The Orbit Dissection

We removed an eye from our cadaver yesterday.  The brain was removed a few weeks ago which affected me greatly.  You do not see brains hanging out of dead folk's heads that often or ever if you are normal.  That day, I left early and just about left for good.  My confidence since has grown while in lab and the dissections have turned out to be very interesting.

Yesterday, we removed an eyeball from our cadaver's head.  This involved cutting through the frontal bone (forehead) with a hacksaw.  Keeping in mind the brain is gone and head now resembles a soup bowl.  The hacksaw cut was just above the eye socket.  Just lateral to the nasal bone and just medial to the temporal bone (side of the head).  We then cut the neurovascular elements that protruded through the piece of bone that was cut free.  The bone was removed and the eye was exposed.  Prior to using the hacksaw, two of my colleagues used a hammer and chisel to break free the bone that forms the upper eye socket.  This way, when the frontal bone was cut away, the entire eyeball and it's muscles, nerves and tissues could be pulled up and out the top of the skull in a wad.

On one side of the cadaver we removed the eyeball entirely, while on the other side we left things in tact and dissected it as is exposing the nerves, veins, arteries and muscles that form the orbit.  Ashley, one the lab students, injected the eyeball that was still intact with water to re-inflate it to a spherical shape.  She liked doing this and quite honestly, I would have liked to do it too if I had jumped on the chance.  Ashley and Matt, another lab student, took the eyeball 'wad' to the bench and picked it apart exposing the muscles and nerves.  It was a bit weird having the eyelid still attached with eye lashes and skin.  

When you get into these kinds of situations there is a moment of panic.  You either find a way to rationalize the experience or you leave and contemplate quitting.  I have done both while at WSCC.  There has been times when I wonder why I keep coming back and other times when I dig in and get my hands juicy.  The mind is a powerful thing.  

This new approach to school has me pretty excited these last few days.  I see the importance of knowing the material we are learning and the correlations between the disciplines.  Our studies in histology have been quite amazing.  The detail is overwhelming.  You leave thinking, "I better go over that again tonight."  We have learned the microscopic anatomy of most of the tissues of the body.  Starting from the outside and working to the inside of the body.  We are getting into the viscera (organs) lately and have gone through the skin, muscles, bone, blood, blood vessels, the digestive system and now the viscera.  

On top of histology and head and neck anatomy, we are learning biomechanics, biopalpation, adjusting skills, biochemistry and a few classes relating clinical topics and philosophical ideologies of chiropractic.  Speaking of, I have to get fine-tuned for the biomechanics midterm tomorrow.  Think of me at 8:30 Pacific time.

All my best,

Nate