Amputation; part deux

Today's "DON"T CROSS THE STREAMS" combines amputation fetishes with civil war reenactment!

You can get started by doing some research over at sonofthesouth.net, where they have real civil war era doctors notes on how to remove that hideous limb.

Having made a circular division of the integuments, the next object is, to preserve skin enough to cover the front of the tibia, and the part of the stump corresponding to the situation of the tibialis anticus, extensor longus pollicis, and other muscles, between the tibia and fibula, including those covering the latter bone. Throughout this extent, there are no bulky muscles which can be made very serviceable in covering the end of the stump, and consequently the operator must here have sufficient skin, by dissecting it up, and turning it backwards.

You can find Civil War era surgical like this guy did for under $60, but make sure they're not fake. I've been burned too many times while buying antique medical equipment to not warn the less experienced.

Apotemnophilia: Puns Ensue

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you've never stared at one of your limbs and wished it would make like a rocket and take off.

But what happens when you catch the old phantomus limbus? After the years of fantasizing and inevitable fetishization of the removal of your own limbs, you finally get that hateful mobility-monger off of you, but you remain haunted by it's ghost!! Like some kind of fucking foot-shaped Casper the Friendly Ghost, your new phantom limb itches, cramps, and sweats just like it used to, with the grave exception that you can't itch it, adjust it, or put a sweat-band on it.

That's when you visit Doctor Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, a neuroscientist who famously helped an amputee get rid of most of his phantom limb. When the good doctor was done, his dear patient had only phantom fingerlets attached to his shoulder.

One of my favorite podcasts, Radio Lab did an excellent piece on this doctor's revolutionary therapy in which he used a mirror to trick the brain into uncramping a phantom limb. Skip to 18:18 to hear the full, totally awesome story.