I take a course called "Medical Careers", and our current unit is the neurological system, but currently we're focusing on the brain. Today, we started a 2-3 day dissection in which we cut open the skull of a fetal pig and remove it's brain.
We began the operation, I was pretending I was a professional surgeon, and we made the first incision. Cut the skin all the way around the skull and back to the tail, then removed it, exposing the muscle tissue of the back and the top later of the underdeveloped skull. We sliced a hole into the cranium in which we inserted the scissors and got to work. My lab partner (read: Nurse) continued with the removal of the cranium while I took the scalpel and cut the muscle on its back. I the proceeded to shear off the ribs (hearing them snap and crack in the process) so I could gain access to the spinal cord and vertebra. I also played AVP yesterday and pretended I was Predator for a moment, pondering ripping out its spine/skull and going "raaaaugh" but decided not to out of professional courtesy. They replaced the blood with hot pink latex liquid during the embalming process as well, so that sprayed out when I accidentally cut an artery in the back, which was cute, yet gruesome.
Part two tomorrow. I will try to get pictures.
