Somanautics - days 3, 4, and 5

I wrote this at the end of day 5:

On Day 3 we removed the deep fascia from the muscles and differentiated the muscles from one another. On Day 4, yesterday, we opened the abdominal cavity and began examining the viscera (internal organs). Today, we continued our exploration of both muscles and viscera from the back of the form.

Tomorrow is our last day. Leaving class today, I felt sad that tomorrow we'll be saying good-bye to Zinc, our team's cadaver form. It's like a second death for him; nobody will ever be with his body again. Over the past few days we've learned things about him that he never knew about himself. His body was massive in every respect, and although he died at age 70 of COPD, every part of his body we've observed so far has been in surprisingly magnificent condition. (We haven't looked at his heart and lungs yet.) I feel connected to him and grateful to him and his family for donating his body for study.

Throughout the class, my attention has been drawn to parts of the body that have particularly interested me in myself. There is a spot on my lower right abdomen that is peculiarly sensitive, and that desires deep massage. I strove to see what was inside the abdomen at that spot that could create this phenomenon. After exploring and also consulting G, the professional in massaging the viscera, I could not find a conclusive answer for this. Deep in that spot is the psoas muscle, but it doesn't feel to me that this spot is that deep. More shallow is the mesentery and the intestines, and, in particular, the appendix and the spot where the small intestine joins the large intestine. A body worker once remarked to me that perhaps I was feeling that junction. Finally, G suggested I could be feeling adhesions that formed early in my life as a response to trauma.

I've also been drawn to exploring the rotator cuff, since a year ago I developed inflammation in that area after doing some house painting and the pain has not gone away. Over the past three days I've spent several hours dissecting the left shoulder of the form. I now feel that I understand the rotator cuff. It is composed of four distinct muscles: the teres minor, the subscapularis, the superspinatus, and the infraspinatus. One of the tendons of the superspinatus passes under the little hook that protrudes from the top of the scapula before inserting into the head of the humerus; perhaps this is the spot that still hurts when I lift my arm overhead or use my arm to move something from the side of my body to the front.

I also opened up the joint of the great toe, because I have arthritis there. I felt envious of this 70 year old man who had no arthritis in that joint.

Out of 29 students, 25 are women. I really like that. Not only do I not have to worry about muscling my way to the dissecting table, I am forced to learn from and rely on the expertise of other women.