Your Body Is Still Useful After Death

Things are hectic once again in the workaday world. But yesterday in the mail, I received my ID/instruction card for donating my body to the local medical school. No, not right away! This is all part of plans for what do with whatever's left when I pass on from this consensual reality. I've decided to donate my carcass to science.

When I was in high school, we visited a medical school, and I was fascinated by the cadavers and what the med students were doing. In fact, when I first entered college, I was going pre-med, but then changed my mind (too much chemistry! ugh!). While others in my class were totally grossed out, I was totally engrossed.

So that's part of why I wanted to donate my body. Science is so important, and we still have so much to learn about how our bodies work. So maybe I can help contribute in this way--reveal how a process works or how a disease unfolds or simply just allow a student to discover and experiment.

Seems most medical schools have similar bequeathal programs, but if you're interested, do your homework since they might have specific restrictions or instructions for your body. For example, in my case, my family or estate will have to pay for transportation costs of my body to the school. And the school prefers to do the embalming since they have different needs than your average funeral home. And there can't be a body present at a funeral showing since the school will need the body right away before it gets all juicy and smelly. Kinda takes away from the classroom experience, you know. And if you're mangled in some woodchipper accident, that renders your body unacceptable--so be careful!

I was previously an organ donor, but giving the entire body seems like it might do more good in the long-term. Maybe this sounds harsh but I seem to value understanding and knowledge more over saving a life. Someone may need a kidney, but maybe it's their time to go. I'm not always a fan of extending life by any means possible. Truth be told, they'll eventually die anyway (see, told you it was harsh). But knowledge lives on and can help countless numbers of people. I had to decide between the two since the local medical school won't accept a body bequeathal if organs (except eyes) have been removed (and my eyes are already shot).

I've told my family and my partner about my decision, and they're cool with it and have signed their consent forms. Once the medical school is done with me (2 weeks to up to 2 years), they'll cremate the remains and return the ashes to the family. So eventually, yeah, I'll be ground up.

I've never wanted an expensive, fancy casket anyway that's just going to be put into the ground. Seems a waste of resources and money. Of course, some say cremation of embalmed remains does release harmful chemicals, including mercury from silver dental fillings. And some say concerns are overblown. I'm hoping to offset this by banking instead on what med students will learn using what's left of me. And cremation ideally takes up less space, depending on what you ultimately do with the ashes.

So that means that I won't have a viewing of the body (always found that creepy and slightly silly: "It looks just like her!" Really? Were you expecting someone else?). Instead I want just a memorial service with photos of me when I was alive and kicking. Seems more appropriate.

What about my ashes? I'm still trying to figure out what to do with those. As I've said before, you need to have plans or you'll end up on someone's closet behind the old board games. More later.