If I Don't Tell You, You'll Have to Kill Me

     Another day in the lab, and there was tons to do today. Unfortunately, I didn't get as far on Tuesday as I would have liked, so Dr. Fisher and I were not able to start removing the forelimb muscles. I spent the morning writing up my dissection notes. As I skinned and separated the muscles of the forelimb, I took notes on the characteristics, origin, insertion, and any other observations regarding the muscle. The theme today was "document everything." My dissection notes, I found, as I typed them up, were lacking. Dissection notes look something like this: 
               Muscle Name: Latissimus Dorsi
               Muscle Origin: The muscle originates from the thoracodorsal fascia, located      around the spine at the mid back. The muscle originates via an aponeurosis (a thin, widespread layer of tendon). The muscle itself is thin and extends over most of the scapula and deep to the trapezius. It has only one belly. 
               Muscle Insertion: The muscle inserts on the proximal shaft of the humerus, attaching with a single tendon that is the thickest part of the muscle. 
               Notes: The latissimus dorsi was easy to separate from trapezius, however it was damaged during dissection on the edge that borders the shoulder. A single cut extends approximately 2 mm into the muscle mass. 
     Impressive, right? However, upon my first dissection, I noted almost none of this. Therefore, today required some back tracking. I went back and re-examined my muscles, rewrote my notes, and came out on top. Sort of. I am now a day behind, and the lab schedule must be revised. Oddly enough, Dr. Fisher was not surprised by this. 
     I spent the afternoon photographing the iguana in all its glory. I first took pictures of the iguana in every position I could think of, keeping a scale in the picture at all times. This required several tries, fixing lighting, focus, glare, etc. After getting this done, I went back and numbered all the muscles of the forelimb, re-photoing in all the same positions as before, fixing lighting, focus, glare, etc. It was exhaustive, but after a muscle is removed, any information it may have held is gone. Having photographs of everything lessens the chances that something will be missed. But, of course, no one is perfect. 

AA