"You like what you see in there?" Jim asked with half a smirk on his face. I must have looked like I had seen a ghost. Of course he saw me snooping around. "If you ever want something else done, just give me a call."

I was a bit confused at that last bit. All this has been so new to me. It wasn't a year ago when I realized I needed to lose something and it had only been a couple months since I was able to tell myself exactly where. I remembered the girl in the waiting room who was already missing both legs and had come in for...more. Do people really keep coming back? Hell, how much has any ever chosen to lose? How much...can you lose? I was so deep in thought I didn't hear the next thing Jim said. "Oh, sorry, what did you say?"

"I said do you want to watch this time?" man, I did not expect today to be so overwhelming. First I find out people amputate their limbs more than once, then I realize some people keep coming back...a lot, and now I have to choose whether to observe my own arm being separated from my shoulder. "Um--will it hurt?"

"Hahaha! Oh heavens no, of course not. Actually the machine here we will be using today is an AeroScalpel. It has a number of tools including hundreds of obsidian micro blades as well as aerosolized injection of localized anesthetic. Long story short, the anesthetic makes yout arm completely numb before the obsidian blades begin their work. Those don't hurt either. You can even choose to go without the anesthetic which means you can still feel. Some people prefer that, They say it finalizes the separation or something."

"I--think I would like to watch," What on Earth was I saying? "But I'd like my arm to be numbed." I was so fascinated by the possibility of feeling my amputation, but I figured it would be brash to make such an impulsive decision that could potentially scar me for life.

"Ok! Well just place you arm here on the saddle and we will get started shortly. You'll leave today without so much as a gauze pad over your shoulder."

I gingerly placed my arm on the gray smooth plastic platform that stood in the middle of the large round machine. Jim held my hand and guided my arm fully within the ring almost completely up to my shoulder. The "saddle" as Jim had called it was quite soft. It felt a little bit like a soft baby's skin. It conformed to my arm gently but completely. I reflected deeply on the fact that these would be the last few sensations I would ever feel from this arm. I started to get sad, but I reminded myself of all the limb replacement options available today. I already had a new right arm on pre-order, just waiting for a scan of my remaining shoulder before printing and direct delivery. Technology these day, I swear.

With newfound confidence after realizing I wouldn't be just a helpless cripple after today I took a deep breath and said "Okay--Im ready."

Jim hit a button on his tablet and the machine whirred to life. Medical tools began to slowly rotate around the ring and an innocent looking blunt object appear from within the ring on an articulated arm. It pressed gently against my skin in multiple spots on my upper arm--the anesthetic being injected. I supposed the locations were strategic, targeted directly at the nerves that fed into my arm.

About five seconds after the small tool retreated back into the ring marked asked "Do you feel this?"

"Feel what?"

"Great. How about this?" I looked over and saw he had made two pinpricks on the tips of my fingers. A small drop of blood sat on top.

"Oh...uh, no. No I don't feel that either."

Jim pressed another button on his tablet and the ring began to get smaller. It didn't make a very unpleasant sound...with a quiet whoosh, an iris closed around my arm. It was made of hundreds of sections, each conforming to my arm without me having to move it. It pressed ever so gently on my arm right at the end of my collar bone and right up to the top-most point of my arm pit. It rested there for a few seconds.

"Okay Megan, you arent going to feel a thing and there isn't going to be any paint. When I press this button the iris will get a little tighter for about a minute and as soon as it opens back up your arm will be separated.

The machine blocked the view of the rest of my arm so l peeked over the side to see my hand. I couldn't feel it. It felt a bit warm, almost like it had fallen asleep and pins and needles were about to creep in, but they never did. "Okay."

The ring got a bit tigher and just like Jim said, I didn't feel it. The machine had a firm grasp on my shoulder but I dared not test it by trying to move my shoulder.

The iris got tighter and I was glad I had anesthetic because it probably would have hurt to feel such a tight constriction. A few seconds more and it looked even tighter--more so that I could have imagined my arm could be squeezed. The gently whooshing was almost relaxing. The ring got smaller and smaller, and my shoulder was still firmly in its grasp. After about a minute I started to get almost bored and the whooshing sound finally stopped.

"What's that whooshing sound?" I asked.

"That's the blades. They've been cutting through the muscled in your arm and microscopic pincers have been placing the remaining muscle and skin in place. Your arm is off now, were just closing things up at this point."

My arm was off now? I hardly would have known the process had started if it weren't for the ever-shrinking iris!

Ding! The ring opened up and I got to see my arm again, exactly as I had left it. And my shoulder still where the machine kept it. For all intents and purposes it looked like my arm was still attached. Of course however much I wanted, or needed this, my brain still didn't quite register the huge crevasse between my shoulder and upper arm. In between were two round sections of gauze, one attached to the top of my arm, and the other to my shoulder.

I had to build up the courage to move at that point, my brain still not processing.

"You're good to go!" The rest of my arm still looked as it always did, if not a bit more pale than my left. I leaned forward slowly and my shoulder came with me--my right arm didn't. The anesthetic was probably still affecting my nerved but I couldn't feel a thing. What I did feel was a strange lightness on my right shoulder that I didn't feel from my left. It felt a bit like the muscles in my shoulder still assumed an arm was attached and had tension in the muscle. But the muscle right below it was also a bit tight. I gave my shoulder a tiny twitch. I was afraid to try and do any more but all I really needed right now was to get used to saying to myself, I have one arm...I am an amputee...I have a shoulder disarticulation...

"Your shoulder might feel a little light but your muscles just have to get used to things. It's been holding an arm for...most of your life. So the machine tightened the muscles below your shoulder. This should even things out and the tension should go away in about two weeks."

I started to stand up and stumbled. "Oh be careful! You're a bit off balance so best to take things a bit slowly until your inner ear gets things back the way they should be." I stood and began to walk slowly out of the room. My arm, that I carried with me my entire life until now just sat there. It was even more pale at this point, on the verge of turning blue. Jim stayed where he was and reached out to pick my arm up. He folded it in half and began wrapping it with what looked like plastic wrap for food. A large, strangely shaped cooler, about the size of my folded arm lay at his feet.

"Hi Megan! Wow you look great!" At first I didn't see the source of the bubbly female's voice but as soon as I looked down I saw it was Riley, from the waiting room. Wow, that feels like it was a week ago! A lot has happened between then, when I had two arms, and now, when I have only one.

When I first came to the studio I met Riley and she had one short stump where her left leg should have been. Now, she was missing both legs and the residual limbs were even shorter than before. She had on yoga pants with one tailored left leg and the right leg had a knot that sealed it off right at the end of the stump that used to be where her right leg sprouted. I assume she had the same bandage underneath, requiring the knot to keep things in place.

Riley's leg stumps, or nubs, that she still had left over were the same size as her breasts. Her very-low cut tie-die t-shirt showed a small valley between her soft, perfect breasts which
probably weren't quite big enough to form a cleavage comfortably even if she pushed them together with her palms. Her leg stumps were almost non-existent and sat on the ground with a soft bulge--the only evidence that there was once possibly something there before. The bone within her remaining thighs probably werent more than one or two inches long. I was so mesmerized I didn't say hi back.

"Oh my gosh your shoulder fits you so well. Really shows off your curves." She said with a gorgeous grin.

"Wow, well thank you..." I blushed. "Your new legs also look beautiful, Riley." My face flushed and she noticed.

"Thank you so much! Oh my gosh you are so cute. You're going to love the limbless life. I wouldn't give back this experience for anything in the world. Ooh, Megan. You would look so good with the other arm off. Just consider it." Riley put on a silly self-mocking grin. I knew she was being silly but I was certain she was being sincere as well.

I might have gotten in a bit over my head.