Hog Heaven

So yes, work has royally sucked lately. Like all semester thus far. Until......Tuesday of this week! Just so happens there is a suture lab on the health science curriculum, and I decided my kids would do it!

But wait, I was a cell biology major. Tiny things, not things big enough to sew up. But thanks to the internet and youtube, I soon found that the basic suturing is not at all unlike sewing. I never did enjoy sewing, but sewing flesh? Yes, I was in heaven.

The lab called for pigs feet, which I had a very hard time finding not pickled. So I traded them in for drumsticks. And while I was perusing the meat section at Fiesta (not somewhere I would recommend getting meat to eat), I found.....HOG'S HEADS. Wrapped in plastic, in one of those freezer bins. For between $5-8! What?!? I was thrilled, grinning from ear to ear, as I picked up my hog head and made my way to the registers.

I had to tell someone, so I text my department chair because he thinks I'm the most amazing A&P teacher ever, and he understands me liking gross things. So he ended up stopping by to see how the kids were doing with the lab, thought it was great, and told the Dean. She stopped by, was tickled pink, and told another principal. So yay, it was a good day. Mainly because of the pig head, but also because the Dean doesn't think I'm a complete waste of space now.

So here are the pictures! They practiced the suturing on the drumsticks first (some of these would be pretty nasty scars, but it was their first time). Then we had a competition on who could fix up Wilbur the best. He was torn up. No lips, some pretty deep wounds. He needed some plastic surgery. A few of my kids fell in love.