In the early 19th century, the executioner's gallows were removed from the Northeast corner of London's famous Hyde Park. The public, however, continued to visit Hyde Park--no longer for its gallows, but instead to have a forum for free speech. In 1855, for example, shopkeepers gathered in the Northeast corner of the park to protest the newly passed law which forbade businesses to operate on Sunday. Other public rallies followed, and in 1872 the Northeast corner of Hyde Park was officially designated as a site for public meetings. Since 1872, political enthusiasts, religious missionaries, radical thinkers, drunks, leftists, rightists, and everyone in between is invited to stand on their own "Soap Box" to offer their opinion.

The soap box enthusiasts have included revolutionary thinkers such as Karl Marx, George Bernard Shaw, George Orwel, and even V.I. Lenin. Each speaker is typically given three minutes to develop their theme, someone then shouts "Liar!" and then the fun begins. The soapbox speaker is then subject to the often-outlandish comments of his listeners until someone else spins off their own idea and takes control of the proverbial Box of Soap.

And herein is born Steve's Box of Soap. While many blogs address a very specific topic, this blog is limitless in scope, just as the SoapBoxes of the Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. Steve's Box of Soap will hopefully be funny, insightful, random, goofy, and interesting. Most importantly, Steve's Box of Soap will be insight into what I would be saying if I were standing on a Box of Soap in Hyde Park's Speakers Corner.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Laminectomies and Anatomy Lab

I survived.

Can't say much more than that, but I survived, at least so far. We don't know our results yet, but rumor has it that "many of us will be disappointed." I'm afraid I may be in that group, but then again, for many of my classmates, any score below 90% may be considered extremely disappointed. For me, however, a business major who feels like not just a fish out of water but a fish beached on the blistering hot sand amidst a sea of biochem, biology, and other science majors, I'll be happy to just have passed the first exam.

This post is not about the exam, but instead about a few other thoughts I'd like to share tonight while here on this box of soap.

Today in our anatomy lab, we performed what is called a laminectomy. In medical terminology, the suffice "ectomy" means "to remove or to take out." So, today we removed the lamina from our cadavers, or in other words, we removed the lamina of the spinal vertebrae, revealing the tissues that the vertebrae are designed to protect, the most notable of these tissues being the spinal cord. Without describing in too much detail how the laminectomy is performed, let me just mention that we used a bone saw, a chisel, and a mallet to break the bones of the vertebrae to remove the vertebral lamina and expose the tissues of the spinal cord.

As we finally broke through all of the vertebrae covering the spinal cord, I watched as my lab partners pulled off the newly broken strip of bone and tissue. I had read about the spinal cord, seen many artistic renditions of the gray and white matter, studied the posterior and anterior trunks and nerves that brought nervous impulses to and from the spinal cord and brain, but even then, I waited nervously to see what it would all look like. We first came to the dura matter, the superficial tissue of the meninges, a brownish/pinkish tissue no wider than your pinky finger. We then made a long cut and pinned back the dura matter, to then reveal the remarkable meningal tissue deep to the dura matter, the arachnoid matter, so named for its transparent, whispy, and cobweb-like appearance. We then noticed that there seemed to be some type of liquid inside the arachnoid that would rise and fall when the tissue was slightly depressed. "That's cerebrospinal fluid!" one of my classmates remarked, followed by echoes of "wow" and "no way" as we realized that this was the very fluid that is removed when a lumbar tap is performed. We delicately cut and pulled away the arachnoid matter, then revealing one of the most simple, yet remarkable structures in the human body--the spinal cord. Covered by the deepest of the meningeal tissues, the pia matter, the spinal cord is no thicker in diameter than a pencil. It is lined with blood vessels and about every two inches has nerves protruding from both sides. I realize that this description is not only evidence of how little I know of anatomy, but that it is also an injustice of how beautiful is the spinal cord and its surrounding structures. To think that every heart beat, every muscular movement, and every skin sensation of a pin on the tip of your finger passes through this simple tube we know as the spinal cord is evidence to me of the incredible creation that is the human body. Surrounded by blood vessels, cerebrospinal fluid, and a protective covering that can only be penetrated using a drill and hammer, this spinal cord is one of the most vital tissues for life. So when you wake up tomorrow morning and crawl out of bed, stretching and yawning as you begin the day, "stand a little taller," stretch yourself, stretch your vertebrae and your spinal cord, knowing that your spirit is housed within what we know as the human body, one of God's most remarkable creations.
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