhere I would choose to spend my time. We spent most of the time looking at and studying bones and the names of all the little dips and notches (these are important as a massage therapists because a lot of them are muscle attachments, if that makes sense to any of you...). That whole memorizing HUNDREDS of long, strangely spelled names will be quite difficult...but here's hoping I guess! Afterward we got to see a human leg and the different layers of it starting with the outermost or top layer of skin. We would actually say the most superficial...which is called the epidermis...beneath that we saw the dermis, the hypodermis, and other connective tissues (including bone-yes, bone. It's a type of connective tissue), ligaments, tendons, etc.... Sorry to bore you all but my story does have a point. After the leg...I held a human brain in my bare hands. Yep...I didn't think I could do it...but I did. We also got to see many different hearts. One that was healthy and others that were not so much. I opted not to touch or hold them. I am in school to be a massage therapist...not a doctor or anatomy teacher, after all. I know I am terribly behind in posting pics. I hope to get back to it soon. I have just been so busy with school but I am loving it! Let me know if you want a massage....because while I am a student, they are free!!! And it's good practice for me! Too bad most of my blog readers live far away :(