For the first time in a long while, I can truly say that I love my job. Like any job there are downsides, but getting to engage guests in conversations about our exhibits and science in general has brought out wonderful new parts of my personality. In starting this blog, I'm hoping to expand on interesting conversations that start in the museum and engage the cyber-world as well.
Since October, DaVinci Science Center has been hosting Bodies Revealed. (See http://body.discoverlehighvalley.com/bodies-revealed/ and http://www.bodiesrevealed.com/ for an official explanation of the exhibit, the opinions on this blog are my own and not those of DaVinci or Premier or anyone else). Since I work assisting guests and school groups at DSC, I have spend a LOT of time in this exhibit in the last few months. The very same months that Dad has moved from a rehab hospital to a nursing facility to home hospice.
When I first thought about this exhibit coming with Dad in his current state, I didn't think I'd be able to deal with it. How could I work with corpses everyday when my dad was dying? But when the exhibit was setting up, I was in the closed museum for training and got to spend a little time with the bodies as they were in transit, and felt like I could handle it. Then an exhibit went up that featured the Thalamus and the facial nerves. This is the part of the brain that was mostly removed on his right side and led to the hemi-paralysis and other symptoms. Right here I was looking at the part of a brain that was causing so much trouble. And it was like everything clicked for me. Seeing this in 3D, right there was so different from looking at drawings or following a doctors hand waving. It was looking at me, and I stared at it for a few minutes. I went back and looked at it over and over again. And by understanding where it was, seeing how deep they were working when they removed that cancer. It really brought home what a tremendous surgery this was to even attempt. And why damage was so hard to overcome. Looking at the neighboring full body that is cut away to reveal half the brain and cut down to the spinal cord, showed me how protected this part of the brain was.
Suddenly, I could understand what happened to Dad in a whole new way. And maybe turn around some of the tragedy of the situation by being able to talk about the brain from a much different perspective. Now I have probably shared too much information with you here on my blog, and with some of the visitors. But I've been able to talk about the thalamus as the central switchboard, and explain how this lets you integrate the information coming in from your senses and pass information on movement back out to the body. And I've had a lot of mini therapy sessions as I've talked out various parts of my caregiving life as I spoke with strangers about their stories.
And now if we zoom out, all of my struggles as a caregiver have given me new appreciation of all of the bodies in our exhibit. And it's also given me a lot of empathy for all of the visitors who want to share their own struggles. One of the first things many visitors focus on is the organs or bones that have caused them trouble in their life. I've heard stories of overcoming many types of cancer, broken bones, various surgeries and chronic pain and I've been able to understand their struggles and connect on an emotional level.
For someone who lives somewhere on the range of high functioning Autism to Just Plain Geek, emotions are not something I'm good at. I'm not good at recognizing them, processing them, or conversing about them. I like facts and rules. But Bodies Revealed has given me a space to talk about this miraculous thing that we all have called a human body. To marvel at the intricacies while I discuss the wonders at even smaller levels. And to make conversations about what goes wrong, a normal part of the exhibit experience. And while I will NEVER be a doctor, it's made me a better caregiver. And if even a small fraction of those that go through this exhibit take better care of their own bodies and their loved ones then the exhibit is worth it. And if even a few people can better understand the health troubles that have occurred in the past, or will occur in their future then it's a wonderful thing.
We can't all take a gross anatomy class with a human body dissection, and many of us don't want to face dissecting even a frog or earthworm, let alone a cat. And a cat isn't a much better model of a human being then an oversimplified plastic model. And while computer simulations of anatomy are getting MUCH better, then are still 2D representations of the complex body. The reality is so much deeper and more complex, that I'm deeply grateful to those that donated their bodies and those that did the work to make them so approachable for so many.
So if you live near Allentown, PA; come see Bodies Revealed before it takes off to Davenport, Iowa in a few weeks. But if you do, try not to come on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon unless you really like large crowds. Insider tip is weekday afternoons, or as early as possible on the weekend.
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