i swer it dadn't hut

At A Glance Author brian Contact brianrn@home.com Artist Some dude Studio 23rd Street Body Piercing Location Oklahoma City, OK

I have been wanting to get my tongue pierced for a long time but with my job and very conservative family I have delayed it. The other night I was out with some friends and had mentioned it to one of my friends that I was thinking about doing it. He stuck out his tongue and showed me his. I had no idea he even had one. He has had it for over 4 years now. That pretty much made up my mind to go ahead and get it done. There are two well known places for body piercing here in OKC. I had heard a lot of positive commnets about 23rd Street Body Piercing here in OKC so I decided that would be the place I would go.

The next day I went to the shop and told them what I wanted. They showed me the bars and recommended a size to use after looking at my tongue. They explained the care for it and the risks involved if not taken care of. We then went back to one of the piercing rooms that looked more like a doctors office than anything else. All the supplies was wrapped in sterile packaging and dated. Since I am a registered nurse, I know the importance of sterility and was impressed with the precautions taken by them. I felt really comfortable with it. The guy marked my tongue with some blue ink and checked the placement of it. He then pulled, clamped, and stabbed. It was done in less than 5 minutes. No pain, no bleeding, and no drool. It looks great, but feels really odd right now. I have not had any problems talking or with the swelling. I have been taking great care of it and look forward to eating solid foods again tomorrow, which will be the 3rd day post piercing.

The first few hours were weird. I have tried very hard to keep ice or something cold in my mouth whenever I can to keep the swelling down. I found that after talking for a while, my tongue does get a little tender but some motrin takes care of that very easily. I did try to eat some chicken noodle soup the first night just to get something besides ensure or boost in my system. I was able to get some of it down but the thought of getting food particles in the hole prevented me from finishing it. On the second evening I tried some macaroni and cheese. That went down easily but the hard part was chewing without jarring the barbell too much, which would cause some discomfort. I found that smashing it up with my fork helped me swallow it without too much effort. After eating I rinsed with the sea salt solution, brushed my teeth and the barbell, then rinsed with 1/2 listerine 1/2 water solution. There is no evidence of infection at all. The site looks clean and feels good. It's still weird having it in my mouth but hopefully within the next week I will not even know it's there.

I work with a bunch of people that were very suprised that I did it. Most people would never think, I of all people would have or even want a piercing. The way I see it is, I work as a professional, in a hospital where some people probably would frown on it. They have policies saying no to any visible piercings other than the ears. I feel like this allows me to have a piercing that is easily hidden but allows me to stick my tongue out at them when they turn their heads just to show them that I win anyway. ha ha.

Now what the family thinks, I actually showed my mom. She's a little less conservative than the rest of the family. She about dropped to the floor. I was suprised by her reaction, since she's the one with the implants. ha ha. She was a dental hygienist at one time and kept telling me how dirty the mouth is and that I will surely lose my tongue over this. She kept asking me when I was going to take it out. I just told her that I'll keep it till I get tired of it, which will be a very long time I think.

I do like the reactions I have gotten from friends though. Most of them are shocked which I think it funny. Some of them are a little more curious about me now and think that I might be hiding other things too. The reaction I like best so far is from a girlfriend of mine....."What can you do with that" with an evil grin. I just said, I don't know, I'll have to wait for a month before I can really find out. :)