Land of Oz

Was in the land of the Wizard of Aust last week. No, no, no, not for pleasure, more for pressure. Work. I went alone to join an ENT specialist and a Nuclear Technologist (I am the only one whose name is without ‘dr’ in the front or ‘ist’ at the back) for a visit to a bone and tissue bank.

It was such an adventure for me.

At any entry point in any country, I would always be picked for random sampling. Always. If you look closely, right on my forehead there's a sign that says, 'SAMPLE ME'. In Australia, it was the same. Twice I was stopped, my bags opened up, swabs taken from me, body-searched, the whole jingbang. At Sydney, the breast pump I carried was examined, lifted to the light, shaken and stirred. Eyes narrowed, ‘You are asthmatic?’ he asked. Hmmm... My nose must have seemed to him larger than life for him to think that it would fit in into the pump. At Brisbane, a policewoman stopped me demanding to know why I was travelling without my parents, being under 18 and all. Mwahaha… Being mistaken as someone under 18 is nice, even the hassles that come with it gets tolerable. Only thing is that, I look under-18 only from behind and under very bad light, from side views may be. Frontal exposure, you’ll see that I look like a mom of an 18-year old.

Visiting the bank itself was an entirely new experience for me. I was given a tour of a morgue before i was taken to the bank. They allowed me in the room when they process the bones. But I had to don on this many layers of gown, and then I had to scrub to be cleaner that I ever have been my entire life. (Disclaimer: Not that i am usually dirty, mind you.)

Btw, the picture below is elongated a teenie bit to make me look thinner than i really am.


As the lady was sawing off a femur, a piece went flying with bits of flesh smack onto my chest. There must be this horrified look on my face when she asked me to kick the thing back to her. I couldn’t bring myself to kick it and I didn’t want to fling it to her either. The ENT specialist saved the day when she helped pick it off from me for me. I couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t just flesh and bone, it was flesh and bone from someone who used to be alive. The whole complete bones from his leg and Achilles too will help to better life for many others. That’s such a generous selfless gift from him and I am not sure whether I would have the guts to pledge to be a bone/eye/organ/skin donor myself. This Dorothy doesnt have the courage, no she doesnt.

To the bone owner, al-Fatihah, whoever he was.