Body Donor Memorial Service

I Remember well our first meeting.

We eyed each other somewhat suspiciously,

Treading together

Into unfamiliar territory, unsure of our expectations.

You seemed excited, yet slightly disturbed,

And more than a little curious.

I was mostly flustered.

Over the course of six months, you found a variety of methods

To crack me open,

And later stitch your clumsy excavations back together again.

When you mistook the phrenic nerve

For the vagus, I laughed at you.

When your society enviously eyed your brilliant dissection

Of the celiac plexus, I was delighted.

When you carefully dislodged my broken organs

I was humbled;

And deeply frustrated when a facial nerve

Proved too obscure for you to locate,

And I could sense

Your quiet disappointment.

And when you finally unearthed my brain,

I offered you my most precious secret.

I watched as you cradled my memories, my love, and my pain

In your rubber-gloved hands,

Realizing you would never know the particular beauty of my life,

But that I had become a modest slice of yours.

At our last gathering I understood that

This particular journey had ended

And we would part ways for the time being.

But you will meet me again as your first patient,

And as every patient thereafter.

And I can assure you

I shall be much more vocal.

-By: Sara Frasure, MD

Last week we had a body donor memorial service reminding us of the great gift individuals gave us by donating their bodies for our anatomy lab. After going through anatomy, there is no way I could have learned this material to the same extent if I didn't have the cadaver lab.

I will never forget the first day going into the lab. The smell was horrendous. You could almost feel it in the air, and it definitely followed when we left! Making the first incision was quite a new experience.

I am glad I had this lab but am looking forward to its end. However, I am much more appreciative of the donations people made that allow medical students to learn from the bodies of donors.