Desensitised to the dead

A while back, I used to watch all those medical shows and wondered how doctors perform surgeries without feeling disgust. And now I understand since I has become desensitised, and I am able to perform necropsies while talking about lunch. It feeks like yesterday when a group of us vet students got excited for our first anatomy prac with dog bodies. But, we were warned that if we feel funny, just exit the prac room and get some fresh air. A fair amount of students, including me, felt light-headed and almost faint. It was the smell, sight and texture of cold muscles that almost made me puke. Well, I turned into a vegan and didn't touch any meat for a week. Then we had more anatomy classes, seeing images in lectures and touching the real stuff in pracs every fortnight. We gradually accustomised to the extent that we felt hungry during the prac, and talked about having steaks and beers after cutting a dog open. This is so wrong I know.

That only leaves one thing that a lof of people complain about while dealing with the deads - Smell! Well, some ex-patients are not so fresh and presented to us at a temperature lower than ideal ie. from a fridge. I think I'm somewhat more lucky than my peers that I have learnt to shut off my sense of smell while perfoming necropsies. One of the pathologists I know mentions about pathologists just get used to the smell, and our nose just doesn't smell anything malodouraous after a necropsy. Once she and her colleague had to do a necropsy of a baby hippo who disappeared for a few day during a period of warm Melbourne weather, and then appeared to float atop of the enclosure pond. The body was so emphysematous (bubbly like balloons) and the odour was ranked 10/10 in the degree of intolerability. After several hours their job was done, they returned back to the faculty, sitting in a staff tea room completely oblivious that they both had this obnoxious un-holy aura, which could be sensed several blocks away. The whole faculty became alert of the smell, and believed there was a gas leak hence commenced buidling evacuation unbeknownst to the offenders still in the tea room enjoying the sun and English afternoon tea.

Obviously, I have to be more careful from now, and take cautions about the scent. It would be horrid to others around me if I pop into a cafe for coffees after my heavy duties.