post mortem...

This was not the first time I found myself in a mortuary.

As a pathologist, I spend more time here than in my own home. I like to think of the cadavers as my roommates - of course minus the fact that they have no say in whatever happens to them while they are here and; for the most part, don’t recognize me.

Now before you hop skip and leap to conclusions on how deranged you may think I am, let me defend myself. I know oh-so-well that the phrase “I can explain” often comes with the most bizarre and fictitious justifications, but please… hear me out.

Often, I start the procedure off with a greeting - not that I expect one back but I think it’s basic human decency to greet your patients. After all, you never know how horribly someone’s day could be going. Imagine literally dying that morning and some scum-bag in a lab coat just starts tearing at your remains solely because they want to be paid for their know-how of human anatomy. In my opinion, it doesn't get much worse than that. Furthermore, it doesn’t kill to be cordial. And hey! At least you get to say you tried :)

After all that is out of the way, then the real fun can begin. I mean, there isn’t much fun when you’re dissecting an eleven year old whose body was in a constant and futile debacle with itself. I take solace in the fact that at least here, there is no pain. Not anymore.

As I make the incision down the front of the body, I make sure to adequately communicate with the corpse. My mother always stressed the importance of communication and the importance of consent rang true to me. Realistically speaking, this is how I kept myself sane, or at least close to it. It’s very easy for one to lose themselves in the examination of dead bodies. In my mind, I wouldn’t want a soul haunting me for any non consensual dissection - the living scare me enough already.

I go back to a time when I was this age, running around, causing chaos, unable to sit still for 30 seconds. Perhaps it was the (at the time) undiagnosed ADHD, but wasn’t every child like that, at least to an extent?

Staring pitifully at the child, I make another incision, this time at the back of the head, granting me access to the skull. Carefully I examine the brain, looking for abnormalities such as blood clots or tumors. As I take note of all my observations, I am able to come to a conclusion on the probable cause of death of this young child.

Finally, I return the organs into the body and sow the skin shut. I sigh and write the concluding statement of the report as well as the time I finished the examination.

It was a battle doomed to end in defeat. Rest in peace little one.

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Hey... Thanks for reading this far! I really appreciate it. This is something new I'm trying out where I create a piece of writing inspired by something I read. This is the first attempt at it. The inspiration for this came from Nyawanga's blog which you should totally check out 🤍

Link to the post - nissainwords.wordpress.com