Cardiology

The cardiovascular practical was something else. Truly it was. I mean, how often do you get to hold someone’s heart in your hands? I know that people often say things like “You hold the key to my heart” or “I gave you my heart” or something. And they might mean it. But I’m talking literal here. I held someone’s heart in my hands, and I don’t know who it belonged to, but I think… maybe… I liked it?

There’s a peculiar sense of power that goes with donning that white coat. I’m not sure why; we’re not anything special and we’re not saving any lives. But it’s true. I held that heart in my hands and knew undoubtedly that I was doing the right thing.

Okaaay, deep thoughts aside, I quite enjoyed cardio. No, not exercise. [To quote Fat Amy: “No, don’t put me down for cardio.”]

So here lies a heart on the black tray before me. A near-perfect human specimen… apart from the fact that it’s lifeless I suppose. It’s not the healthy reddish pink you’d expect to see, but rather a deep purplish colour. Dead, preserved tissue; it was a rather odd experience to touch it. And poke it. And stick my gloved hands through the blood vessels. Yeah, yeah, I’m sick, I know. J

“You may NOT take any pictures, guys. I repeat; julle mag NIE foto’s neem NIE.” Gee, thanks for just crushing our dreams right there. This was the most exciting, properly doctor-ish thing that has happened to us thus far- and we can’t even document it. So kind of you…

Interesting though, was that the inner side of the outer muscle wall [confused yet? Yeah, me too, I think] looks like a cat scratched at it. Seriously, it looked torn to shreds. But apparently, that’s normal… Anyway, it was cool to stick my finger through a random opening and see where it pops out- wicked awesome. That also made it a bit easier to figure what was going on.

That’s one of the most important things in anatomy, I’ve learnt: correct orientation. If you don’t properly orientate yourself, you’ll confuse everything- especially yourself.

20 May 2013