The Best Biology Class Ever!

Thursday, March 30th, 2006, is a day that I will never forget.
Dr. N (my Biology teacher through the homeschool group) is a vet. So he brought in two cats (one for each class) to spay. In front of us. I wasn't very worried about the whole thing. I don't like violent movies, but it isn't really just because of the gore. It's because it's just (in my opinion) glorified violence, just like the Roman gladiators. Sure, people aren't getting killed, but they look as if they are. And I think it's kind of pointless to watch someone being dismembered if
a) you can't do anything about it,
b) you aren't fighting them,
c) it's pointless, or
d) you aren't learning anything.
So I'm not really squeamish about blood adn guts. I mean, I have two younger brothers who have each needed stitches at least twice, and I was there for all of the injuries. It's not like I haven't seen this stuff before.
Anyway, Aragorn was pretty worried about the whole thing and, unfortunately, she was sick last week, and had no idea what Dr. N was planning. She figured it out pretty quickly, though. And I have to hand it to her, although she stood in the back of the room, she stayed in until about halfway through the procedure. Her sister was next to me and not bothered at all.
Here's something that's annoying: people thinking that girls are squeamish and/or not interested in science. It's simply not true. Aragorn might not have liked the whole thing, but she's not a sissy or anything. I don't blame her for leaving. We were standing outside the room before class started because it smelled like chemicals in there, and we didn't want to enter, (we being Epoh, Lynn, Aragorn and Grape). One of the moms came out to tell us that Dr. N was going to start. So she ushered us in and announced, "We have a few squeamish girls in the hallway." No one really payed attention, but Lynn and I looked at each other. She'd seen plenty of cats spayed (I think she works or used to work at a vet's office) and I certainly wasn't worried. The only one turning green was Aragorn.
Dr. N first shaved the cat's stomach and rubbed it with iodine and something else. Well, first he gave the cat a shot to make it sleep. Then he shaved it and so forth. It was kinf of funny, because when I walked in, everyone was standing around the table, about ten feet away. I thought that he told them not to come near for some medical reason, but shortly after told us to move up so we could see. I did, and had a prime view from the side. The other ways either the head or the cat's legs were in the way. Lynn was right next to me. Grape was a little farther back, and Aragorn and Epoh were at the back of the room. I was a little bit worried when he made the first incision, but when I wasn't sick and was still interested, I was home free.
Dr. N explained different things as he was going. It was when he pulled out the ovary that things got interesting.
He was feeling around in the cat before that with tweezers and stuff, but it had only been a cut and some blood. Then he pulled out an actual organ. I heard people mumuring on the other side of the room. Then one of the guys was on the floor. Well, half on the floor. The two guys behind him had caught him, and dragged him over to the bench. He'd fainted!
He was only out for a few seconds, but sat down on the bench for a while. Meanwhile, Dr, N was taking it all in stride and working on stitching up the blood vessels leading to the ovary. I looked across the table to another guy who was standing there. I had been looking at the cat, but it seemed like the guy was swaying. His eyes were huge, and his skin was pale. His sister, standing next to him, looked over. "Are you okay?" He didn't even respond. She started to lead him over to the bench, but by then he had collapsed. She caught him. "Dr. N, what should I do?"
"Just lay him on his back over there and it'll get the blood circulating," Dr. N waved a bloody, latex clad hand. "It happens all the time. Now you can see here that I'm cutting this section..." Aragorn left with Eoph, who was going mostly for moral support, I think. One of the guys commented that the class was dropping like flies. Yeah, that's true.
Pretty much the only eventful things after that were when he finished cutting out the ovary, he put in on the table right in front of me. I made a funny face (it wasn't really that gross, but it was funny) and laughed. Other people did, too. Then, just when he was stitching the cat up, the table (which had been propped up with a few hymnals under each leg) fell off on one side, followed by the other a few seconds later. Dr. N just kept working.
All in all, it was a great class. Plus, you know the woman who said that we were squeamish girls? It was her son who fainted. Not that I'm happy about that or anything. It just thought it was ironic.
Sidenote: Aragorn wouldn't eat or let anyone else eat for the rest of the day.