Day 10 of 40 Grey

I am not sure yet what colors to paint the walls of the new house with. A fashionable color is in a brownish shade of grey. It is a color that easily can be combined with other, brighter and more cheerful colors. But for now it is more important to prepare the walls to be painted eventually.

Today I had the first practicum of the brain dissecting lab. We were expected to be there at 1:15 sharp. That is because the room where this kind of anatomy classes take place is in a part of the hospital building that is not accessible without a pass. The neuroanatomy professor picked us up and when you would be too late there was no easy way to get there. I was a little anxious about this part of the course. I mean, we would be confronted with a human brain. When we arrived at the location we were divided over 4 tables. For each table was a brain and a student assistant who would dissect it for us. Each group consisted of 6 students. But first we had to scrub our hands carefully, to prevent the brain being infected by stuff we had on our hands like from our bread, they explained. After that we were given a green operation coat and gloves. From there we could peek into the room where all the metal tables were laid with scalpels and other instruments. The room was filled with the smell of formalin. After an introduction speech from the professor the student assistant introduced himself to us. We were lucky to have the only male assistant, and he was rather good looking too. Another assistant first brought the half skulls and prepared membranes. So far it was not so freaky as I feared. Then the brains were brought in. Neatly prepared and therefore not scary either. I began to relax because it was really interesting. At one point the assistant was removing some veins and when he had to dig deeper it was visibly not easy to do. Me with my big mouth asked him if it would be handy if one of us gave him a hand. He handed me the tweezers and there I was holding up (if I remembered it well) the optic nerve. I felt like I was participating in Grey’s Anatomy, and I said so. I also added that he was like Mc Dreamy. Then he asked if I could hold up the particular piece with my index finger, so he could use the tweezers. At that time I was completely in my role as a nurse so I did it until I felt cramp in my leg because of the unnatural position I had, then another student took it over from me. We’ve had a very interesting couple of hours there and it will be continued Monday and Tuesday. The only thing is that I still smell the formalin, although I scrubbed my hands when leaving the room and even a couple of times when I got home.

After I came home I picked up the minivan I borrowed for this weekend. Together with my son and youngest daughter we moved the first load tonight. Stuff from the shed and backyard. Slightly covered with dust and dirt I feel like the color grey has lost its appeal a bit. Maybe a little too much grey matter for one day.