Phantom Limb Experience

As always, my dear friends, I know what you are thinking. Phantom Limb Experience would be a great name for a band. Lots of really groovy band names end in Experience, it seems. Besides that, a Phantom Limb Experience is a somewhat interesting phenomenon found mostly in amputees. It would seem that when some people are deprived of an arm or a leg, the brain does not fully adjust to the fact that a loyal appendage has gone missing, so a person can retain control of something that is not there. Unfortunately, the phantom limb exists only to he who has one (a phantom one, I mean), so no fun with others may be had therewith.

As you are likely aware, I am not an amputee, and for that I am thankful. I do not think that I would like to be an amputee; however, I did receive a phantom limb experience this morning, thanks to the limited consciousness available to one who is just waking up. You see, as I became aware of the waking world around me, I decided to make use of one of my arms, and so my brain ordered the arm to move. As far as my understanding was concerned, this had taken place, but the desired effect of my arm movement had not taken place. For interested parties, I think I wanted to move my pillow or something. Reaching around and feeling nothing, I decided to look and see what the trouble might be. Much to my surprise, I found that my arm was not at all where I understood it to be; rather, it was numb and motionless, exactly where it had started. At this point I tried to put the phantom limb back where the real limb yet remained, but failing at that, I decided to use my other, functional arm to bring the useless limb into locomotion. This allowed blood to flow, and it restored my belief in my true arm, rather than the phantom one. Satisfied with my perceptions of reality, I think I fell asleep again.